Kyrewood - Dee

Dee had a trot around the grounds on Saturday after I'd ridden Neo- she had a good look at everything and took it all in, but doesn't shy or spook - so we didn't have a long ride, just enough to make sure she was feeling good and no more owchies from the seedy toe she'd had earlier.

On Sunday Dee's classes started a bit later than my other rings, so I had her saddled up and tied to the truck for quite a while - but she stands there really well (though she did keep pulling all the hay out of her haynet, throwing it under the truck, then looking at me as if she was hungry). Our warmup area was crowded at times, and Dee got a little distracted by some of the bucking and whatnot that happens at the practise fences in the baby showjumping rings - but it didn't take long to get her focused on just trotting around calmly:

The course was very nicely presented and I didn't think Dee would have any troubles with it. She popped over the practise fence happily, and did a super double-clear in the first class. We trotted into the first fence, but after that she cantered happily and never worried about any of the various fillers. In the instant jumpoff I asked her to do a few angles and she was happy to do that very calmly.

Our 2nd class was a TA2 (speed event) which Dee also won with some lovely tight turns and angles. As she is so calm I have found her really easy to turn in the air or do tighter rollbacks than I normally would on a young horse. It really helps that she has a lovely established flying change too, so her balance is always set up for the turn.

Our last class of the day Dee pulled out another super round, but in the jumpoff I took one of the fence just a bit too cheaply and my leg clipped the wing and we just took the top rail. I was still over the moon with how honest she was, and she didn't even seem to be getting too physically tired from the work - but starting to get a bit mentally overloaded by this point and falling asleep anytime I stood her still!

The fantastic placings in the first 2 events meant that Dee also picked up the points prize for our ring, completely with a stunning trophy:

Very pleased with how Dee is doing, and that she is such an easy horse to ride and handle. She is quite bum-high at the moment too, which is good, as she must be headed for a growth spurt... and looking at the difference bum to wither I think after a short rest while the ground is hard, then some more shows in the second half of this season - then a good winter break on nice grass... I think she will go 16hh which is really fantastic! She can start to grow into her head!