Saturday, August 23, 2008

East Coast Championships--What a Trip!

We did it again!!! EF KKlassique Beauty, our first-born KKoi baby has done it again. She has reached a milestone we are so proud of. She came away from East Coast Championships with 2 reserve Championships and a Second in Dressage. To make a long 5 days short, all tolled we got 8’s and 9’s on our gaits and 7's on rider scores! Wow, 8’s and 9’s on gaits!! There is never such a joy as near perfection. We have been working on our canter depart for 8 months. Balance had been an issue for Beauty in the beginning as she was growing. Then balance was not the problem but rather Miss Beauty decided that the counter canter was much more fun. So the canter departs amounted to counter canters and then flying lead changes as they too were so much fun to do. However, by the time we got to East Coast we had it nailed. We got an 8 for the right lead canter and an 8 for the left. How sweet the victory when you really work for it. If that wasn’t glorious enough we received a 9 for the free walk. A 9!! I wasn’t sure that I was able to read when I saw that. I was sure that I was hallucinating. The comments included things like, "showing nice bend...", "lovely ground cover well into bridle..." , "lovely over stride" and "nice potential". At any rate my chest is full of pride and yes my head is a bit swelled as well. Whose wouldn’t be? This is a clear victory for a small breeder with a clear vision. A vision clear enough that a mare was purchased, a foal was born, and the silks were won! Not bad, not bad at all.