Summer Dressage III at El Sueno

​My first show this season was interesting ... I had a little bit of a wardrobe malfunction, haha! My show boots were held together with my spur strap and the snap at the top! 

Zipper issue aside, the show went quite well. The horses were wonderful, if a little excited going down centerline. To be honest, Dazzle, Rocky, and I were all chomping at the bit to go down centerline again. Dazzle had some truly awesome moments, but there were some blips in her first Prix St Georges. Rocky was just through the roof excited to show his first Fourth Level test. I'm sure that the next show will find them both much more relaxed. Many thanks to Ardean Bennett and Jan Handlers for letting me train and show these wonderful horses that we bred and have trained together!

Dazzle

Rocky

One of my juniors, Cate, helped immeasurably by babysitting Rocky. He struggles with separation anxiety when the other horses or I leave him in the stall. He had to be monitored constantly during his first few months of foal hood; I'm sure that is why he gets so frantic. So while we've been working on this in small doses at home, there's still more to do. ​I'll be writing about his history soon.

Sneak peak of Rocky as a foal. He needed a lot of help to get to this point. It's no wonder that he thinks we are his herd.

The rest of Team Symphony was awesome as well! Jackie Duncan, my assistant trainer, and her baby, Dempsey, showed us how Training Level is done. They scored a 69% and 71%!

Jackie and Dempsey

Morgan Hurtado and Maizie finished earning their Third Level qualifying scores for CDS Junior Championship. Now, she has to work hard to improve the quality of the movements. Morgan has only been riding Maizie for 3 months, so moving up to Third Level while learning a new horse is a steep step up. She's very excited to be learning from Maizie.

Morgan and Maizie

Sarah Bishop and her OTTB Enzo were working on getting their game faces on for CDS's Regional Adult Amateur Competition. Sarah is already qualified for RAAC, so this show was just another opportunity to polish up their Training Level Tests in preparation for August's show at the Fall Fling Dressage Show in Paso Robles.

Sarah and Enzo

As always, Team Symphony continues to be busy showing and enjoying our horses. The next time you see us at a show, please stop by and introduce yourself. We'd love to meet you!