Great Plains Dressage Show

On Saturday, I accompanied Richal, her sister H., and Audrey to a recognized dressage show hosted by the Great Plains Chapter of the Oklahoma Dressage Society. Richal and her sister were competed; Audrey and I were acting as grooms.

It was a fun time, especially since they had late ride times- that meant we got to leave the barn at 10 AM. That's way better than the crack of dawn! The drive to the show grounds in Stillwater took about two hours; it was an uneventful trip except for H.'s horse Woody inexplicably falling down in the trailer. (How he did this, we don't know, as he was tied up in a slant load.)

We unloaded at the show grounds and set up our area and got to work. Audrey's an amazing braider and quickly started on Woody, who was throwing his head around like a total doofus.

Woody getting his hair did.

MOAR COOKIEZ PLZ

After braiding, it was off to warm up. It had rained most of the previous night and morning; the warm up was in a big outdoor arena that was absolutely flooded. Richal and H. warmed up in schooling pads and schooling breeches (in H.'s case, sweatpants over her white breeches). 

Woody and H. in the slop.

Richal and Diamante working that trot. 

Audrey and I spent half an hour scrubbing the horses' legs, girths, and bridles clean while Richal and H. changed in to show gear. Then it was off for their First Level tests.

Woody knows how to halt at X. Good job, Woody!

Both horses (and riders) put in lovely tests with quiet transitions, soft acceptance of contact, and good lateral work. H. scored a very respectable 67% for a first place in the amateur division. I can't recall Richal's score, but it was good enough to merit a second place in the open division. 

We had a bit of a break until their Training Level tests, so we sat around and ate snacks and gossiped about who's riding what and how that's going. The show was running a little ahead of schedule (thank god for small mercies), so both Richal and H. were off their horses by 6 PM. 

Good trotting, Diamonte! 

On the Training Level test, Woody didn't have much gas left in the tank (I guess it was falling down in the trailer, spazzing out while being braiding, and doing First Level) and didn't score particularly well, but Diamante was excellent, scoring a 66% and winning the open division. 

We loaded up the horses, grabbed some Taco Bueno, and got back to the barn around 10 PM. I was exhausted (even though I didn't feel like I'd done anything) and slept like the dead once I got home.

 Richal, H., and Audrey aren't bad for a bunch of dressage queens, but I gotta say that dressage shows are way less exciting than the dressage phase of an event. I mean, I didn't even see a horse jump out of the warm up ring once! Disappointing.