Tiki's first IEA blue ribbon!:)

I am so proud of the boy! Loaded quickly on the trailer this morning, and drove VERY slowly through the rain to the barn. Arrived fairly later than I wanted, then had to sit and wait on people to get parked. He warmed up just fantastic. NOT fresh at all, not a single head shake, nailed all his leads perfectly, and jumped every jump without a single stutter. I was so proud.

Several hours later, it was time to begin. I got back on Tiki again and hacked before things got started. All of a sudden, he was spooking in the back corner. The judge was sitting there now, and people were wandering that hadn't been there, and he was just ... skittering would be the word. Jumped him back and forth over the 'trot' jump about 6 times, then turned in .

His girl got on to warm up, and he stopped at the first warmup jump. 3 times. Grrr. He jumped it the 4th time, then trotted the trot jump fine. The show manager pulled him from over fences, but left him in the flat stuff. I could have taken 5 minutes and schooled him around the course again and he would have been fine, but we were already an hour behind.:( So ... in his first flat his kid got a 5th. Not too bad considering she over-compensated and missed the LEFT lead. Put him up for a bit, then his next kid was one of mine. She's a quiet, timid rider that's pretty novice, but he was just a rockstar for her. Nailed the leads, did great with her rhythm and pace, and she got a 3rd. Last kid was a crossrailer, and she did GREAT. He was just quiet and chill and she got a 1st!!! Who cares that it wasn't MY kid, MY HORSE was so good. We ended up Champions (for the third time this season, woo hoo!)

So proud. He totally retained what he "learned" Tuesday. Trotted to the base of each jump, cantered in quietly, and was slow off the ground. LOVE my boy! He'll have tomorrow off, then work, work, work on Monday:)