My birthday was a busy day, y’all! I had to tell you about Strax first because he was a real highlight, but I did jump out of chronological order to do that. Let’s back up to earlier in the day, where we went to a horse show!

This was our first time out since scratching at Stable View a couple months ago, and the lead up rides were not great. Our jump schools were just not in sync and my flat ride the day before was one of the worst I’ve had with him in a long time. Things just were not clicking, ya know? And I couldn’t really figure out what I was missing, so I was hella frustrated. Like wanted to scratch and hide in my house frustrated. But I knew I had to do the CT at Majestic, because the following weekend we were entered in the Modified at Ocala, and I sure didn’t want to go into a recognized HT off a lead-up like that with no smaller pre-outing to at least see where we were at.

To compound matters, when I got to the in-gate to check in, they said I was in ring 3. Which was fine except ring 3 was a short court, and the omnibus had definitely said we were doing Test C, which is in a long court. So I asked for clarification, and they said we were doing Test B. Which I have never done or learned. Super. So I start frantically trying to learn that during my warm-up time, and the first person in our division goes in. She is also very confused about what test she’s supposed to be doing, having learned C. As she was talking to the judge (who was also confused) another lady in our division trotted up and said she’d talked to someone at the office and we were supposed to be doing C, as listed in the omnibus, and they should move us over to the long court at Ring 4. This was a cluster of epic proportions. They did finally figure it all out and get the judge moved over to 4, but by then I’d learned most of Test B and my brain was exploding.

So I went in with most of C still in my head, but bits of B kept popping up. I got to the 3rd movement where we were supposed to turn up centerline and leg yield, and turned up quarterline instead (like you do in test A and test B). I was mega freaking annoyed by that point. I’d learned C so thoroughly so I could ride everything well, and it all went caput. But once the judge rang the bell and got me back on track I remembered the rest of it just fine. Still. Annoying breach of focus.

We still got a 31 with the error to take the lead in the division. I just wanted some better scores on parts I know he can do well. But given how bad our flat ride had been the day before, a 31 was one of those “I’ll definitely take it” kind of things. Especially because last time this judge saw us she was not as generous with her marks or comments.

After that we had about an hour to kill back at the trailer before showjumping. Which was basically just enough time to start drying all the sweat before we had to put the sweaty things back on again so we could go sweat some more. It was so hot already, even at 9am.

But since it was gonna be so hot they were eager to get rolling and started the SJ early. I got on early so I could try to get in there whenever they would let me. I ended up by myself in warmup, which was a treat. We kept it really minimal, jumped maybe 5 jumps and then headed over to the ring. Presto was feeling back to his normal dude self. I will say – he can be a real toolbag at home sometimes, but the horse has been mega-consistent and focused at shows. He knows and likes his job.

He went in and jumped a solid round and was super rideable. He had been not at all very rideable at home the last times we jumped, but I guess he decided that this was Serious Business so maybe he should pretend to be broke. Thanks buddy.

Presto hopped around the Modified like it was easy peasy boring AF for a nice clear round, giving us the win for the combined test.

So ya know… was I having a complete existential crisis on Friday and then get a win on Saturday? Yes. Don’t mind me.

In reality I think he’s feeling really good and strong in his body and a bit bored in his work, and it’s coming out as him perhaps not being his best self at home. It’s time to step it up a notch and ask for a bit more again in all of his work. We’ve got some lessons this week and my trainer is going to sit on him too. Which honestly he’s probably long overdue for a trainer ride again, I don’t think she’s ridden him since last summer? He’s an entirely different animal now.

This weekend we’ve got Ocala, which I’m feeling much better about now after Majestic. Hopefully it won’t be so hot though!