US Dressage Finals 2014 Recap

US Dressage Finals were a success! We came home with 4^th place in the second level freestyle and 8^th place in the first level freestyle! After watching the video of my second level freestyle (the $0 freestyle), I wanted to kick myself for not having a round/on the bit horse, but I decided that I’ll just have to wait until next year to redeem myself in that! The BHB was a riot in the awards ceremony—his fieldhunter nature kicked in and he was all “I’ll catch up to them so we don’t get left behind” when we were supposed to be doing a trot lap for awards—so I was pretty much being run away with at a giant trot in both awards ceremonies. I’m hoping to get back to the hunt field this winter where catching up might actually have a benefit.

Posing with our very expensive ribbons!

Just like at Regionals, we managed to keep costs down to a near $1K budget for this trip, although I still don’t know what my trainer’s travel costs will add up to. I actually came in a day early for the show to allow the BHB to settle in, and it was definitely much needed here since he doesn’t tend to travel as well by himself and took a day to get back to normal. Now that horse show season is over, I can replenish my saving account! We may not be showing for awhile since we went a bit over budget with the 2 out-of-town Championship shows this year.

Entry fees: $286

Stabling: $350! For real!

Meals: approx. $50

Hotel: $118

Fuel: $230

T-shirt: $16

Bale of alfalfa hay (the BHB refused to eat regular hay for 2 days so I felt like he needed something): $20

Trainer fees and travel: currently unknown

I had my first post-Championships lesson last night and I think the BHB is excited to get back to the tough stuff! He was quite the firecracker during the entire lesson and was probably quite miffed we didn’t do any medium or extended gaits. We’re working on doing some basic passage to help him figure out how to lift his front end a bit more at the trot, as he is not a natural uphill mover. We’re getting back to the half-passes too, which are really one of his strengths—especially at the trot! I’m sure we’ll get back to establishing a decent pirouette soon, and then maybe I’ll even get to see if I can get him to do lead changes for me! We’re hoping to move up to third level next year and earn a bronze medal and freestyle bar, but we need to get some half-decent lead changes first!

Heading to the US Dressage Finals Tomorrow!

We leave tomorrow morning to head to the US Dressage Finals in Lexington, KY! This week the BHB got a body clip, new shoes, and a health certificate. I’m just hoping I manage to pack everything I need for the trip since I seem to be forgetting everything lately. I plan to get to the KHP by 5pm tomorrow so I have time to get the BHB out for a slow hack/trail ride around the park to stretch his legs. Then on Friday Heather comes up and we’ll do a schooling session on-site before we compete on Saturday morning. Our Saturday morning ride (2^nd level AA freestyle) will be live broastcast on USEF Network if anyone wants to watch him go. I just really hope I can master the second level freestyle because I really love the choreography and music! You bet I’m going to try my hardest riding that thing this weekend! We could REALLY use that $1100 first place prize money (my bank account hates me for doing 2 big out-of-town shows in 2 months)! And the BHB still hasn’t won his own prize cooler yet, so that wouldn’t hurt either ;). With only 2 classes this weekend, the BHB should have plenty of energy to nail every movement.

Last weekend the BHB was officially approved into the Irish Draught studbook and he’ll be sporting an IDHSNA breed society saddle pad during our classes/awards ceremonies. The Irish inspectors liked him, although they said his but was not voluptuous enough to score super high. Oh well, at least it more than serves the purposes we need even if he’s not “all about the bass” like many other Irish Draughts. He proceeded to show them his most plodding gaits ever during the inspection, much to my dismay. I just wish I could have shown them his gaits undersaddle when he actually can be coaxed to giving effort to his work.