Wellington Classic at Jim Brandon

This past weekend was Henry's second show in the Grand Prix. The great thing about showing in the Grand Prix in Florida is that there is actually a Grand Prix class where as in Northern California a small show there would maybe one or possibly two people in the Grand Prix.

Henry did well. He is still fresh and frisky as he often is at the beginning of the season. On Saturday we managed to do all the movements with no mistakes but he added in a few little moves all his own in between which coast us a few points. We placed 4th out of 9 with a 65.053%. First place was a 66.4% and everyone in-between was a 65.something. It's amazing how close the scores can be.

On Sunday Henry was more settled. The trot extensions were lovely and very ridable we had a few mistakes which I take responsibility for, and one spook at a local photography club member who was standing in an odd location. Our overall score doped slightly to a 64.8% but our score from Gary Rockwell increased two percent from Saturday to a 66%. I was quite pleased with this because Gary Rockwell is higher ranked judge then the other judge was and I will see him more often in higher ranked competitions. We placed 5th in the class. It was FEi Test of Choice and there were 14 people in the class.

The first time we did the Grand Prix I was taken with how much longer it seems then any of the other tests that I've done, including the Young Rider Grand Prix and the Brentina Cup. That's the firs thing that you have to gets used to. Getting the stamina to do the test and have the horse remain light and attentive and active the whole time is a big piece of be successful at this level.

My student Shane and he horse Livingston did their very first dressage show this weekend as well. It's always super exciting when one of your students starts competing. She did very well willing her 3-1 class on Saturday and place 5th in her 3-3 class on Sunday.