Trying this as a blog…
The #oldladieshorseshowing are back at it – after a long wait (two years for me, thanks to herniated discs last year) Jane and I are showing at the Lake St, Louis Indoor Preview Horse Show, followed by the St. Louis National Charity Horse Show. This is our first chance to ride with Kris Cheyne (Kirin Farm, Kansas City) since June!! It’s a surprise that we remember how!
We are a little bit rusty, but I am pleased to report that both old ladies made it to the jump off in today’s class, the 1.05 meter Low Training Jumper.
A good school with Kris yesterday morning, after our early Pilates class (which followed a nearly 15 hour trip home from Michigan on Monday for Harry and me – I insisted on driving the entire way, as I am a bad passenger). Meanwhile, Jane had increased her horsemanship tremendously over the weekend by auditing a Buck Brannaman Clinic. We didn’t do too much schooling, as it was already hot, which was a good thing, since I was pretty exhausted. Bart was quite frisky, after a week off, but he settled down and went well. Derry was delightful. As a reward, we brought them home, and they spent the night out in the pasture, as usual.
Harry and I in Michigan…
Idyllic lodging at Cottage 8…
Horses as transport…
Terrible rains to drive through on our way back south…
I caught up on sleep last night, had a nice morning at home – both Jane and I had turtle views – then we hauled to the horse show at noon.
It was a bit of a wait, but we filled the time catching up with friends we haven’t seen all summer, and we biked to Starbuck’s for coffee, in preparation for the Katy Trail Bike Trip scheduled for the end of October, and for drinks to keep us awake.
It was 4:30 before we rode – we old ladies do NOT like riding late in the day. I think I have Sundowner Syndrome! Anyway, it was fun to ride a course by a new (to us) course designer, and the course was different, but enjoyable and challenging.
Derry had a beautiful first round, but incurred some faults in the jump off, which is a polite way of saying she stopped at the first jump in the jump off, for no apparent reason, then proceeded to jump around nicely – bad girl!! Nonetheless, she made it to the jump off and finished 4th.
No pictures from today – but here is a recent picture of Derry and Jane at the Kirkwood Show…
Bart was double clear, but the old lady pilot incurred one time fault, which still resulted in a primary color – a red ribbon for second place.
Again, will have to make do with a Kirkwood Show picture…
It was great fun, and we washed the horses, threw them in the trailer, and now they are enjoying a night under the stars before we load up and do it again tomorrow.
The new footing at the National Equestrian Center has had mixed reviews, but we old ladies had no problems and are not really sophisticated enough to comment – though it did get a little deep at the warm up jumps. The Eurotextile footing is much brighter than the old dirt, and seems nicer for that reason alone.
It was so much fun riding with Kris again – we are excited for tomorrow… (“We are!?”, says Bart)…
