Getting ready for Parker Horse Show

Next up: Dressage in the Rockies. Three days work of horse showing, and lots of hours in the truck. Is it worth it? This will be, besides our outing to El Paso, the biggest dressage show I've been to with B--he's ready, I hope. I'm working very hard on "connection" right now, but I have to say, in retrospect it seems that I work on the same basic movements time and again with clinicians. It seems like it might not be worth it sometimes, especially given the expense. They come in for a few days every three or four months, and what they see is a horse that isn't going the way they want him to go, so they start again from the beginning. So you're (or me, more accurately) back down at the beginning of the training scale again, instead of working further up the pyramid. It's all quite confusing sometimes; who to train with, how to train, when to move on and when to stay put at your current level. 

In the meantime, I feel pretty good about where we are, and I guess that's what's important. I'm finally starting to get that feeling of B reaching toward the bit, not sucking back underneath it. And I'm feeling his strength grow, too. This morning, after a few days off, he felt really energetic and not like the stiff old man he sometimes feels like after he's had a few days off.

That's all good.