Can't have the blues when you win a blue

I won a blue ribbon today at the Ride to Thrive show sponsored by the Northern Virginia Therapeutic Riding Program. The show was broken up by schools so I beat the other folks riding with SPIRIT.

More importantly, though, I had one of my best show rides ever. Dada was in the ring, but she stayed as far away as possible, so I felt pretty alone with T, which was awesome. T was in wonderful form -- she stopped perfectly and didn't mind that we had to change a big circle to a small one at the last minute.

She had great rhythm, too. She only hesitated twice, once at the end of the circle when I suspect I pulled the reins or shifted oddly in my saddle. She also started to stop when we passed A the second time. We do have a halt at A on the first pass so I guess T just decided to pause there again. Both times, though, she started moving again with a click from me and Dada.

Dada said I surprised a lot of people with my ride. Even myself, to be honest.


It was fun to see everyone, too, gathered together. The only disappointing part: I did not get a photo of the Virginia Quarter Horse Association queen giving me my ribbon.