Dance card

Summer is a constant stream of exhausting weekends, recovery, and then prep for the next exhausting weekend.  I've spent the last two days recovering from Valinor, and now it's time to set my sights on our next outing.  The next stop on the princess's tour is the UNH dressage show, so it's time to quit worrying about getting over obstacles and time to worry about being able to stop, turn, and adjust speeds.  And that whole training pyramid thingy that people keep talking about.  Supposed to be important?  I dunno.

Fiona certainly doesn't mind this.  I spent an hour today dodging ponies in a lesson and getting her stretched out and moving again.  She was very ready to get back to work.  I've heard it said that Thoroughbreds like having jobs and thrive with discipline.  I have to say that Fiona is one of them.  She may grumble a bit when asked to get moving when she's stiff, but once she's rolling, she is very happy to do her dressage homework.  The shoulder-in still gets a protest, but it's very difficult for her right now.  She's getting more accepting and obedient as we go, not that I expect our submission scores to ever get very good.  She has too many opinions.

I did hear back from the Jockey Club and it's official:  Fiona is not a registered Thoroughbred.  They weren't able to match her to any horse using DNA.  Alas, she is a grade mare.  I'm going to leave her paperwork as it is, since she's most likely an unregistered TB and I have no intention of ever breeding her, but it is a bit disappointing that I couldn't find her history this way.  It looks like we'll never really know where she came from.  Not that it really matters.  Papers are a distant second to being just awesome.

Clearly I'm not the only one that thinks she's awesome.  The same junior rider that took her to Mystic has asked if she can take the princess out to the Groton House Summer Classic.  Of course I said yes.  I always need help getting my girl the amount of work she needs.  For the next two weeks, Fiona has two riders on her dance card.  It's pretty easy to organize, since school's out for the high schoolers and I ride at night.  Two work outs a day suits Fiona and gives the junior rider plenty of time to get to know my rather quirky mare.  It does make some scheduling more complicated.

But it's entirely worth it to keep the princess in work as school starts to ramp up.  It's only temporary, but I'll take help where I can get it.  The princess is very demanding and no one has the heart to tell her no.