Penny Oaks HT

We took two horses to the Penny Oaks HT at the Hoosier Horse Park in Indiana this weekend.  I rode Snoopy in his first Training and Brooke rode my husband's horse Cheddars in her first novice.  It was a very successful and fun weekend!  Snoopy has been very relaxed in the dressage at the last few shows and I have been able to get him a lot more up, which resulted in a 29 at his last event, but for some reason this weekend he was very wound up.  I just couldn't get the relaxation I needed to get a good score.  He was obedient, but very tight and tense and the marks and comments reflected that.  I was a bit disappointed in us, but hopefully he will improve on that score at Erie in two weeks.  The cross country asked a lot of questions including a full coffin, up-down bank in one stride to a 3 stride turn to a roll top, coop on a bending line to a corner, etc..., but I thought it was very fair.  Snoopy was awesome and exceeded all my expectations for his first training attempt.  He was more bold than he'd ever been and very trusting.  It was the most fun I've had on xc in a long time!  He easily jumped double clear, although was quite strong at the end.  I definitely needed more brakes!  He was very brave in the show jumping as well, but again quite strong.  He easily jumped clean, but had 2 time penalties because I had to fight him to listen at times.  He finished 5th and I couldn't be more proud of my baby!!  He's quite proud of himself  too!

Snoopy SJ Photo courtesy of Xpress Foto

Snoopy XC Photo courtesy of Xpress Foto

Brooke rode Cheddar's in her first recognized event which was also her first Novice level event and she did a fantastic job!  Cheddars is a great horse, but he has his quirks and he has severe separation anxiety at shows which can make him very difficult to handle in the warm-ups.  Brooke put him to work and had a lovely test to score a 33 and put her in 7th out of 22 horses after dressage!  This was despite that fact that he was screaming for Snoopy all the way through his test!  They had great clean XC and SJ rounds to finish the weekend in 6th place!  Way to go!

Brooke SJ photo courtesy of Xpress Foto

We had a blast and I also had a new experience that I have to mention: Mini Bikes!!!!  Brooke's dad Johnny brought up his two mini bikes for us to ride around during the event, and I have to admit I was very apprehensive about giving it a go!  I felt like maybe I should put my helmet and xc vest on before I even attempted it, but it was actually quite easy and tons of fun!  I did stall out on the xc by myself, but somehow managed to figure out how to get it started again.  Special thanks to Johnny and Brooke's friend Nathan who were incredibly helpful all weekend.  Thanks guys!  

Snoopy and Cheddars photo courtesy of Scott Snyder

PS Sorry about the bad photo-Snoopy was in no mood to stand still for his photo shoot!

Until next time.........GO EVENTING!