Costume Classy.

The BF and I caught the fun portion of today's dressage show (I know, boourns to missing W and B), but it was still a total blast. I love any chance to explain to people about horses or dressage, and the BF was the perfect student.

It was pretty cool to watch the 'freestyle' class, which was dressage ridden to music, with or without a costume. Since it was a fun show, the class was open to all riders. Hence we had everything from walk-trot training level to 2nd level pros (yes, the pros go to fun shows too!).

Incredible.

The one pro looked amazing in her hockey jersey, riding to the traditional rink music! This girl is phenomenal in a regular show, and no surprise she even made a jersey and 'we will rock you' look beautiful! Her horse was a perfect mover, and it was great to show the BF some of the moves we'd someday like to perform.

There was also a really talented young rider, probably training level or one higher, who just had a great connection with her horse. The BF thought she did the best when taking into account her riding level, as even though there was no piaffe, all of her transitions matched the music perfectly, her tempo was great and she seemed to float with her horse.

The last horse was another one of these 'high schooled' horses, probably 2nd level again, but did NOT have the look of the first pro. This horse was over bent, it's nose tucked nearly to its chest. While the first horse had it's head on the vertical and was foaming nicely, this one looked unnatural and was pretty dry mouthed. Never mind horse #1 was ridden in a nice snaffle, while this one was in a double bridle (meaning leverage bit), curb chain and flash noseband.

You can imagine our sadness when the young rider didn't even place, the first pro got third and the horse with it's head cranked in scored first. Guess that's what happens when you get an audience to score!! : P

Unfortunately my camera card had a fatal error and now only gives me two options: power off or reformat. Um, what about, view pictures? Nope. And powering off just means that it asks me to reformat the next time I turn it on! : P

Hope to see W ride tomorrow, so I might wind up nuking today's shots and starting again. Confounded cameras.

: ) Oh, and the BF was really supportive of me and Moon working towards competing ourselves, having seen where we want to go. He used to always wonder why I was taking lessons when I know how to ride and Moon is rideable. He said what we watched today was way more impressive then any of the jumper shows we've watched live or even the pros on t.v. Apparently he can see how much effort must be involved to train and ride those moves (even what the young girl was riding). : ) It's nice to know your partner is starting to 'get it'! He even promised to come cheer us on next year, which is really special to me.

Now to watch some dressage on utube to finish the night!