Dressage Letters December 2019

December 2019 ~ Dressage Letters ~ Page 4 soaking wet. I worried my reins would slip out of my hands during our ride (they didn’t!). But we did have a couple of big mistakes. I threw Bandini out of balance and he flipped his lead on our canter serpentine. And then miscommunication led to a late change after one of our pirouettes. But after the final salute I felt thrilled. We’d survived our first test! In the rain! In the cold! Krisi and I discussed what I could have done better and then I spent the rest of the day taking care of Bandini and watching classes in the warm All Tech arena while sipping a hot toddy. It felt very luxurious. My championship class was the next morning. It was supposed to be 20 degrees. That night I got an email informing me my ride time had been pushed by two hours due to the freezing temperatures and the rain. The ground was frozen over. I heard the show management and crew worked on the outdoor arenas every two hours during the night to keep it from freezing. I was grateful for the extra two hours. By the time I rode, the temperature was a balmy 28 degrees. A beautiful, bright day. During our warm-up I lost all feeling in my fingers, Bandini felt tight and we spent a lot of our time, bending, suppling, keeping moving to stay warm. As I walked into the arena Krisi gave me a pep talk and then I gave one to myself. “Don’t check out during this ride. It’s just five minutes, stay focused and don’t leave it up to fate. Ride every movement.” Bandini, who must have been exhausted after the long week of travel, was feeling energetic and alert. There was a moment in the warm-up ring where I really felt him starting to focus on me and my aids. That carried over into the competition arena and we ended up having the best test we’d ever done. I was so happy I wanted to cry. Win or lose, I felt so proud that Bandini and I had actually done what we’d set out to do. And it all came together on this cold CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 A Long Journey Kentucky. Now competing with the nation’s best at the US Dressage Finals presented by Adequan®, held November 7-10 at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, the former Navy fighter jet pilot turned tax accountant and two-time cancer survivor rode that now nine-year- old mare named Wyleigh Princess to the biggest victory of their career in the Intermediate I Adult Amateur Freestyle Championship. Riding for Region 7, they finished on a top score of 73.900%, a personal best for the pair. “It was a bit inauspicious this morning because she was not in a big mood to come out and play,” said Shirkey of her U.S. bred Hanoverian (Weltmeyer x Heiress B by His Highness, bred by Cheryl Johnson). “When we started the warm-up I was not quite sure what we were going to get, so I was very careful. I thought ‘whatever we do, I will keep my fundamentals together,’ and sure enough, we started the canter work and it paid off. I felt I had a sufficient amount of confidence in Wyleigh that she would stay with me during the experience and she was, so I thought ‘let’s go now’ and she took off. It’s just so exciting. It was a wonderful ride and she loves that Alltech Arena.” Class Description Pl Rider Horse % US Dressage Finals Second Level Championship Open 9 Evans Rebecca Clare Tom Collins 66.032 US Dressage Finals Third Level Championship Open Flaharty Elena Royal Chrome 66.333 US Dressage Finals Third Level Freestyle Championship Open 3 Flaharty Elena Royal Chrome 72.756 Fourth Level Test 1 3 Flaharty Elena Royal Chrome 66.795 US Dressage Finals First Level Championship AA 4 Frederick Kimberly Fantastica CS 73.565 US Dressage Finals Training Level Championship AA 1 Frederick Kimberly Fantastica CS 70.172 Training Level Tests 3 2 Frederick Kimberly Fantastica CS 69.483 US Dressage Finals Prix St. Georges Championship Open 5 Groenke Daniela Bardolino 70.196 US Dressage Finals Intermediate I Championship Open 7 Groenke Daniela Bardolino 68.971 US Dressage Finals Intermediate II Championship Open 5 Hafner Brian Dream Catcher 65.539 Intermediaire II 1 Hafner Brian Dream Catcher 64.412 Intermediaire II 1 Hafner Brian Dream Catcher 73.529 US Dressage Finals Fourth Level Championship Open 2 Hafner Brian Enjoy Point J 69.074 US Dressage Finals Prix St. Georges Championship Open 7 Hafner Brian Enjoy Point J 69.314 Prix St Georges 1 Hafner Brian Enjoy Point J 68.824 KWPN High Score Breed Award -FEI Open Division Hafner Brian Enjoy Point J US Dressage Finals First Level Championship Open 4 Harrison Kristina Juilliard DG 72.546 US Dressage Finals First Level Freestyle Ch Open 3 Harrison Kristina Juilliard DG 77.122 First Level Freestyle 1 Harrison Kristina Juilliard DG 77.650 US Dressage Finals Third Level Championship AA Lamotta Elaine Caribbean Veluw 59.792 Third Level Test 3 4 Lamotta Elaine Caribbean Veluw 63.125 Third Level Test 3 Lamotta Elaine Caribbean Veluw 57.875 US Dressage Finals Intermediate I Championship Open Pepper Jaclyn Cooper 64.853 Intermediaire I 1 Pepper Jaclyn Cooper 69.412 Intermediaire I 2 Pepper Jaclyn Cooper 68.235 US Dressage Finals Third Level Freestyle Championship Open 8 Reinig Ericka Bellisambrosso RTH 71.856 Test of Choice 3 Reinig Ericka Bellisambrosso RTH 65.789 Fourth Level Test 1 1 Reinig Ericka Bellisambrosso RTH 73.590 US Dressage Finals Intermediate I Championship Open Reinig Ericka Stanford LR 64.510 US Dressage Finals Prix St. Georges Championship Open Reinig Ericka Stanford LR 66.235 Prix St Georges 1 Reinig Ericka Stanford LR 70.735 US Dressage Finals Intermediate I Championship AA 3 Shirkey Ruth Wyleigh Princess 70.294 US Dressage Finals Intermediate I Freestyle Championship AA 1 Shirkey Ruth Wyleigh Princess 73.900 US Dressage Finals Prix St. Georges Ch AA 2 Shirkey Ruth Wyleigh Princess 70.843 Intermediaire I 3 Shirkey Ruth Wyleigh Princess 66.985 US Dressage Finals Fourth Level Championship AA 1 Towne Jocelyn Bandini 70.833 USEF Fourth Level Test 3 1 Towne Jocelyn Bandini 68.889 morning. The whole trip was a huge learning experience. It pushed me out of my comfort zone and I’ve grown from it. Every day, every moment is a chance to take a step in a direction that challenges me. Sometimes you end up with the personal sense of accomplishment and sometimes you get a ribbon for it too! There’s that little kid part of me that still loves getting the ribbon, but nothing compared to the feeling after the final salute when I gave Bandini a big pat and he walked off with that strut he has when he knows he’s done a good job, his ears flopping in the autumn air. CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Cross Country Journey