Regional Wrap-up and my YIR

Sorry I got off track while actually at regionals, I had plans of keeping everyone updated every day, but due to being exhausted and fighting off some sort of bug at the hotel, I didn't do a very good job. 

So here we go...

Friday:
All together an awesome day.  Tawny had her Training Level Open Championships that day and she totally rocked it with Gem.  They won their division with a solid score of 72%.    Team BEC was off to an awesome start!

Elizabeth showed in a regular First Level 4 class and placed 3rd.  I got to do some awesome shopping with Shari and even braided a cute little PSG horse for someone else (yay!  a client, lol)

Finally, as the day wound down there was time enough to take Bastian for a couple of turns around the warm-up ring.  I had cruised by the Show Photographer earlier in the day and looked at my pictures from my Test on Thursday, wow were my shoulders ever hunched.  I could have moved right in to Notre Dame, seriously. 

So Kristin had me being much more aware of my body position and Bastian felt so much better than he had on Thursday (translation, the better I ride, the better he is...duh!)  The Warm-up ring itself was a whole 'nother issue.  I have never liked warm-up rings.  Ever.  I'm not sure which is scarier anymore, a hunter/jumper warm-up ring or a dressage ring. 

I try to stay in my own little space and be aware of where other people are and what they are doing, but come-on people.  Dressage people suck because we don't stay on the rail, we are always doing figures, diagonals, leg yields, shoulder ins, tempi changes, etc. etc.  So anyway there were some crazy horses in the warm-up and it fried both mine and Bastian's nerves a bit, but I managed to stay on which is I guess the only important thing, right? LOL

I ride at 8:49 on Saturday.  I am freaked out and need some serious syking up.  We got to the show grounds at 6:30 ish AM, which gave me just enough time to braid and brush Bastian and get dressed and tacked up.  Which was probably a good thing because it meant I couldn't actually focus on the fact I was about to ride in the Region 1 AA Training Level Championship Class.  I'm just a little podunk pony, this, to me, is the big time.

Bastian warmed up very nicely, again there was some schooling ring drama, a big old black warmbloody thing terrorized my horse and then I think I might have been stalked by a Bay PSG horse because she thought maybe I had purposely gotten in her way.  It was crazy, but despite all that, we managed to warm our selves up. 

Our test went very well, the only place I want to lodge a formal complaint on is the second half of my centerline.  Someone was walking their horse in a BRIGHT WHITE full cooler, blowing in breeze right next to the judge's car at C.  While I fully feel that Bastian should be trained enough to ignore something as trivial as this, he didn't.  He did his best giraffe impression yet between X and into the corner between C and M.  After that, he was the bestest little Dragon ever. 



Here is the video of our ride and our subsequent journey into the coliseum to collect our ribbon.  I recieved a 68% from one judge and a 66% from the other for an average score of 67%.  That was good enough to earn us a 6th place! 

He's got the evil eye going on there, but look at that awesome ribbon!!  He was so good during the awards ceremony, until a big black horse (7th place) decided to pass us and pin him next to the judge's stand.  sheesh, she was in a hurry to get done in there, I on the other hand had travelled 12 hours and wasted all of my personal days from work to enjoy my victory lap, so I didn't feel the need to go super fast, I wanted to enoy it. :)

Elizabeth also rode, showing in her Training Level Jr/Yr Championship Class, she finished in Fifth place and got a lovely white ribbon.  On Sunday, Elizabeth rode in the First Level Jr/Yr Championship and won 5th place.  Lilly was awesome on Sunday!  They had a fabulous test. 

Sunday was also the First Level Championships for the Open Division.  Again, BEC rocked!  Tawny and Gem took 5th place and Kristin and Zoe took Reserve Champs!! 

Basically, 6th place was the lowest Championship class placing for the BEC team, we were in the ribbons in each of our classes.  Not too shabby in my opinion. 

So as my year winds down, I see that I have accomplished several of my goals. 

1)I competed at regionals.  I was hoping to be in the top 10, and I was 6!  That is "this close" to being in the top 5!!!!!!

2) I won a year end award.  Bastian and I were the Reserve Champions in the Grand Haven Schooling Show Series.  ☺

3) I had a hell of a lot of fun!!!! 

The year to come....

Regionals was, unfortunately, my  last show for quite some time.  Basically I am tired of living in a black hole of debt.  So no more showing until I pay off all of my credit cards and all I have left is my mortgage and student loans.  The only exception is that I will go to Grand Haven and compete in a Training Level class at some time so that I am qualified for Regionals next year (In Cincinnatti!!!).  Otherwise we are on official hiatus. 

Thats all folks!

Regionals Day Two......

Another long day, but in the end, it was worth it.  We were all tired.  Especially Mr. B.  By the time I got around to grooming him, he had more sawdust on his blanke and in his tail then he did on the floor of his stall.  LOL.

Team Bauer rocked as usual.  Tawny and Gem took first in First Level 2 with a 75%.  Kristin and Zoe took third with a 68% in First Level 4, with a very explosive Zoe..... and Bastian and I took a third as well in our Training 4 class with a score of 68%.  First and second were tied with a 70.433 so I wasn't that far off! 

I was very frustrated with my riding on a personal  level.  I feel disjointed and unprepared.  Bastian is going great, I just either over-do it and over ride or freeze up, I haven't quite struck my happy medium, so getting a nice score like a 68%  was a good confidence booster, but of course I want to do better.  We scored mostly 7s with two 6s on our test movements and my collectives were a mix of 6s and 7s. 

This was my first show using my new para-equestrian classification as well.  I can now legally velcro my feet into the stirrups, woot!  Tomorrow I'll just school and then bright and early on Saturday morning I'll ride in my Finals class.  I promise to keep my focus and relax.   I'll try to get my video loaded tomorrow of my tests.

Until then....... wish us luck...

We're here (Regionals Day One)

Its official, we are checked in and moved into Barn B at the Region One Championships. :)

We rolled out of the barn at 6 AM this morning and arrived a mere 11 hours later in lovely, sunny Williamston, NC.  That 11 hours riding in Elvis was a blast, despite the fact that I stole some lovely cat naps throughout the day, but hey I was working on just 3 and 1/2 hours of sleep from the night before.  I need to make this quick so I can get some much needed sleep tonight....

Bastian got to travel in style in a four horse slant load trailer.  Look how stinkin' cute he is in his fuzzy halter!!  I have been saving that halter for nearly two years now, this was first time I could actually justify using it.  And it was worth it, this was Bastian's biggest trip yet.  He seems to have traveled fine and settled right into his stall as usual.  He was mostly upset because half-way here he ran out of hay to eat.  But lots of yummy hay and a fluffy stall quickly sorted all that out. 

We got moved into our stalls and tack room and then headed out to find our hotel and get some grub for ourselves.  While waiting for my chicken fingers to be served to me (that is my horse show meal, it is all I will probably eat for the remainder of the week), I dug through the show program to get the rest of my numbers:

There are 14 people in my Training Four Class tomorrow.  There are still 25 people in my Finals class on Saturday and there are 11 Thoroughbreds including Bastian here.  That means we have ten to beat for the Thoroughbred High Score Award, wish us luck!

I'm off to have some happy dreams.  More tomorrow!!