The road to success leads through the valley of humility, and the path is up the ladder of patience and across the wide barren plains of perseverance. As yet, no shortcut has been discovered. ~Joseph L. Lamb

Saturday, May 24, 2014

Las Vegas Spring Fling III-Show High Point!

Frisco and I had a great time again at Cooper Ranch. He is maturing in a lot of ways, really growing up. I learn so much at every show about how best to prepare, and how to handle different situations. It is one thing to school at home, quite another to go elsewhere and try to figure out how to warm up just enough, how make it just effective enough, without overfacing my horse or wearing him(or me) out. We wound up earning the highest score in the show with our First Level Test 2 ride, a 72.162. It was a nice, steady, smooth ride. He was really on the aids and willing, a ride I'll hold in my memory for a long time as one that came as close as I've ever felt to total  harmony. We also earned really nice scores on First Level Test 3 and the First Level Freestyle. Test 3 had moments of brilliance and moments of sillinesss-Frisco was pretty playful, and also he wanted to try and offer a flying change a couple of times. Fortunately I was able to convince him now was not the time to try his new trick out, one he's really proud of and eager to try. We earned a 69.355 on that test. My in-laws came for a visit and were able to watch our Freestyle on Sunday. Trudy, who is a dancer and has been all her life, was so entertained to see how well Frisco stayed on the beat. I told her any time he wavered from staying on the beat was my fault, because the music matches him almost perfectly. She really enjoyed being able to watch it, and Tommy loved how fluid Frisco's gaits are. As a studier of genetics and a life long breeder of Angus cattle, Standardbred racers, and miniature horses, he and I can talk horse genetics for hours. We earned a 69.667 on the Freestyle, and the judge suggested taking more risk in the choreography. Since I don't have any experience in desiging Freestyles, and wanted my choreography to help my technical tests, I kept it pretty simple and tried to focus on learning how to ride to music and stay on it. I'm getting better at that, so maybe next year I will try adding some more creative choreography! As usual, my amazing husband was immensely helpful and helped me stay focused and calm. I can't do any of this without him.








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