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"Sweet Emotion"

River Ridge was an amazing start to my show season with It's Aerosmith and The Norseman. My mom and I drove up to Columbus on Thursday and arrived in roughly three hours. I slept for most of the ride so it was a really quick trip for me. I was anxious and excited for my ride on Tyler that night because I hadn't shown him since the American Royal.

This picture was taken after my first class. Tyler liked eating the ribbon more than taking the picture.

My mom and I stayed downtown, right across the street from a really cool market. I love staying downtown because they have great shopping and food! My favorite restaurant in all of Columbus is Northstar Cafe. I think we, no joke, ate their about six times in our two and a half day stay in Columbus. Since we were so early we stopped in the market and I got a bubble tea smoothie because I was too nervous to eat anything else. There are so many cool vendors in this market; my mom got the most delicious raspberry donut. Usually we are to arrive about an hour before showtime ... we arrived to the show two hours earlier! Needless to say I think I may have been a little nervous.  

We had sat around for a while chatting and staring at each other when my trainer Jenn decided I needed a distraction. I walked up to the ring with Jenn and she gave me some words of advice and motivation like we had done the prior year, and I found this activity to be very calming. Then to kill more time I went and got my hat rolled. I seem to be incapable of keeping my hats in proper shape, plus I like to visit Dale Becker. Right before I got on Tyler I did my pre-show yoga stretching with Jenn, which is highly entertaining to witness. After the stretching I do the superman pose for a few minutes because my instructor, Betsy, believes "it is a pure confidence builder." However, Betsy does this pose better than anyone -- ask her to do it the next time you see her. After all my silly yet vital little rituals I was ready to show.

This picture was taken in the warm up arena right before our championship class.

Showing Tyler for the first time this year was very different than last year this time because we have kind of made a name for ourselves. My championship ride on Tyler was 10 times better because I was much more relaxed and confident. We got in sync and it was a great ride. We were the unanimous winners. I was especially pleased with my ride because we did not cross canter, which is somehting we have been working on all winter (remember the bloody knees blog?)

The Norseman and I also had a great show at River Ridge. We were in one of the biggest classes of the show, as it usually is, since I show in show pleasure. There were ten in my class and only six get ribbons, so my goal was to ribbon. In my first class I got fourth and then in my championship class we moved up a place and took third. I was so thrilled to do well with Hans because I love showing him and it was a fun class. Hans has taught me more than any other horse and he has made me a better rider. Hans is currently for sale since I will be in college in the fall and he will be greatly missed once sold.

River Ridge 2016 was perfect and I am so thankful of my trainers for getting my horses ready for this year and helping me to achieve my goals. Also, I want to thank my mom for supporting me and going to all these wonderful shows and sharing all these amazing adventures with me. River Ridge was a ton of fun and I can't wait for the rest of the show season! Yeah Boy!

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