I have plenty to write about from the show, but before digging into it all and hashing out all my numerous mistakes and shortcomings (of which there were many!), I just want to take a few moments to say how incredibly lucky i feel and how thankful I am to have this horse.

Rio had never been to a show before I got him, much less a rated h/j show. 1.5 schooling shows and 3 rated shows under our belt may not be very many, but he is taking to this horse showing thing like a fish in water. He takes any joke I can throw at him, and is always extremely forgiving. My incredibly brave boy didn’t look at a single thing all week, and jumped every obstacle presented to him without hesitation. I could NOT be a prouder momma!

Ok, now that I’ve got the gushing out of the way, I’ll talk more about the actual show. Showing with Bay Yard is soo much fun! Stacie’s program is not only a well oiled machine,  it’s also the people that make it truly AMAZING. One of my favorite aspects of showing is the camaraderie with your barnmates, which has been especially fun since I am just getting to know everyone.

Trainer Julie rode Rio in the 3ft greens on Wednesday and Thursday. Rio was a bit nervous Wednesday, but Julie did a brilliant job guiding him around the ring and managing his canter stride. Rio dropped an unfortunate rail in both rounds, but they were schooling moments that needed to happen where he was trying to drag her to a long distance.

On Thursday I was interested to see how he would do now that he was a bit tired. In the past,  he’s been excellent on the first day, but a bit less focused and not as motivated on the second. Well, he showed us that he is developing an amazing work ethic because he was even better on the 2nd day! Julie and Rio put in some super solid rounds and pulled a 3rd and a 4th in a lovely group of 7. The relaxation and consistent rhythm will come with more time, and only help to improve their placings in the future. I was THRILLED to see Rio getting all of his lead changes, since it is something I have been struggling with at home.

He was also a very good boy in the under saddle and pulled another 4th!

I will write about my portion of the show tomorrow! Who else had an awesome time at Waco, or showed somewhere else this past week? Shout out to the Extraco Event Center in Waco and Blue Ribbon Show Management- the heat was not bad at all! I mostly forgot that it was late June in Texas!

YIKES! Forgot the video of Julie and Rio: