Let the Games Begin!

Okay, sorry for the title, the Hunger Games still has my mind reeling.

So long time, no post!

The last jumper show of the Reindeer Series was Sunday. We only jumped in one class, the Power and Speed, which we ended up winning, even though I said I wasn't going to go for time... What can I say? Once I was in there, Ben was having a grand old time and we just starting making tighter turns!

Here's the video from that:

We also were presented with our Reindeer Series Grand Champion award! We won a very huge ribbon and a cooler with 2012 Reindeer Grand Champion embroidered on it which is very cool! I've never won any prizes like this before, save for this one time at the ENYDCTA horse trials in 2009.

It was my first recognized event and my first Beginner Novice ever, and I was riding my trainer's 13.3 pony. We ended up winning. We won this awesome anti-sweat sheet, that had ENYDCTA Horse Trials written on it. Too bad it was a size 96! That was not going to fit my little 13.3 lease pony! I even tried to give it to a friend who had this massive 18.1hh horse, but it was even too big for him! So it eternally hangs in my garage because I don't have the heart to get rid of something that I won, but I can't do anything with it!

Other than that, I've only ever won prizes like horse cookies and tack shop coupons, which are great, but not the same thing as coolers or saddle pads or halters.

Here are some pictures of Ben and I being presented with our cooler and ribbon:

So Sunday was quite the fabulous day for us!

Today is the opening day for the very first event of the season, the King Oak Spring Horse Trials!!! Woohoo!!!

You can bet my entry will be going in the mail today because I am far too excited for eventing season to start! As I mentioned earlier, we are starting out at Beginner Novice so we should have a nice, stress-free first outing of the season. I promise I will be wearing my helmet cam which will be a whole lot of fun!

Today, Mr. Benjamin will get a pretty hefty dressage school. Tomorrow will probably be conditioning day, Thursday a dressage lesson. Not sure about Friday yet, and then Saturday we have a jumping lesson. There are only 18 days until the first outing for the season, a combined test, 30 days until Rolex (!), and 46 days until King Oak, which also happens to be my birthday! That gives me incentive to tell Ben "You'd better be good in dressage and go through the water, because it's my birthday!" Also, Ben's birthday is fast approaching, he will be 10 years old on April 1st!

So that's the tentative plan for the next month, I will be sure to keep everybody updated as we progress!

As always, thanks for reading!