preview: Big Brown + braided!

Believe it or not, this weekend marked my *first ever* completion at a recognized horse trial! And obvi our first completion of any three phase event this year lol…. And not for lack of trying in either regard!

the trick is not to look too closely at any individual braid, and just take it all in as a whole

Recall Doozy and I went to the Loch Moy starter trial last March, but she came up NQR in dressage warm up so we just scratched to try again another day — which ended up being at St Augustine in May, wherein Doozy was an uncivilized wreck and we withdrew after show jumping. 

Finally, tho, we made it out the start box this weekend, woo hoo! And it more or less just happened to be a rated show bc that’s what worked on the calendar for me. 

or better yet, get distracted by her sweet friendly face <3

And anyway, it wasn’t exactly my first go at a recognized show either… Sure sure, ten years ago when I first got into eventing, there didn’t seem to be much of a point, at least where we are in Area II, to pony up the extra bucks for rated at venues where you’re basically jumping the same jumps and tracks anyway… 

But, eh, eventually I kinda got curious about it with Charlie, with whom I entered no fewer than 4 rated events over the years, and maybe even 5. It’s honestly hard to remember bc our luck was abysmal to the point where I’ve become almost superstitious about it. Half of the entries were lost entirely for one reason or another (usually yet another #ding for the King, natch). 

And the other two weren’t particularly auspicious either: I had my very first fall off Charlie in the show jumping at one (in 2019)… And then the other (in 2020) was an absolute clown show when Charlie more or less Yee-Haw’ed his way around sj, totally out of control, and we opted to not take that mess out onto xc…

verdict: not the world’s worst braids

But ya know. For some reason, we persist. And after all Doozy’s “little bite-sized outings” these last couple months, the timing felt right to try to put it all together again out in public. And for once, it actually worked out!

More details to come later, but it was a Good Day. Every phase, too <3

Like, not objectively good LOL, the dressage judge crucified us with a 50%+ score omg haha. Which, not gonna lie, kinda broke my heart a little bit bc I was actually super proud of Doozy after our test. She kept her shit together, no accidental canters, and was reasonably prompt and accurate for everything. Ah well, tho. The tension puzzle is a tricky one for us, c’est la vie!

possibly not the best at the whole ‘dressage’ thing either, but having a LOT of fun with the jompies!

The jumping tho? So good, what a mare! Like ok sure we had penalties in every phase — rolled the final rail in show jumping (a tricky little bending line that broke more than a few hearts throughout the weekend), and had two seconds of time in cross country, as I made intentional choices about walking and trotting in some places. 

But it all worked out! And was FUN! The mare was super bold brave and honest for all of it, what a good girl! AND! While I’d obvi never wish troubles, difficulties, or mistakes on my fellow riders, and it’s not exactly a proud thing to only kinda just get lucky to get into the ribbons… 

Well… I *am* proud tho, lol. Proud of this little mare and another pretty big brown ribbon to add to her collection <3 <3 It’s been a tough year for us, and she’s been a uniquely challenging horse for me. But it feels really good to finally put it all back together again, whew.