We're finally home! After a long four day weekend my mom, Chance, and I all made it back safely. We had a fabulous weekend! Chance was so well behaved and he acted like a total pro. Unfortunately Teri couldn't make it over to California but another Arizona horse trainer, Kim Yacabucci, was able to help warm me up on Friday and Saturday. Here's all the details!

We arrived on Thursday after a LONG drive. It was super windy on the way so my mom had to driver slower than normal. Luckily we made it there around 1:00 p.m. and we were able to get everything unpacked quickly. I took Chance out to ride and figured out soon enough that he needed to go on the lunge line! haha So after he had his little blow out we got to ride around the show rings to get used to the facility. I have to say we were both a little distracted and it wasn't our best ride, but towards the end we were both starting to get loosened up. We tucked Chance in for the night and went to check out our hotel, a modest but comfortable Best Western. On Friday morning we got up bright and early and went for our annual Starbucks run before heading out to the barn to feed Chance. I decided to take him out for a light ride that morning since we didn't show until 4:30. I really liked how that schedule worked for him and ended up taking him for morning hacks for the rest of the show. After I got all my barn chores done it was time to get ready for our ride. I was definately excited but luckily neither of us seem to get show nerves. After Kim helped warm us up it was finally our turn to ride the Junior Team test! Chance was a really good boy and we had relaxed, smooth test. I couldn't believe it when my mom came back to the barn and told me we had gotten a 71.89%!!! That meant that we had improved on our highest score in the Junior level so far, a 66%, by 5 points! I quickly called Teri and told her the good news. Chance got a lot of treats and then we headed back to the hotel to get a good nights sleep for the next day.

On Saturday it was our chance to practice doing a freestyle where you choreograph your own pattern to music that you pick out to suit both you and your horse. Unfortunately, it didn't go quite as I had hoped. When I went to start my freestyle, the guy who was working the announcer booth tried to do a sound check but didn't rewind my music, so it started pretty much with my halt and went into my trot music before I was even in the arena. I knew that it wouldn't work out so I went and asked him to start it again, but this time he didn't wait for me to signal for the start of my music so I was still way behind! I ended up having to make up my whole trot choreography as I went but luckily by the time it hit the canter music I had figured out how to get to the right spot. Since I wasn't as focused on the ride we had a few mistakes, but we still came out with a 65%, a respectable score. The whole point of doing my freestyle was to give Chance more experience riding to the loud music, so in that respect, mission accomplished! haha

On Sunday we were all starting to get tired but I was still ready to show one last time! I am trying to get my Bronze Medal Award, which is given to riders who submit two scores above a 62% at 1st, 2cnd, and 3rd level. I have all my scores for 1st and 2cnd level so all I need left are my scores for 3rd level. I decided to enter in 3rd Level Test 3, the highest test in that level. That day I had no trainer to warm me up, so I had to rely on all of our training that we had done at home. Chance still felt nice and energic but was definately feeling looser and more supple in the back. Soon it was our turn to go, and I wanted to make our last ride a good one! Overall it was one of the nicest tests we've done, with only a few bobbles here and there. I felt like we were finally starting to get the really expressive trot that we practice at home but still have a hard time getting at shows. I was thrilled when I found out we got another 71% on the test which, as Teri said when I told her, was overkill for the score I needed. We decided to enter the Tucson show this upcoming weekend, so we get to turn around and do this all again next weekend! This show was just a warm-up for the show season for us, but the next one will be a qualifier, so I hope we have some repeat performances! You'll hear from me soon!

~Cat~

P.S. Check out all the photos the my Verdicci's Photos album!