Schooling show success!

The schooling show this weekend was a huge success and so much fun! I haven't gone to a show with a trainer in over a decade, so it was a nice change from being all alone and having to organize myself and my horse all by myself. It was also great to get to support my barn mates, and to have their support and help too. As for Rose, she was very well behaved and did very well in her stall all weekend. From stall wall and hoof analysis I determined that she did not kick all weekend. Maybe she's been outside long enough that she no longer hates stalls? Or maybe she just sucked it up for a weekend? Either way it was a big sigh of relief for me. She seemed content to hang her head out her stall window all weekend, soaking up some rare sunlight, and watching the goings on. She is still a baby of course, and was in heat all weekend, so she annoyingly called back and forth to a couple other horses when she was in her stall, but beyond that she was just a sweet adorable mare. As soon as I put her saddle on her though, she got down to business and focused. I was amazed. Once again she took it all in stride and was a very good girl.

Our tests went well, and red must be our color, as we ended up with three 2nd place ribbons for the weekend. Granted there were only two or three people in our classes. However, this show was all about the experience, so even if we'd left with all 5th places I'd be very happy. At this point I feel confident and comfortable taking her to shows now, so it's time to really start focusing on our training and our tests. I'd really like to start showing her at Training Level come June, and I think that is a reasonable goal. At this point I feel like I'm the one holding her back.

All Done! With Rose and Gatsby's Mom
after Rose's final test.

We also had a few visitors throughout the weekend, one of which was Gatsby's Mom. It's so fun to see her at our shows, and I love how much pride she takes in Rose. The Gatsby family truly is a tight knit one, and I'm so glad that we are a part of it.

Happy trails and swooshing tails!