Yeah good!

Yeah! Good! Those words are so wonderful! And I was fortunate to get lots of them from Dennis this time. This was the first time Dennis had seen us since April and he seemed very happy with our progress. He really stressed that I need to improve MP's cadence in both her trot and canter. He also had me ride her more up in the poll that I had been. She felt wonderful! Small tweaks in our lateral work will result in higher scores like more bend in the shoulder ins and half passes. And I'm still working on her changes being with my aides. So I still have a long way to go, but I was really pleased with our lessons, our progress and I can't wait for October when Dennis comes back!

Ho hum

I've been dreading this post since Sunday. Our show did not go well. Our training sessions with Dennis were fabulous, but I think Moneypenny was worn out by Sunday. And a little sore. But I did learn a lot about her and myself. I learned that she is not an early bird. I woke her up at 4 am to get ready for the show. She was laying down and snoring and I woke her up. She wasn't very happy about that. And the past month her schedule has been off. There was smoke, then it was 110, then there was vacation followed by more smoke. So consistency was definitely not the name of the game. Then I basically had a solid week of hard riding with no days off. Not good. So by Sunday she was tired and uncomfortable. Luckily she still loves me and I still love her, so we're going to get back into our regular routine. I was bound to have a bad show and it is better that this happened now rather than when it really matters. But it still stinks!

As for me, I learned that I'm really bad at not doing well. I beat myself up and go through the "I should have done this, or this, or this." I have to work on just letting things be as they are, but learn from them and move on. I've been pining away for the past few days and as Scott says, "don't let this psych you out or else this will all be over before it even got started." Good advice. He's so smart!

Moving on....

A very long siesta, Hans Moeller scholarship, freestyle and more

It's been awhile since I've last posted, but that's because Moneypenny and I have been on a very long siesta! I've been to Tahoe with Scott and MPs been in a villa overlooking the Bareyessa hills. It's been great but I'm ready to get back in the swing of things in preparation for the state and regional championships in October.

I'm very excited to announce that we received the Hans Moeller Scholarship from California Dressage Society this year! The scholarship is for $1500 towards training and showing. This means we'll be able to finish out 2008 with a bang! Thank you CDS Scholarship Committee!

The freestyle coordinator came last night and I believe we have finished the freestyle! Just in the nick of time as I will debut it this weekend at Dressage in the Almonds. It is super fun. It's a collection of quirky ballroom songs.

Dennis Callin will be here this weekend to offer us some training. He comes all the way from Germany, so it's really great to have him. I'm sure to post with some pictures after the clinic. He will also warm us up at the show on Sunday. And help fine tune the freestyle.

That's all for now!