Rain, Rain, Go AWAY!
Ram Tap this weekend was wet to say the least! There seemed to be a black cloud over the THF team from the beginning. Syndee's mare Zara came down with a cold the weekend before the trials so we withdrew her from competition. The day we were to leave Alexa spiked a temp of 102 so I took over the ride on Kalypso, making that 2 open training rides for me (I was already scheduled to ride Danielle's mare Ash as Danielle is heading to Hawaii for winter break.) The team was down to just 3 riders (Sophie, Nikki, and Meg) and 4 horses. Thursday's weather held out but Friday we weren't so lucky. The rain began just as we arrived at the barn to feed the horses and made my first ride on Ash "challenging". I can honestly say that this was the first time in my competitive career I've worn a rain coat into the dressage ring. Despite the downpour, Ash was a trouper and put in a decent test. Kalypso was not quite as happy about the mud and while he found his brain about halfway through, it was definately not our best effort. Nikki's gelding Patton was very consistent and Sophie's boy Cooper was his usual workman-like self. We finished the day with all 4 horses scoring in the 30's.

The rain let up on Friday but left the cross country course un-rideable for Saturday. The organizers re-scheduled the weekend, moving the show jumping to Saturday and cross country to Sunday. Saturday morning we headed up to the show jumping ring for a team evaluation of the ring The arena was not quite as wet as it was for the Combined Test we attended last month, however it was the same course. So after a quick deliberation, we made the decision to withdraw our horses and head home.

The horses and riders are home safe and sound. Although it was dissapointing to come home without getting a chance to run the course, it was in the best interest of our horses. I'm hoping we'll get to go for a schooling weekend in March and we're looking forward to Ram Tap in April when things are bound to be drier.