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!