Long Road

Well, this season is going full force forward and it is interesting to see how the relations between our horses and the drivers has changed.

Buddy grew up a lot over the last 2 shows. At the Port Mayaka show, he was very scared of people. We did u-turns at almost every hazard before we even entered it because of the people at the in/out gates. But at the Nature Coast HDT, he never even thought about the people.  He really seemed to enjoy the attention.  They put us out between Advanced Ponies and the Advance Teams.

Little Dude and I are learning with each other. I think we have come a long way together this season.  With the Port Mayaka Holiday HDT 2011, I learned how deal with his nervousness in dressage and his excitability in the hazards. He was a handful, but we did it.  We had a lot of penalty points and we were 6 minutes early in the marathon portion, but we weren’t eliminated.  Fast forward to the Nature Coast HDT in January. We improved our dressage score by 16 points and I managed to slow little dude down in the marathon (a little too slow). I have also decided that I am going to try to get Little Dude up on the snaffle portion of his bit for dressage for the May show at Port Mayaka. It a goal I hope to achieve with him.

Going forward, the barn where Little Dude and Buddy live is hosting a cones and hazards clinic on March 3 & 4 and we will be there. I hope to pick up speed and confidence. And then the following weekend is the Black Prong HDT. I hope that I will get even better with Little Dude at this show. Miss Anna and Bunny will be there as well.

We will see how everything goes….