Tentative Show Plans

May 29th, St Croix Saddlery Three Ring Circus Schooling Show:

This is the same schooling show that I went to last year which takes place over Memorial Day weekend. It's tough for me to believe that it it only just under a year ago since it seems like so long ago now.

I posted about this show here and here. It was really my first show with Katai and although I signed up for two classes I ended up just doing one (Intro C) where I got a 35.25% haha.

This year my fellow boarder plans to do several rated shows and is just using this as a prep. She's invited me to trailer with her and we're both excited about doing shows together but I'm also a little nervous that I may end up jumping into rated shows after one schooling show especially with my previous score which was pretty dismal lol.

It's not that I'm worried about making a fool of myself, just that I don't want to spend the extra money if I've only ever scored 40% or below since it just seems like a waste. However, I've also got way more faith in myself and Katai and I feel like if we can just get a good few months of trailer loading practice out of the way that will be the biggest hurdle.

Because I plan on riding along with her to the shows she's going to the rest of these are all rated. I'm not sure if she'll do all or any of these but I figured I'd share the shows it's most likely that I'll be going to and then we'll see what happens!

Photo of the closest local show grounds

June 3rd, Spring Party Dressage Show:

This is a rated dressage show that takes place at a popular local fairgrounds which is the home of most of our local rated dressage shows. 

This would be the first rated show I'll ever have participated in which will be very interesting but it's exciting to just think about!

My show outfit plans! Now with black tack ;)

June 11th, Dressage at Alpine I and II:

I'm not sure if my fellow boarder is planning on this one since she's mainly shown at the other location but this is another beautiful local show grounds (at a very fancy, ritzy boarding barn) that's not too far aware from our current barn.

June 17th, Sun Dance Dressage:

I'm going to guess that we'll do this one instead of Alpine since it's back at the location that's closer to our barn. 

July 8th, Dressage at Alpine III and IV:

Again, not sure if we'll do this but it's a gorgeous location so I've sort of got my fingers crossed for these!

July 15th, Midsummer Dressage:

Back at the location that's close to the barn so I'm guessing we'll do this one :)

August 26th, Northern Lights Dressage:

Same location as most of the other shows. There were a lot of rated shows between Midsummer and Northern Lights but they're all a long ways away and I don't think that my fellow boarder plans to drive that far and I also don't really want to go to shows every weekend and, let's be honest, I've never done more than one show in a year so just doing a couple of these would be fantastic!

My main goal for this year is to just get some good experience and miles. Once we have more experience I'll be setting more goals but this year I'm just hoping to get to the point where we're both having fun and where Katai's behavior at the show is closer to how she behaves at home. If we can get that done this year I'll be so happy and really won't care what our scores are :)

There are quite a few more within a 4-5 hour drive but I don't know that either of us will be interested enough to do that this year. Maybe some day!!

Tentative 2016 Show Schedule

It feels crazy for me to even be talking about a show schedule for myself. As I’ve mentioned, I’ve done four shows in my entire life and three of those were when I was 13-14. We are really at the point where this makes sense though and I’m so excited! I’ve done some planning and this is what I’ve come up with so far, I may still add some as I’d like to have at least 5-6 opportunities to get Katai out this year for exposure more than anything.

May 29th - Three Ring Circus Schooling Show

This is a big local schooling show that has dressage, hunter, and jumper classes. I’ve been here as a spectator/groom before for a couple of friends. It is quite chaotic and tends to be a show that a lot of people bring their young horses to. That makes it perfect for me and Katai because the more chaos the better and I won’t feel judged since I won’t be the only one with a screaming young horse. The other thing that makes it perfect is that several people from my barn are going which means multiple open trailer stalls.

June 25th and July 23rd – St. Georges Dressage Schooling Shows

St. Georges is a local FANCY dressage barn with board in the 4 figures. My trainer has said that these are low key schooling shows and that it’s worth signing up for the show just to ride in their footing J

September 3rd – Dog Days All Breeds Dressage – schooling show

This one I’ve gone to as a spectator as well. It’s put on by the local Arabian group who do a few Arabian specific dressage shows. This one is for everyone but the main thing that makes it a good option for me is that it is held at the location that most of the local rated shows are held. It would be great to expose Katai to this environment specifically for that reason since I’m hoping that maybe, just maybe, next year we can do a rated show or two.

There are some great schooling show options in between and after these shows that I can fill in. Each of them have their own challenges and no matter what I’ll have to try to find a way to bum a ride which limits what I can commit to ahead of time. I do have to try to avoid signing up for anything in August because work will be extremely busy and I’ll likely be in WA again that month since we are opening a new site in Seattle.