Laura has been working with Mighty Mangaroo since late summer so they are beginning to form a real partnership. I think this competition at Southern Pines proved to Laura (and to those of us who watched) that this is a horse for the future – a horse that she can compete and win with. Roo is a fabulous mover so his flat work looks easy. Don’t get me wrong, Laura has worked hard with Missy Ransehousen, Phillip Dutton, even Scott Haussler, on the dressage, and it is paying off. The horse is really laid back most of the time, which means there’s no drama when he’s working. But it also means she had to learn to push this horse, after years of working with horses that have to be kept calm and quiet, so it’s taken her a while to get the feel of keeping him going forward.
Cross country, Roo is very businesslike. He has a lot of scope, so the intermediate fences are easy enough for him. There’s still a lot out there that he hasn’t seen, but we are not in a hurry to push him up to advanced until he’s really ready. Laura tells me he’s a bit “looky” on course, including in the stadium round, but once he focuses on the jump, he just does his job. As they approached the finish line, he shied away from a patch of footing repair on course, and got a bit too close to a southern pine tree!
The event was a real event for us owners. The Professional Riders Organization is a new organization whose goal is to promote the sport of eventing, and a big part of the focus is to keep the owners happy. Now, at last, the owners can come in under the tent with the sponsors during the cross country and stadium phases. Lunch is provided, along with water and coffee, and even wine and beer. It was special for me – I don’t just join groups of people I don’t know, and am happy to be off by myself. At first I thought this will never work. The ladies in the sponsor tent are dressed to the nines, with makeup, earrings and hats – I leave my bling at home, and spend the days in my barn clothes (I might occasionally pick a stall or walk a horse- can’t do that in heels!). My only decoration is my owner’s bracelet that comes in the entry packet, and usually that doesn’t match my barn outfit. But I think it’ll all work out and we will begin to make friends in both groups. Surely the events wouldn’t happen without the owners or the sponsors. Maybe next time, I’ll bring some dressier clothes for show jumping day.
I look forward when we syndicate owners can party down through the entire weekend!
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