Impromptu Dressage Show

Tuesday night was the last in the local dressage series. Both Nikki and Kylie are already qualified for the ESDCTA championships in October, but Loretta and Sam signed them up for one more show. After all, more show miles are always a good thing!

Except then it was a hundred degrees all week and Loretta did not want to ride after doing barn chores all day. So around 5pm, she texted me, "Do you want to show Nikki for me tonight?" The entry fee was already paid and they were going to be trailering over to the horse park regardless. Getting paid for two horses instead of one sounded like a good thing to me. Plus, I enjoy Nikki. I agreed. Thankfully, it turned out that I still fit into my show breeches. Haha.

I haven't sat on Nikki since June or so. Nikki hadn't been ridden at all since Friday because of the heat. Seems like a good idea, right?

Poor Mike got dragged along, too. He hadn't been to a TEDS at Bucks yet, and I figured I could make him take pictures of me.

We arrived at the show at about 6:30pm. My ride time was 7:12. I chatted briefly with Shelby while waiting for Loretta's rig to arrive. Shelby was showing her horse, Rio, for the first time this year. I had never actually seen her ride him!

Shelby and Rio in the warm up.

Dressage Shows with Nikki and Kylie

As I've hinted over the course of  a few entries now, I have been going to the Tuesday Evening Dressage Series at the Bucks County Horse Park with two of my students and their horses. It has, for the most part, been going swimmingly!

Sam with Kylie and Loretta with Nikki.

4H Shows

Two of my students have been trying to qualify for the big 4H State Horse Show at the end of August at the Dream Park.

Leigha has been showing in both the English and Western divisions on Nikki and Justin respectively. She lessons regularly, splitting her time between the two horses. I have also ridden both horses myself on multiple occasions.

Nikki

Justin, photo by Leigha's mom.

Caitlyn has been showing strictly English on Huey.

Hubert.

Photo Catch-up: LRG

I'm going to do that thing where I go through the folders on my computer and dump photos with little or no explanation.

First up, the barn I picked up last fall. I keep dropping bits and pieces of information about all the students and horses I have there, but haven't done any formal introductions. Frankly, I'm probably going to keep it that way. I have way too many students to keep everyone up to date on what's going on with all of them. Plus, I really want to steer this blog in a direction more about me and less about my students.

With that said, I still take pictures of my clients' horses for them on a regular basis, and I figure that none of you are going to complain about pony pictures on a horse blog, so here you go.

First up is Nikki. Nikki is an 8yo OTTB mare, and a personal favorite of mine. I get to ride her for tune up rides and I enjoy her so much every time. She's light and bendy and forward, with just enough sass to keep me from being bored. She is owned by Loretta, the BO, and leased by one of the barn kids. Loretta has been trailering Sam (one of the boarders) to dressage shows so she decided to take some dressage lessons and enter Nikki too. Turns out they have a knack for it and they are now scoring in the mid-60's consistently and getting ready to move up a level. In the mean time, Nikki cleaned up at the 4H show in the hunter and English pleasure classes, and then went on to jump 3' oxers in her next lesson like it was nothing. If I could make Nikki do whatever I wanted, I'd make her into an eventer. Nikki does have a touch of kissing spine, but her owner worked at the local clinic and has a ton of know-how. Nikki has had back injections and some other therapies and her back is rock solid right now and not bothering her at all.