First Preliminary for The Game Plan

Groton House Farm - always a wonderfully hosted event and a great meeting place for Area 1 Eventers. From the complimentary coffee and donuts in the morning, to the wine, cheese, and buffet competitors parties in the evening, it is one of Great Bay Farm's favorite events!

Groton House I is know to be a good early season move up course for a Preliminary horse and proved to be true for The Game Plan (aka Hershey) this year. Hershey preformed well with a dressage score of 36 - only 3 points out of the lead. A clean cross country round and a few time faults moved him into second place.

The pressure was on for show jumping ... it was a technical course with a couple of roll-back turns and big square oxers. Hershey was great, but we still have a few kinks to work out at this level. A couple rails cost us the 2nd place, but we still came home with a ribbon.

GREAT SHOW HERSHEY!

GMHA

Second event of the season and the horses and riders of Great Bay Farm seem like they've been together for years! This weekend's show at GMHA was more about seeing and supporting our fellow riders than the ribbons. We were stabled with many friends from Maine, as well as 5 dogs and 2 non-riding children. It was a full house! And it was a strange weekend, in that several riders experienced technical penalties. While these kept us from the ribbons, everyone learned something new about the sport, themselves, and their horses. The horses - they never knew anything was wrong and performed like stars with clean cross country rounds and within time. The riders were able to be support of their friends and share their own past stories. One said they had forgotten to salute the judge, several had missed stadium jumps at one time or another, and another recalled how they had started out with the wrong dressage test. Although none of these are devastating, they remind us that it's not about the ribbons - it's the love of the sport that keeps us coming back for more. HAVE A GREAT RIDE!