Dressage at Devonwood 2016
Another successful show weekend for the M.A.D. team! Lots of ribbons and solid scores for all three horses.
Jennifer Flanagan's super gelding Sterling (Silver Plated) rocked his very first recognized dressage show with only one schooling show under his belt the previous month. The 9 yr old gelding that was started on and off later in life, spent his time with Jen as a jumper. Now, he is offered for sale as Jen is focusing on her next jumping star. Sterling is exploring a career as a dressage horse, passing with flying colors. His easy going temperament and cool head makes him an absolute dream to have at the shows. He is going to make an exceptional amateur or JR/YR mount. He was consistently in the top handful of his large classes, earning several second and third place ribbons with scores in the mid 60s.
Mary Ann's flashy mare Lia Calyon also racked up the ribbons, scoring consistently in the mid to high 60s with the highlight score being a 68% for the win of her large first level class. This was her first recognized dressage show in a year or so. Her confidence, and her focus was where the big success was for her this weekend. When Mary first purchased the mare, a long, difficult journey to gain the mare's confidence and develop her work ethic begun. After only working with these two for a year, I can proudly say Lia is really starting to blossom and both she and Mary have a lot more confidence. In fact one of my proudest moments of the show was late Saturday evening. Lia and I put in a easy ride in the indoor to acclimate her to the arena for our ride the next morning. One of the more intimidating rings for green horses, Lia took it all in stride. Afterwards, Mary climbed aboard and had a beautiful ride. The pair was relaxed, full of confidence and looked fabulous!!
My own horse, William gave me beautiful moments in his Intermediate A test both days. How ever tension made for some mistakes and prevented high scores. I love how challenging this horse is, not to mention how talented. It makes the warm up and preparation for the test rides, and the rides themselves extremely difficult, and I love that. Maybe I don't love the lower scores (61% and 57% ) but I am reminded by one of my favorite coaches (my husband), that were you score the lowest, you learn the most.
Aside from all the riding the weekend was enjoyed with amazing friends, lovely weather, and long overdue time spend with my parents. And of course, my students were incrediable with all the help they gave me throughout the weekend.
