Our First Blues!

 What a good girl! I'm so proud of her! Today we went to the Georgia Horse Park to show a BN CT and Nov Test B. It was another chance to get in another arena and show atmosphere before RRP. Our last chance at a show (Unless I wanted to show two days before we leave for Kentucky and I don't!). 

Per usual... this show morning starting out with antics. As I went to catch Lyric to get ready to give her a bath and leave for the show, Jean's friend pulled into the culdesac with a horse trailer. I managed to catch Lyric as they started to walk Galvan down the drive to haul him to Florida. And they followed with the golf cart and car full of his stuff. Which, no big deal... except it sent Dan, Fleck, and Funny into fits. They were bucking, broncing, rearing, and running. Which meant that Lyric was now doing the same. I had to yell at them as feet were flying and Lyric was a kite. I wasn't sure if I was going to get kicked or run over or if one of them was going to get kicked. Poor Jean! I texted an apology later, but luckily Galvan didn't care and loaded right up. Phew. And I managed to get Lyric out of the gate and into the wash rack. And luckily at that point, the others settled down and I was able to give her a bath without dying. I was also able to hose the dried blood off her face and get her a hair more respectable looking. 

We did a quick bath, because she's easy! Then I put the cooler on her and loaded her up to head out. She was good and loaded right up despite the earlier antics. We got to the horse park earlier than I was aiming, so yay. She stood in the trailer and was pretty chill while I checked in and said hi to Karen. 

She was brave standing tied in the parking lot essentially. We were over by RV parking so there was a lot of golf carts and scooters and ebikes going by but she didn't mind. I tacked her up and left her noseband off. I figured that I would just ride HC if need be. I also remembered her hind boots this time and so I wouldn't forget, I set an alarm on my phone. 

We headed to warm up and she was pretty brave and very chill. She got a little tense and runny in warm up but not explosive or scary. Just quick. But she was a good girl and we got some nice work. Some not so nice work, but... there were moments. 

 

We were the first ones after the break and they had drug the arena so it was all nice and fresh. It was Robin Ginn as the judge, who is a super nice person. I walked up and asked her if it was okay if I rode without the noseband and explained about her wound. I told her I would ride HC if needed and she said she didn't care but it was up to management. She made a note though, so.. in we went. I was giggling the whole test because... this nice freshly drug arena and... Lyric and I were careening around like drunkards. She was a pretty good girl though. We did all the things but our circles were a little small and she was leaning hard on my right leg. And we had many moments where she lost the connection and got twisty. Robin asked me why I was giggling at the end of my test and I told her. Hee hee. She laughed too. She did tell me that she was much better than the last time she had judged us, so yay for that! Progress! Oh, and I did remember to take my boots off! Yay!

We went back out and took a little breather. I thought there were two rides between us and I only saw one girl, so I kept waiting. When no one was going in, I finally walked up and was like "I thought there was another person in front of me, but I can go now if you don't want to keep waiting" and they were like "No, you're next"!. Oops. That's what happens when there is no ring steward. Oh well. In we went. She wasn't quite as good for this test as she was getting tired, but... she did do all of the things in all the right places. For never having actually run through that test, I was quite proud. Especially as I knew she was getting tired. And she didn't score quite as well, but that's okay. We still managed a 64 in the first test and a 61 in the second test. And that actually put us in first in both classes! Ha! Well, we were the only ones in the "test of choice" and there were only two other kids in the BN CT class. But still! 

We headed back to the trailer and she drank a little and I sponged her off. I had the fan on her and she was happy munching on her hay net. After a bit I took her over to the grass to graze and chatted with Karen for a bit. It was nice catching up with her. Then it was time to jump! (My ride times were AWESOME! 10:50, 11:07, and then 12:36).

We tacked up and headed back over. She was a little bit fussy. I think this bit pinches her a little and unfortunately I didn't have think ahead and do anything about it. We warmed up a bit but I didn't push it because it was getting hot again and we were both tired. But we warmed up over 7 fences maybe. The same one, as they only had two warm up fences and the one wasn't even set to BN height. But we did jump it a few times. Then it was our turn. 

 

She was great! She did everything without hesitating. It wasn't the prettiest round and we had the final rail because she forgot to pick up her hind legs. I don't think that one was me.. though there were a few that I should have caused rails. I was trying to release on the back side and not jump ahead. We both did pretty well but I think she was flinging over them a bit more than sitting and pushing. But... again, tired... no trainer... so.. yeah. I should have ridden her a bit more put together but... oh well. 

 

We still ended up in first somehow. The other girl had a rail too and then the third person didn't jump... or got eliminated or something. Sad for her. But yay for Lyric!! Two blues!!!! And she was so good at the show. No antics. Not really super stressful. And our dressage and jumping was as good as it could be for where we're at right now. I couldn't have asked for her to be any better because she's not any better yet. :) 

After I sponged her off again I put her back in the trailer with the fans while I got our ribbons and test sheets and she was good. We got back home and she drank a bunch and then went to grazing. :) GOOD SHOW PONY!

And I do think her lump is smaller and the cut should heal by next week. Hopefully her lump will resolve too and won't be permament!