Lets go Novice!

Charlotte the Eventing Clydesdale has officially graduated to Novice level, at her very first outing of the season!

It's so exciting to realize that we have officially started the season! So far our #roadtorebecca2018 is going strong with a clinic, 1 schooling show under our belt and a second this Saturday! 

Last weekend we took the horses to a weekend schooling show at Donida Farms in Auburn, WA. Not only was this the first schooling show of the season but it is also our first Novice jump round along with our first Novice Dressage test! I could not be more happy with the outcome of the weekend.

Thankfully I packed up all my stuff and got the trailer loaded and ready with shavings, hay and grain before hand because come Friday morning I was racing against the clock to get my other home stuff done. Got myself packed and my dogs dropped off at Grandpa's house and was set for a great weekend. Arrived at the barn to help load the last few things, double check everything was good to go and load up the trailer! We had two trailers pulling out that morning, Melissa was taking her horse Bailey for there first Eventing debut together and I know how boring it is to drive alone. I knew Charlotte was in good hands with Jenny in her trailer so I hoped in the front seat with Melissa to keep her company! I also get pretty car sick so I am in need of the front seat! We departed on time to make it to Donida by about 2pm.

Normally we work out of the trailer but Donida is set up different, in which we have to park further away, so we unpacked EVERYTHING! Busy bees going back and forth to unload horses and organize the tack room we were using for the weekend. With everyone helping each other it didn't take long to get unpacked and organized so we could take the horses up for a little hack around the property. 

Charlotte was so spooky out on the property! It was a surprise to have such a high spirited horse when her temperament is normally so calm. She was spinning and running back words in certain parts of the arena. After we calmly were able to walk and trot most of the arena we settled down for the night. Set her up with some dinner and tucked her in for the night with good dreams for the show.

Saturday morning rise and shine pretty early for the day. One of my favorite things about the horses show is waking early to see Charlotte and feed her breakfast. Something about the calm morning mist and the horse's breath on the cold air is the perfect start to a good day. We take the horses for a walk around the property and find some grass to nibble on before checking in with the office. Charlotte is not normally a herd bound horses but lately she has been spending a lot of time with one our new team member's horse Cola. Cola had an early start to the day which left Charlotte without her, which then left her completely soaked in sweat when I came out to check on her. Learned a valuable lesson that they will be separated much more back at the barn.

I signed Charlotte up for a warm up beginner novice level jump round and our very first Novice jump and Dressage combined round, which unfortunately resulted in the beginner novice jump round then an hour later our dressage test than another tack change to our Novice jump round. But we stayed on track!! and got it done with flying colors! Our Beginner novice jump round was pretty slow and sluggish, I truly believe she doesn't love to jump that height any more but we ended up getting closest to optimum time in that division. Can you believe the Clydesdale was the closest??!! 

We have been working non stop on our dressage and today it paid off. Stepping into the dressage ring with a looky lou horse immediately started listening after a small half halt. We continued to dance around our circles and show off our transitions to trot down that center line and actually halt at X. Three main things Jenny and I have been drilling all winter ...... 1. compulsion and forward gaits 2. transitions -upward and downward and 3. our halt. I could not have been more proud of my mare than I was at that moment of seeing our dressage score of 30.9 !!! A well deserved pat on the back of the all the hard work....... now off for one last tack change for jumping.

I remember our first jump competition at the Aspen Derby.. A small schooling show like this one, I was a wreck of nerves. This time I was so excited and felt ready to give it my all we headed into the ring like fast and furious hitting the nos on a vehicle. As we cruised around the beautiful and inviting course we just skimmed one pole enough to make it come toppling down, costing us the 2nd place ribbon. With the added 4 penalty points we dropped down to 5th place. Not too shabby for our very first Novice outing of the season and that leaves us with so much room to improve! 

Saturday came and went with one more day to redeem myself and strive for a better score. 

Sunday morning followed the same routine but this time Charlotte was more calm and relaxed. She didn't mind leaving her new girlfriend Cola as much and didn't work herself up in a sweat when she left to attend her competitions. This was Cola's very first eventing debut and I'm pretty sure Charlotte was very proud! Cola gave us a run for our money ! and shows such a  bright future!

Charlotte had her fancy pants on for the dressage portion of the combined Novice training on Sunday. I could not stop smiling throughout my dressage test, I was so happy and proud. We pranced around showing off those feathers and all the hard work we have strived for to end at a halt on X. I believe it is important to walk your horse up to the edge of the ring and thank the judge. This time the judge told me how beautiful of a test that was and I kindly thanked her again and stated how hard we have been working. The judge commented that it shows and to keep up the great work. We will continue to strive to be the best that we can be! We ended our Dressage test that day with an even better personal best of 29.4 !!!!!! 

Bring on the second Novice jump round of the weekend! Flying through the course, it was more technically and seemed a bit higher than the previous day but Charlotte was jumping it with ease! In some cases she was even over jumping! Coming up to one of the last jumps I fell forward too early and she clipped the top rail sending it to the ground resulting in me costing us the 2nd place ribbon yet again! Learning to stay out of my horse's way and trust more is something I am working on as well. She is so much stronger and agile that she can do it without me and I need to "let go of the reins" just a bit haha. Again we left there with more room to improve and I cant wait to fill that void! 

Packing up Sunday and leaving with another pink ribbon, 4th place this time, I think about all the people that you meet. All the new friends you make and how important the bond between you can be. I had friends and family drive out to support us over the weekend and take part in the journey #roadtorebecca2018. It takes a village is what they always say, it definitely took a village to get the trailer packed up again to head back home. So thankful for the love an support we have on our team! Belle brought out her new horse to compete and I am so excited to start Novice training with them! We can move up through the shows together! Last year we had such a great friendship being in the same level, we are also on the same nervousness level haha. Last year we walked the cross country courses, I don't know how many times just to give ourselves something to do and stop thinking about the competition haha! This year will be even better!!!! Belle always stays behind to help other team members get there horses ready or clean up where she can, She is extraordinarily proactive and is always standing by to assist in anyway! I cant wait to get to Rebecca but I am so happy to have you on the Lodestar Team!

*If you made it down to the bottom of our weekend adventures, thank you so much and it is greatly appreciated! I learned my lesson about waiting until after the weekend is over to blog about it. I think this time I will start bringing my computer with me so I can blog after each day. Keep everyone informed more and I feel like this way I wont forget any fun or funny stories ... for example how belle and I named all the barn cats at Donida and snuggled them haha. *** have a great week everyone and don't forget to follow us on Instagram!! @eventing_clydesdale