The awards for the season have come out, and I am so proud of how each and every one of my students did- it truly was an amazing season (minus the plague). Knight and I have had quite the long road to getting to this point- we battled for four season through his explosive reaction to competitions and life, and survived his second colic surgery. Words can not properly convey how proud I am of this horse and how far he has come. We ended the year with both Regional Championships and NEDA year end awards in 3rd place (with a 69, and 69.7 respectively), and while I am still gunning for a cooler or a jacket I am still thrilled with where we landed.
My students had an equally awesome season- we ended the year with one USDF Bronze medal, junior Champion for USDF, one NEDA year end Champion, and 3 Reserve Champion placings! We are still waiting to hear back on the OTTB awards, but my student Claire on my pony Annika won the Seldom Seen Trophy, which is awarded to the highest placed Connemara ridden by a Junior in USDF competition.
I absolutely love competing, and as a perfectionist with OCD one of the things I love about Dressage is how structured it is and how everything is quantifiable. I truly love getting feedback from judges,, so throughout this season after every show I would spend a significant amount of time pouring over both footage of my tests and my scoresheets to isolate areas I could improve my scores in. It was also a lot more fun that Knight stopped adding his own improv into our tests and we actually could just ride instead of just survive.
One of the most crucial parts to Knight and my success this season was the guidance and help of my coach Kathy Connelly. Kathy is not only a vast wealth of knowledge, her kind and positive approach to teaching is so refreshing and inspiring, and it also helps that Knight adores her. I am so thankful for her guidance and help over the years, and so excited to get to keep working with her remotely while she is in Florida for the season! I hope everyone has a wonderful and safe Holiday season and that we can all be vaccinated and together next year.