Day 15 & Nationals Comments

I didn't make it down to Nationals. =[ The flights coming home weren't looking so good, so we decided not to risk being stranded in Georgia. We did watch the ending of Nationals on Galopando TV though, which is the stream-network for all things Paso Fino. I feel like I'll get my commentary on Nationals out of the way right now.

I was amused by the largo race, but disappointed at the same time that there were only three entries. Come on people, lighten up and have some fun with your horses! Don't just work them all the time! Secondly, I was SO MAD when I saw the costume class! Backstory, I qualified on Brie to go to Nationals this year and last year for costume class but we figured it was too long of a ride to bring here there for just one class. This is what my costume looks like.
Well, I don't have a screenshot of it, but there was a girl in the costume class who had pretty much the EXACT same dress, the same black horse, the same roses, same ribbons, same veil, but this is the killer part: She had the same speech as me. How low can you get? Thankfully she was punished (by karma) for the copycat-ism and received 5th place out of 5.
Lastly, I'd like to congratulate the Fino Stallion Champion, Halago! He is truly amazing. If the clip isn't on Galopando TV, then I'm sure if you're really curious and search it on YouTube you'll find it. Maybe I'll even link these two classes tomorrow or something for you to watch.

Went to the stables today. Instead of doing the same old routine, I decided today would be a great day to teach Brie a little bit about jumping (and learn myself, with help from mi madre). At first she was kind of freaking out that the jump was made up of a 2x4 and plastic traffic cones, but then she got used to it and then she loved it! She kept going around and jump jump jumping! We both enjoyed it, and I love that she's getting used to doing all sorts of different things now.

I switched Brie for Nina with my mom and we rode outside. Nina is too funny, she has a shorter stride than Brie, so Brie covers ground faster and gets farther ahead. When Brie gets too far ahead of Nina, you just tell Nina, "Come on Nina, go get Brie!" without any other signal and she takes off at a cute little carousel pony gallop to catch up to Brie. It's adorable! I'm teaching Nina, too, how to jump outside, over little ditches, and she's kind of hesitant. Knowing this, I didn't think that she'd want to jump up and over a fairly steep little hill, but she did! I wasn't prepared for this and almost flew out of the saddle but caught it before I fell backwards over her butt. It was scary and fun at the same time. I'm also proud of Brie, she's getting more calmed down outside.

I still have my problem of trying to get Brie to come out of the stall by me. I haven't gotten around to watching Parelli to see if he has any suggestions for this, so in the meantime, if anyone has suggestions other than bribing her with carrots, please tell me!

P.S., I don't think I mentioned it before, but the two horses in the header are Brie and Nina! Brie's the black one, Nina's the brown one.