Rosa's Fabulous Freestyle!

After a slightly rough start at the KDA CDI in Lexington, KY, Rosa was back to her usual fabulous self today for the musical Freestyle. I am not sure if her being in season made her a little uncomfortable the past two days, which might be something that I have to address. There are lots of important things to learn about your horse as you go up the levels.

Rosa loved her freestyle and did not put a foot wrong! Two judges gave us 71% and the Canadian judge gave us 66%. That was unfortunate, but that is dressage. There is no point in getting frustrated about the judging. There are other times when I finish my test and did not think it was great and I get a big score, so it all evens out, I guess! We finished fourth with 69.5%!

Yesterday we finished fifth in the Intermadiare 1. Rosa did a nice test, but unfortunately we had some expensive mistakes in some of the movements: Rosa tripped in the first extended trot, we had six instead of five steps of rein back, and we had a bobble in our last transition into the trot. In a CDI you cannot have mistakes! The judges are not and should not be forgiving.

Rosa is a fabulous horse and I have to keep reminding myself that she is not even eight years old, and it is completely normal for her to make green mistakes. She still needs a lot more strength and that takes time! I feel very lucky to ride such an amazing young horse and I am very grateful to all the people that are supporting Rosa and me!

Due to computer problems, videos and pictures are coming soon.

Silva