April rolled around and with it came the April showers - correction - downpours!
Rotorua Dressage Championship Show is our usual end of season competition, and one that we look forward to as it's only a short trip from home, and the group is such a friendly, relaxed one that we've made lots of friends at over the years so we're always keen for catch ups!
We arrived on Friday after work as usual, and managed to get Tech all settled and the tent up just before dark and before it started raining. Result! We had dinner and lots of the usual laughs and "witching hour fun" before bed, and hoped that the rain would let up in the morning for our first test at 10.30am...
Saturday morning was damp but were hoping the heavy rain forecast would hold off until after we'd ridden! Thankfully it did! Taya and Bex did an awesome job of getting Tech clean after a night in the yards that were getting rather boggy with the recent rain, and soon they were getting me on and into my warm up. I was really pleased with Tech and how he was listening well to me despite a few distractions around us. We managed to get ridden, off, untacked and back undercover before the heavens opened again yay!
Darren arrived that afternoon to crew for me after competing in a multi sport race Saturday morning, so we had the afternoon all relaxing and catching up before an early night ready for an early start on Sunday - my test was 9.15am!
6am alarms went off Sunday morning and Bex and Taya went out to see to Tech. The next thing I heard from the tent was "Jodie your pony is disgusting!!" as Bex led Tech past the tent towards the wash bays! Apparently Tech decided it was a good idea to play hippo in his pen overnight, and had manged to get mud everywhere - even UNDERNEATH his rug and all up the side of his face!! Techy!!! So poor Taya and Bex were tasked with getting him looking presentable again before Taya had to get on to warm up at 8.30am.
As usual they did a fabulous job while Darren helped me get ready, and at 8.30am on the dot, Taya was on her way out to the warm up. You guys are the best!! <3
Sunday's test felt good, and we even managed to score our first 10 for our halt in the middle of the test! Yahoooo!!! We finished the weekend as Champions of the Para Equestrian class with fellow Tauranga para team Aimee Prout and Larghmoor as Reserve Champions yay! All our hard work is paying off and it was a great end to our season.
Thanks heaps to my fab crew and also to Rotorua Dressage Group for a fab show. We love riding with you guys and will be back!
Huge thanks to Kaitlyn Perry Photography too for the fab photos! :)