It's Show Time!

I have lots of tidbits to share, but have to make this as quick as possible as I have to polish my boots and get to bed, because Katchi's show season starts this weekend!!

This Saturday, we will be at the CDCTA Horse Trials in Culpeper, VA at the Locust Hill Preserve. Info at http://www.cdcta.com/
Ride Times: Dressage 10:38, Show Jumping 11:38, Cross Country at 12:08
If you're in the neighborhood, come on by! Sorry mom, no live scoring on this one.

It's supposed to be about 80 degrees on Saturday, and despite his trace clip, Katchi is still pretty furry. I've got some pretty rational concerns about our fitness level - especially mine! And, to top it all off - we only have an hour between our dressage and jumping times - for everyone who knows me, you will know that I am just about panicking over this! Luckily I have my great friend and student, Debi, coming with me to groom. She's going to have a busy hour helping me untack, undress, water, un-braid, stud-up, boot-up, re-tack, re-dress, and warm-up... what did I miss?? And Katchi and I won't even get our much loved nap before jumping! So, it should be an interesting day! I didn't recognize too many names in my division, so I did a little searching using the USEA horse search (LOVE THAT!) and I was really shocked to see that about 1/3 of the division just competed at Morven Park last weekend. Only one appeared to have gone south and had several other 2010 score postings, including Morven. Given all this snow and terrible winter - how are people fit enough to run back-to-back weekends? Am I missing something?

To get ready for all this, here's the rundown of my plans for tomorrow:
4:45 out of bed to head to barn for the normal early morning ride
8:00 start the fight against traffic to get to work
1:00 leave work, to hopefully avoid traffic while driving to Culpeper
3:00 walk jumping courses - I sure hope the courses are ready at 3:00 like they promise!
4:00 head back to barn (hum, maybe a 2.5-3 hour drive??)
clean tack, bathe Katchi, and get braids started (I'll tuck them up when we get to the show on Saturday).
Sleep, sometime?

Fitness and winter fur aside (Katchi's, not mine!) I am feeling pretty okay going into Saturday. 2 weeks ago, I convinced 2 students to head out with me & Katchi to have a school around Loch Moy's schooling course. We had such a brilliant time! Katchi was so naughty on the little jumps, but he jumped the big stuff like an old pro. And we spent a long time playing over ditches, banks and water - in the Lucinda Green fashion of long rein, no big deal, over and over again. Also let Katchi do a little galloping over their beautiful rolling hills - I am thinking I need to start thinking about a new bit. I had taken him out for a little gallop earlier in the week at home, and I won't say he ran off with me, but close. I could just barely hold his pace but was so glad I didn't have to pull up for a long time - I could have stopped him if I'd needed to, but I was really glad I didn't need to, because it wouldn't have been easy. I had much the same feeling galloping around Loch Moy. Luckily, after this weekend, we've got the Lucinda Green clinic April 13-14, and she is the master of bits. So, whatever we need now, she'll sort us out!

Katchi turned 9 years old on Tuesday, and I bought him a massage! He loved it! I was cracking up, because he was full of razy faces letting us know just what he liked and didn't like! The really great news is that I jumped him a bit the next day, and wow! He felt SUPER! That's a great feeling to have going into the first show of the season.

And now a couple of quick follow-up notes...

I think I've sorted out the trailer door! Katchi was not successful in opening it during the last trailer ride, so that's some progress!

The Chronicle of the Horse had a nice article on the WEG long-listed show jumpers, including pictures of each one. I noticed that not a single one of the other riders looked anything like Beezie Madden. She is in a class of her own. I have her picture up on my office wall and in my tack locker at the barn - and I'm definitely trying to figure out how to look more like her - but I do feel a bit better about myself now!

The black eye is no longer black! There's still a knot on my cheek, and my cheekbone hurts like heck. But, after 3 weeks, at least I'm not looking quite so much like an abused horse rider.

If I can manage it, I'll try to take a few pictures of the XC course tomorrow to post. But, no promises. Remember, I have to sleep sometime!?!