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.

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.

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!