I did casually drop at the end of my last post (like two weeks ago… sorry!) that we were headed to our first FEI. I didn’t talk about it much publicly because I didn’t want to jinx it, or make it into a Big Thing (it was a Big Thing, I admit), plus I legit was so busy leading up to it that I truly didn’t have as much time to devote to thinking about it as I would have preferred. I didn’t even learn my dressage test until two days before. I can’t decide if that was the better approach, because I had less time to overthink, or if I would have rather been able to focus on it a little bit more. Either way, didn’t matter, it was what it was!

I was mostly very worried to commit some kind of FEI rule-related sin and get myself eliminated or in trouble for something stupid. I know USEA/USEF rules and procedures inside and out by this point, it’s old hat, but FEI is a very different ballgame and I am brand spankin new. I hate feeling brand new. I rolled into the Florida Horse Park on Wednesday for in-barns with Presto’s passport and a thermometer, raring to go. It did help that the show vet is also my normal vet, and the organizer is a good friend, so having familiar faces around all the “official” things all weekend made me a little more comfortable.

We sailed through in-barns in just a few minutes, getting his TPR and a general once-over. Although I did have some anxiety when they took his passport and put it in a box with all the others. I dunno why it didn’t occur to me that they would take those and hold them hostage onto them for the duration of the event, but that thing was a PITA to get and letting it out of my sight was stressful. Either way, we were quickly released to head over to the designated FEI-barn and get settled in.

Arena familiarization started at 4, so Megan (with her 2* horse… having my coach stabled right there in the FEI barn next to me was nice at least!) and I swung aboard right at 4pm to head over there. Presto has been up in the dressage rings at FHP a lot by now, but they were more decorated than normal, with an extra judge’s box and bleachers, so I figured I should take the opportunity to get him in the ring and let him see things. He didn’t give a shit, I think he was confused about what the heck we were doing schooling in the dressage ring. I didn’t ride him for long, just ran through a few different sections of the test and then called it a day.

After that he got a bath and a few last minute grooming touches to prepare for the first jog on Thursday morning. I did do something I have literally never done before for this show… I hired a braider. The reasons were many: 1) it took something off my plate and gave me more time, which brought my overall stress level down 2) Presto is a turd to braid and I usually end up extremely annoyed with him by the time I’m done, so it helped my mental state 3) I saved a lot of money on my entry by winning it in an online fundraising auction, so I figured I could justify this particular luxury.

It was worth every penny, btw. Is this how the other half lives? I love having a beautifully braided horse that I didn’t have to braid.

Anyway. Thursday started early, since the 1* jogged first. Presto got his Ulcergard around 5, he got braided, I fed him, handwalked him for a while, and then groomed him again. He had a little baby heel grab on his white foot, with a teeny bruise, so that was just fucking great. We jogged him up on the asphalt road just to double-check how he looked (great), then I went and got dressed. I was near the top of the order for the jog, so once they started I didn’t have to wait very long.

And well… the ground jury had no mercy at that first jog. They sent like 8 horses to the hold, and mine was one of them. It was an absolutely heart-stopping moment. To be fair, he jogged much less enthusiastically for the actual jog than he did earlier that morning, so I don’t think his 15yo hunter pony impression helped his case. The vet in the hold thought he looked fine, but he was the teeniest little bit tender on that bruised spot when she pushed on it with her fingers. She told the ground jury what she found, we jogged again with more enthusiasm, and then were accepted.

But I’ll be honest, any excitement or wind I had in my sails before that… it was gone entirely. I hated it. Hated every second of it, suddenly felt very overwhelmed and out of place and like I didn’t belong. My brain spiraled hard and I never really came back from that, emotionally. Someone told me that with the new awareness surrounding the social license to operate stuff, FEI officials have been told to be extra stringent, which is possibly why they were sending people to the hold left and right, but I dunno. I know my horse is sound, I would withdraw him in a heartbeat if even for a moment I thought that he wasn’t fit to compete, but I was mortified to end up in the hold.

Either way, that part was done and dusted. I didn’t do dressage until that afternoon around 2pm, so I had all day to sit there and marinate in everything that had happened and beat myself up about it. That was great. I just felt absolute dread settle into my stomach and it never really left. I guess the perk of that is that there’s no room for nerves? Heh. Super.

Presto doesn’t need a long warmup for dressage (especially when it’s 90 degrees… my god Florida really turned it to BAKE) so I got on him like 20 minutes ahead of my ride time. Which was honestly still more time than I needed. For as much of a monkey as he can be about literally anything, he knows what phase is first and always marches into warmup and goes to work like a pro, wasting no energy on the boring part. We did lots of transitions, worked on keeping the left side straighter and the right side more bent, keeping more sit in his canter, and then walked for a while. When the horse before me went to the ring they allowed me into another ring, an actual dressage court, to finish my warmup. I mostly just confirmed all the sizing and location of my 15m circles in there, ran through my test again in my head, and then it was time!

Also, side note, I think I’m gonna do a separate post about all the outfits involved in this weekend, because some of these things deserve their own discussion. Stay tuned for that. For now though, let’s admire the teal For Horses shad. It is magical.

Anyway… the test went pretty well. I didn’t particularly “go for it” in any way, I mostly just tried to make it accurate and keep the rideability. Neither of my lengthenings were particularly bold (which the judges did not like lol) and overall I think I could have pumped a bit more flair and energy into him, but it was a solid and obedient test. Megan and I were thinking it’d be closer to the 30 mark, but it scored a 33. They really wanted more boldness at this level. Fair enough.

Either way, I was pleased with him, and it put us 10th after the first phase, which wasn’t bad at all considering the company.

Since dressage for the FEI divisions ran over two days, Friday was a day off for us. I spent it walking and handgrazing Presto (who was really not pleased to be stuck in a stall), walking my XC course a couple times, and we also had a very very short jump school. Like literally 5 jumps. They allowed us to book a time in one of the grass rings with a steward present so we could jump school if we wanted, and I mostly just took the opportunity to make sure I was clicked into my forward-thinking XC ride. We got that done in like 10 minutes and then went for a long hack.

That night we had the FEI rider meeting where they went over what the vet box procedures would be following XC, and we got free food and ice cream and trivia. Hillary and I and one of the TD’s were on a trivia team (the smallest team, I might add, everyone else had 4-5 people!) and ended up second. I’m still certain that Kyle Carter’s team cheated somehow. But we won a little Triple Crown goodie bag anyway, so I guess I can let it go.

And that takes us up to Saturday, cross country day! Stay tuned…