SLADS August Classic: Saturday

Both days, I had afternoon rides near the end of the show day (between 3 and 4 p.m.), and our group also had rides starting around 7 a.m., which made for some long days! It didn't even occur to me NOT to show up for the early rides, since those riders are frequently the ones reading for me and helping out, so I wanted to do everything I could to support them too! Obviously they didn't need readers (and I'm terrible at that anyway lol) but I could carry a rag and water bottle, and film their tests, etc. etc.   

The GMO hosting the show was celebrating their 50th anniversary, and my barn got a table to celebrate that and have somewhere to watch Sunday's century club ride (which was also a rider from the barn, so exciting!). 

Ruby was bright eyed and bushy tailed when I showed up. 

Based on the shavings she was wearing, she slept better than I did, haha. 

Ari, my favorite <3 

Snoozing in front of her fan.

I was a little worried if I didn't get my whites/teal boots on in the morning, I would be too sweaty/legs too swollen to get them on later, so I showed up to the venue in my white breeches wearing some leggings over them, which conveniently also went over my boots!

Our participants packet had a coupon for a free snow cone and it hit the spot around noon when it was BOILING hot. 

Barnmate braided her forelock for me - she does the best braids! I'm always triply grateful for Ruby being roached when I watch everyone else braiding, lol. 

Lots of comments about my particular brand of matchy matchy lol

Some friends showed up to cheer me on/watch the show <3 I got to hang with them for a bit and watch a few rides before I had to go start tacking up. 

This was actually after my ride, but it so closely mimics one of my favorite photos with Topaz EVER that I saved it out of order on my phone so here you go lol. 

Don't get excited, 1/1 and 2/2 lol. 

I came back Saturday after dinner for night check, just to be safe. Ruby was snuggly. 

The tests themselves were okay - nothing spectacular, but my brain did stay mostly functional so I'll call it a win! At this point the details are hazy - I know TrainerB was there for part of at least one of my warm ups... possibly both?  Not sure if she saw my tests or not (we had sooooooo many riders and ride times spread across both rings!). Both tests scored in the neighborhood of 57% and change. We definitely didn't produce the work we're capable of in lessons, and had some issues with breaks at the canter and then Ruby completely flipped me the bird in our first leg yield in test 2 (which I'll take responsibility for, I'm sure it was my fault in some way lol). Our lengthenings didn't have much energy (to be fair, neither of us did haha), and my geometry is always questionable. But considering the summer we had and the lack of prep work leading up to the show, I'm not mad about any of it. I think we did about as well as could reasonably be expected all things considered. When TrainerB checked in with me later, I told her I made decisions throughout the entire test, even if they weren't always the right decisions, which was my goal. So yay for attainable goals! haha

Photos below are all by Bethany P Photography and used with purchase!

Post-salute pats for the best girl! I definitely teared up after our final salute because I was so happy that we made it back, against all odds and obstacles, and that even if we weren't going to wow the judges or any of the spectators, *I* was so happy with how far we've come.