Ferriana at the Mini Trial

Ferriana absolutely rocked all three phases of novice level at the mini trial this weekend.  This was her first real horseshow, as covid frustratingly prevented us from competing last year.  So this was her first dressage test, her first showjumping round in an arena other than mine, and her first time doing a full cross country course here at Sunrise.  She had schooled cross country in many places, and done full courses at Moqui Meadows last year on their schooling show days.  I loved riding her and feeling her think through the course this weekend, clearly recognizing things and tackling them with skill and athleticism.

 

 

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 Here is the video for her dressage test - thank you to Linda M. for capturing it for us!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZK0bBN9a8Q

Ferriana got incredible scores on her dressage test, with 7s on her working canter, free walk, and medium walks, and a 7.5 for her gaits! The comments included "lovely, talented horse!"

 

Show jumping went well, too.  Ferriana is so incredibly careful over fences, with amazing jump form.  There were plenty of exclamations from the spectators, and several interested folks when I mentioned she's for sale. 

Since she had never seen the show jumps at Sunrise before, she did take a good look at the first couple fences.  She then launched over the standards in typical Ferriana fashion, with tight knees and super careful hind legs.

 

Here is the video from her show jumping round in the arena.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Lxd_36_auM&t=5s 

Cross country also went well for her.  She was quiet in the warmup/waiting area with all the other horses, and when it was her turn she took a good look at the first fence and then happily went over everything else.

As we approached the ditch, I could tell she was wondering what was coming next.  I rebalanced her, and once she realized it was the same ditch she'd worked on many times in the past she kind of locked on to it and took it bravely and in a forward manner.  It's so much fun to feel it "click" in the horse's mind!

 

 Ferriana has a great gallop, very balanced and forward.

Although she had seen it before, this was her first time actually jumping the chevron fence.

Here is the video of her cross country run

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfG5_Gb_Pfc&t=1s

 

It was a great day and I went home feeling super proud of my girl.  It's worth noting that she does all of this barefoot, and stands quietly at the trailer between phases munching her hay bag.  I'm so pleased with her and really eager to see how she does next time now that she has her first full eventing experience under her belt.

Thank you as always to Kimberly Hale Photography, and to Linda for getting videos of each phase.  I'm so grateful to have paparazzi!