Bug showing off his pretty mint green 12th place ribbon
Wow! I am still grinning from my weekend at the AEC’s. Bug and I jumped one of ten double clear rounds in the Intermediate show jumping, and I felt like we put in a really nice round. I am so glad that I decided to bump things down to Intermediate for the fall. It is just what my confidence needed, and I think it is really going to give us the time to solidify things to come out swinging at Advanced next spring. We ended up finishing 12th out of 38, having moved up from 24th. Unfortunately, I was in 18th when I went in to show jump, and my math skills must not have been very good… I thought I wasn’t in the ribbons. I took my pony back to the barn, took care of him, took off my boots, etc. When I checked live scores, I realized that I had, in fact, earned myself a ribbon, and they were almost finished with the division. So, there may very well be pictures of me receiving my ribbon dressed in wild socks (I was channeling my inner Sinead Halpin), bright sneakers, and a polo shirt. Nice. Well, it was a memorable experience, anyway. Bug is pretty sad that he missed out on the victory gallop, but he was still excited to have his picture taken with his ribbon. I am thrilled with our first run of the fall season!
The AEC’s are a great way to really get the feel for a championship event at all of the levels. I think it’s a great thing that the USEA has done. Congrats to everyone who came home with ribbons and prizes, and congrats to everyone who got to complete!
