Update from Fair Hill

Here we are at the Fair Hill International three-day event. The dressage was good for all three horses - Rox was a little bit tired he was quite good and he scored pretty well, but I felt like he lost some points in the canter work. Maybe he was getting a little tired. But the work he's been doing is very good. For Rox and George, they're so improved in general but they're in the process of gaining strength in the dressage. Rox got a 54, which is fine, but I know he can score even better than that.

George had one of the most relaxed tests I've had with him; if anything he was behind my leg. He was moving beautifully and was the most relaxed and rideable he's been, but after watching the video again and again he was a little bit fussy so I plan to talk with Betsy about that - maybe he was also tired. Unfortunately he scored quite high but I was happy with him, especially since he never really lost his cool anywhere. This is a new side of him that we have to work on!

Joey was great, his trot work was lovely and his canter work was very good. He was a little tense on his right lead and before his changes but he was rideable and so good in the dressage. The lessons with Betsy have paid off tremendously - it's a good place to progress from.

Rox jumped the best he's ever jumped today. He's a big horse with a big stride and sometimes he doesn't like to put himself together, but he only made one mistake when he got a little exuberant into the sunken road, so he got close to the up bank and scrambled up, so I stopped and regrouped and took the alternate route, so we lost a little time but in all it was a good confidence builder before moving up next season.

The other two jumped around the 3* beautifully. This is George's first three-was and he was great, he was so confident and we never lost the rideability, I felt like he matured tremendously today; even with the crowds and roping, which he's never seen, he was a good boy.

Joey was such a lot of fun to ride cross-country: it feels like finally instead of pulling I can kind of kick him around. It's like riding a big pony out there! In the very beginning he got a little strong and I think I lost a little time there - we had a few time faults - but other than that he was pretty perfect and jumped great. We were looking for a good, confident practice round to prepare for next season, and that's what we had today. It was a good course and great footing. Joey is currently in fourth place in the three-star.

Here are the scores for the event.

So far they all look good - we'll give them a good rest tonight and hopefully they'll all feel good tomorrow!

-Kristin