So, it goes, the last time I posted on this page was after the USDF Dressage Nationals in 2017. I was quite frankly despondent. Fourteen months later I feel like I have something to say. While I’ve had highs and I’ve had lows; these past months have weighed on me like no others. I remember being in the warm up ring at the Alltech Arena in Lexington, Kentucky taking my headset off my ear and telling my coach that I could not go into the ring and ride my freestyle. As my friends and colleagues looked on, I called it quits and left.
Between then and now I’ve been at home working on making what was not so good much, much better. It has not been an easy road. I made a commitment to myself as I left Kentucky not to go back into the show ring until I was ready to take on the challenge of riding my horse at Prix St Georges. If I wasn’t ready for that reach to the FEI level then I needed to hone my riding until such time as I was.
I work hard and I worked even harder this past year. I planned my schedule around my regions shows. I really wanted to show again. As the date approached to turn in my entry, I always came up short. My horse and I could do the movements; the problem was I wanted to do them knowing in my bones that they weren’t tricks. I had a need for honest to goodness thoroughness and the knowing that comes with it. I wasn’t looking for perfection. I don’t think that is ever attainable. I don’t know anyone that has received a score of 100%. I wanted/needed to know that I was not overreaching by showing this level.
It took over year but Winterfair and I just showed our first successful PSG and I could not be happier. It wasn’t perfect. We had some mistakes but I own them as well as the good. One of the judges this weekend commented: “horse confirmed at this level, pilot errors”. Well this rider, this pilot trained the horse to this level. I have had a lot of good help. Many thanks to my long-suffering coach Rebekah Wesatzke, Hans Biss and Conrad Schumacher. All of you were instrumental in our success. Thanks as well to my students who helped me in more ways than you can imagine. Last thanks to my horse who has put up with so much on our journey. It has taken many years for her to decide she likes me and she has begun to show it.
As always onward and upward, there is nothing to see behind.