Well so far my first semester of my junior year has kept me busy!!! Classes are going really well, hoping for a great GPA this semester!!! Flamingo Ball-the dance my roommate/co-chair organized went absolutely better than we could've asked for! (Look for a picture at the bottom-my dress was so fun!). I'm getting all set to go to England on January 5th!!! I'll be gone for 3 weeks! I am loving the Iowa Hawkeye football team...9-0 baby!!! I got to go the the game this past saturday with my family which was wonderful (well the first 3/4 were kinda frustrating, but they sure made up for it in the end).
My horse is doing just fine-she was acting up for a few weeks before fall break, and since none of that is in her nature at all I had our chiropractor (who is also a vet-they have to be) adjust her and do acupuncture and sure enough she was very tight and out of alignment. A lot of people kind of think I'm crazy for doing that, but it has made a complete difference in her, as soon as I rode her after that I had my horse's lovely attitude back and her gaits actually felt even better than before, so this is something I think she's going to definitely benefit from. It is so worth it because for those few weeks that she must have been hurting we were having frustrating and unproductive rides and I was really worried about her, I am SO glad she's feeling better and we can keep working towards our goals for next year, which are being set pretty high-I have faith in my horse and myself!
Anyway-to continue my posts about last show season after Otter Creek....
After Otter we headed to Catalpa Corners in Iowa City (so nice to have one close to home) for a 1 day schooling show, which went great! We had a pretty nice dressage test, about a 38-we still needed to really work on picking her up into a higher frame and getting her off of her forehand. We had another double clear stadium round, which was much quieter and less "leapy" than Otter, then ran a great double clear XC, good enough for 4th place in a division of at least 10, not bad for her 3rd show ever!
After that schooling show we headed to Fox River Valley PC horse trials in Barrington, Illinois. We were again entered in a Novice Horse division-an appropriate place for her to be because it designates that the horse is not experienced above the novice level, even though the ride may be (which I am, I'm not eligible to ride in the Novice Rider divisions). The only downside to these divisions is that a lot of times those divisions are full of professionals on young horses. A few times this year I just wished I had entered the open novice divisions because there were so many fewer horse/rider combinations in them, and we would've placed great, but it doesn't really matter because it's all still education for her at this point, I'm just building my partner for the future! Anyway-at Fox River Valley we had a wonderful dressage test!!! We had been really working on lifting Julia up into a more "grown up horse" frame, and getting her balanced onto her hind end. The results paid off with a dressage score that was 8 points better than our last one, good enough for a 30.5 (my best dressage score EVER!), which put us in 3rd place, within about a point of the leader. The scores were SOO tight! We had a wonderful double clear XC, she was brave and bold, but really paid attention-she LOVES her cross country! On Sunday we had yet another double clear stadium round-which I hoped would move us up, but of course, the first and second place people had great XC and Stadium too, so we kept our third place spot and earned a pretty yellow ribbon. I was absolutely THRILLED!!! It was a tough division and my little mare proved that we can run with the big boys!!!
Maui Jim was pretty successful too. We had a 34.8ish dressage, it was a little tense as the atmosphere at Lamplight Equestrian Center (in Wayne, IL) is quite electric in the HUGE arena, much different than any venue Julia had been too, so she was a little nervous, but handled it well! The scoring there is notoriously tougher too, so I was happy with my score. We were sitting about in the middle of the pack, in another tough Novice Horse division, really full of pros. For XC, I was about last in our division, and part way through XC it started POURING rain! (And i'm not exaggerating, I will attach a picture where you can see the rain on the water complex). Because the rain hadn't soaked in yet I knew the footing would be quite slick. Rather than risk my horse and my well being I decided to take the course nice and slow because I didn't know how Julia would handle the mud. We came out of it with some time faults, but a positive clear jumping round. My mare handled the mud great, she was very careful and cat-like! But the time faults moved us down a little bit (I didn't care at all, we were home safe and sound after XC and that's always my first priority, to have fun and be safe). We had one rail in stadium but overall a smooth and forward round. It was our last novice we would run until our first training at catalpa.
A few days after Maui Jim, Hannah, Grace, Lizzie H. and I (along with Ruth who stayed in chicago) were to go to Area IV Young Rider camp back at lamplight (weird, we felt like we had just been there...). Unfortunately Grace had a freak horse accident and was left with a pretty badly broken ankle (of course I was the only one there and we were both on horses, but I handled it well and we got help and everything was taken care of)....poor girl she was SOOO looking forward to camp and the rest of the season. But I am pleased to say she's back on a horse, though lightly still, and has healed up great and will be back at it strong next spring. But Lizzie H. Han and I went to camp to ride with Jon Holling, Allison Springer, and Richard Lamb (who I hadn't heard of but he was a good guy). I had lessons with both Richard and Jon, which went really well, especially XC with Jon-he was quite impressed with Julia and said that I had improved a lot since he saw me last year with Emily. From there, I sent my horse back home with Lizzie and Ruth, and Hannah and I headed (with super-mare Fantasia in tow) to the North American Junior and Young Rider Championships (NAJYRC) with the rest of the Area IV young rider team. I got to groom for Hannah and Fan and got many compliments on my grooming skills (thanks KSS team, we've been taught well!) We were at the Kentucky Horse Park for a week to compete, and while the teams didn't finish as well as we had hoped, it was an absolute blast getting to know all the team members and being a part of what is essentially the Junior Olympics! SOOOO Much fun- I can't wait to groom again next year, I'll age out next year though, SAD, I'll make the best of my last year though! Unfortunately I aged out of the 1* level, and don't have the experience yet to do the 2* team, but I am happy to groom and I can't wait for next year!
Anyway-I'll blog again about my last two shows of the year at a later date. It's time for a shower and bed before 8AM Microbiology!!!
Let me know if there is anyone reading this!!!
Oh yeah, pictures!!!
My Co-chair and I (on the ends) with a bunch of friends/committe members at flamingo ball!
Julia and I on our thursday night dressage practice ride at Otter Creek
XC at Maui Jim-Please note the massive quantities of rain drops on the water! It was CRAZY! We were SOAKED!!!!!!
