NDPC 2021 - Thursday

I won't keep you guys in suspense: it was a good weekend.

We (barely!) won our first ever neck ribbon and had a blast with my genuinely large entourage. But it definitely had its ups and downs which will, as always, make for good content!

On Thursday morning, we shipped out right on schedule before stopping at Lisa's house to pick her and my mom up and give Connor one last chance to stretch his legs before the bulk of the drive happened.

My mom also got to meet her new grandpony for the first time!

He's a charmer, that's for sure

The rest of the trip (5 hours total) was uneventful. Connor got off the trailer at the National Equestrian Center, where he'd never been before, walked straight into the stall, drank half a bucket of water, peed, and cocked a leg for a nap. Good pony.

Day 1 selfie with mom!

After how difficult he was to get through the weekend at Waterloo, my big goal for this weekend was to manage his energy levels to the best of my abilities, which I did both through diet (more on that later) and carefully managing his schedule. After bringing him home from Cincinnati the Friday before, my schedule was:

Saturday: 25 minute ride (lots of trot)

Sunday: 25 minute ride (lots of canter)

Monday: 25 minute ride (lots of walk, TOH, suppling, etc)

Tuesday-Wednesday: completely off

Thursday: ship in and school at the showgrounds

The plan for Thursday was to just hack in and around my show ring and warmup, do some stretchy work, but not do anything crazy or even make it a real schooling ride.

That plan changed when I saw the dark, spooky indoor I'd be showing in. This show had four outdoor rings and two indoors, and of course I was set to ride in one of the indoors. I swore off showing Connor in indoors years ago after he lost his damn mind at a Majestic show back in 2014, but there would be no getting around it this time.

The nice indoor, with GGT and bright lights. This ring was alllllllll freestyles, all weekend.

The indoor I'd be showing in, with...dirt. And a noticeable slope to one corner. And really loud exhaust fans. And the warmup was even darker!

So I ended up doing a more substantial schooling ride than I planned on Thursday afternoon until he stopped gawking at stuff and his ears finally flicked toward me. I even had my mom and Lisa sit in the judge's stand to hopefully get his classic "OH SHIT THERE'S A PERSON THERE" out of the way the night before.

Then it was dinner, liquor store run (naturally) and bed!