Luckily for me, the Training Horse division showjumped first thing Saturday morning, which meant not a lot of time to sit around and ponder and contemplate how good or horrible your showjump could be!  I like to just get things done – this waiting all day thing is just totally overrated.  Anyway, Gemini got all braided up again, much to his dismay and we headed over to the warm-up.  The course looked like a fun ride, with some twisty turns I knew I was going to have to keep pushing through.

   Surpringsly I wasn’t that nervous about it.  I figured it would just be it would be and as long as I rode it well and didn’t completely embarass myself we would be alright!  The first couple of fences were a little iffy and I remember coming around a turn thinking ‘Fix your canter you idiot!’.  So I did.  And then the next few fences were brilliant!  I was elated, and got to thinking that I was doing pretty well and then had a couple ugly last two fences because I was all excited that I had improved myself mid-course.  Ha.. oh well, my horse is awesome and jumped clean out of an icky spot and we got away with no jumping penalties.  Yay!

   I didn’t think we’d move up so was just thrilled that we had placed top 10 and was excited about that as we waited for the rest of the division to finish up.  One thing I do miss about doing the format where you showjump last and do awards right after is that tenseful waiting to find out how you did.  I got called back in the ring, as I expected, but after they anounced 9th place, and then 8th place, I started to get a little anxious – I couldn’t have moved up that much!  Turns out we moved up to 6th place with our clean round and won a few prizes with that!  Gemini benefits from this mostly, as he won another set of ice boots (go figure!) and some Back on Track pillow wraps that look really nice, as well as some riding gloves for me.  I was just relieved that everything was all done and we’d had a good time!

For some reason, the jumping phases are less stressful than the dressage.  I mean, you don’t have to braid and get all fancy looking, you just have to look like you are ready to take on the world!  Hahaha!  Or not.. maybe…

  Anyway, we had all morning to lounge around, shop and prepare for the cross country this afternoon.  We couldn’t have asked for better weather, although the constant sunshine has made for fairly hard footing but what can you do?  Gemini got all dressed up in his new goodies.  This, my friends, is the secret unveiled – some final little touches to our ‘cross country ensemble’ !!!   He looks pretty darn good, eh?

It was a nice hack across the street to the cross country course and it quite reminded me of doing roads and tracks… having a little hack and passing by other riders who had just been on the course and coming back excited and thrilled.  I had plenty of time to take my time warming up and seeing what kind of horse I had with me today.  Gemini apparently is sick of living in a trailer or stall since Monday because he was quite full of himself, so I let him have a little canter and hand gallop to stretch his legs and feel better about himself.  We started over a few fences and he was just all business, full of dynamite and ready to jump his eyeballs out!  Now, they had 2 start boxes set up on the course – the start box by the warmup area had been used earlier for the other divisions that day, but the ring stewards had taken the chairs by the box and were using this as their area to call riders from to proceed to the lower start box a few hundred yards away.  I rode by once, not even thinking, to find out how many riders ahead of me and as I rode away suddenly felt like I was sitting on a time bomb!  Suddenly it occured to me that we had just been standing by a start box and Gemini was getting his adrenaline up.  We better stay away from there until it’s our turn!  When we made it to our start box for real, Gemini was bouncing around, going sideways, jigging, anything he could do to get his little butt in that start box and on course!  If he keeps this up, I think I’m going to need a handler to help me out of the box!

   We rolled out on course and had several nice early fences.  Not quite as smooth as I would like at the early combination, but we were just starting to get our rhythm.  We came through the first water, which was where a series of tough double and triple combinations began, with no ‘filler’ fences in between.  By the time we had come through the water, over the bank complex and to the coffin, Gemini was a little bewildered and got a little wiggly at the coffin but we made it through.  We got things pulled back together to get through the last water combination and the last few fences felt great, although I will admit we did take a bit of a flier on that last fence – GOT to stop doing that, LOL!  Clean and clear brought us up to 9th place at the end of the day… boy I hope we can jump showjump clean tomorrow!  It’s been such a cool experience and just amazing to be here anyhow, so who can complain really??

 I kept myself busy throughout the morning with the routine feeding and mucking chores… then braiding and grooming and trying to fill in all the empty time leading up to the dressage so that the nerves don’t start to filter in and occupy your mind.  Anyone who’s competed knows what I’m talking about!  Anyway, I gave myself a lot of time for warm-up, a nice hack over to the other side of the facility for the dressage, but even after a good 45-60 minute warmup, Gemini was still a bit not entirely comitted to the idea of doing a dressage test today!  I used every trick I have to get him to loosen and supple and take the contact and felt semi-successful.  I know my horse well enough and could tell that he just wasn’t focused today.  I’m sure he could pick up on my anxiety and the electric atmosphere of the event – after all there is a LOT going on, the warm up area was packed and tensions were high from every one.  Gemini’s pretty smart – he knew this was a big deal!  Unfortunately, he decided that was an opportunity to be all looky at the flowers around the ring and wonder what was going on along the path over there while we are in the dressage ring.  Silly pony.  I rode my best and worked with what I had, but Gemini was just tense enough and not connected that several of the movements weren’t as smooth as I know they can be and he wasn’t as through and supple as he can be.  I was pretty disappointed with the test – not necessarily with my riding, or my horse’s behavior, but just with the fact that we just weren’t here on our best day and that was the best we could bring to the ring at the moment.  Oh well though, I know for sure that my horse is better than that, even if we didn’t prove it today and there’s always another day to do better!  Our mediocre left us in 10th place, I suppose not all THAT bad in the big division full of professionals!

   After dismissing the dressage and setting our thoughts on the jumping phases to come I headed off to walk the cross country course.  It looks like a blast to ride with some really fun combinations and questions and if I ride it like I know I know how we should be alright.  Hopefully Gemini will feel the same way!  Afterwards he got another treatment of Infrared therapy for his ankles which should have him feeling extra good for cross country tomorrow!

So here we are in Chicago after a ridiculously long drive but safe and sound nonetheless.  Today was a sort of rest, get things organized and prepare for the big competition day.  I took Gemini out for a little school this morning, stretching his legs and making sure our dressage was still all in tact and he hadn’t accidentally left it in Virginia or something.  Turns out he brought most of it with him, well, except for that focus thing – he was pretty distracted today!  He’s usually really good on the showgrounds, staying well behaved and being very obedient, but his attention was all over the place today!  I did get some decent work and I did get him loosened up, but didn’t get very close to our *best* work.  I know it will be better tomorrow, and I didn’t want to push him too much after the long drive and a long weekend ahead of him, so I settled with what I had (which wasn’t all that bad, I don’t think, however Windchase has taught me to be a perfectionist!). 
  When we got back to the barn there was a guy giving some treatments with Infrared therapy, so Gemini’s ankles had a nice session with those.  Then it was bath time, which Gemini hates anyway, and to add more suffering to it, the water in the wash stalls was freezing cold and a breeze had picked up, so Gemini was not thrilled!  But he’s still having a good time, he walks around strutting his stuff, and I know in his head his life’s theme song “I’m Too Sexy” is just playing in the background.  I’m trying to stay away from all of the tack vendors and goodies, but I couldn’t help myself when I came across a perfect new item to use on Friday’s cross country.  The surprise will be unveiled later, Gemini promised to pose for a picture. 
   Dressage at 11:30-something tomorrow…. will update later but wish us luck and think happy calm, engaged, hold the bit and stretch into the contact dressage thoughts for us!!!  =)