5-Day Challenge: Day 5

But first … I'll be at a clinic on Saturday and Saturday so you won't hear from me until Monday.  Enjoy your weekend!

And the final day … Again, thanks to Tracy at Fly on Over for providing the questions. Here are My (final) 5 Things.

21. Favorite classes to watch: I really like to watch the level that I am working towards. Right now, that would be First and (someday) Second Level. By watching riders at these levels, I get to see how the movements should be ridden. I also watch the USDF video, On the Levels, for the same reason.

I also enjoy watching the highest level tests like the Grand Prix and Freestyles because that gives me a picture of what the ultimate dressage horse and rider team should look like.

And strangely enough, I adore watching show jumping at the Grand Prix level. In fact, it's what I watch every night when I go to bed. Those riders are simply amazing. Watching them helps me ride Sydney better when he's gone a bit coo coo for Coco Puffs. If they can manage a 1,200 pound dragon seven or eight feet in the air while galloping at 20 miles per hour, surely I can handle my own little monster while trotting 20-meters at C! 

Hilda Gurney during her warm up ride. HDEC, March 2013

22. What’s in your cooler at horse-shows: Gatorade, water, lemonade, hard boiled eggs, sliced apples, string cheese, a sandwich, a bag of potato chips, and a coke for afternoon tests. Horse shows take a lot of energy, and sometimes I can't get what I need with my regular diet. I am not a soda drinker generally, but I've found that having a Coke before an afternoon test will help me get through the rest of the day, especially if I still have to drive 3 hours to get home.

23. One thing about showing (or riding in general) you wish you could change: I love how dressage shows are run. Everyone knows exactly what time their ride is so the sport suits my need for order and being on a schedule. With that said, the one part of showing that I don't like is coats. It is so warm here in Central/Southern California that I rarely wear a coat to ride in. On our coldest winter days, I usually wear a long sleeve running top with a fleece vest. Putting on a show coat, even a well-fitted one, makes me feel constricted and stiff. I would prefer to show in a fancy vest.

Maybe fancier, but you get the idea. Photo from Dressage Extensions

24. Your ringside crew: I am a one woman show. For my first few shows, a very good friend did come along to help me out, but who wants to continue doing 4:00 a.m. wake up calls? My mom came with me once which was really nice. But yeah. I travel alone. The upside is that I always meet really great people, and I've never not been able to find help when I needed it. Showing alone also lets me focus on just me and my horse without any other distractions.

25. Best prizes: one of the rules about endurance riding is that everyone who completes gets a prize. We got lots of cool stuff over the years: flash lights, laundry bags, travel mugs, buckets, belt buckles, t-shirts galore, sweatshirts, hay carriers, coffee mugs, and a variety of other things. Ride managers take pride in coming up with creative completion prizes.

Dressage shows are a bit different. Ribbons are obviously the norm, and at the beginning, I loved getting ribbons; especially the great big ones. Now, not so much. I can't say no to a ribbon, but I have also run out of ways to display them.

I've also won a fleece cooler, actually two if you count the one I won at an endurance race. I know there must be other prizes out there to win, but so far, the things I've won at dressage shows have been pretty standard.

Where do you put them all?

This was our first neck ribbon, RAAC 2012. We earned an even prettier one at the El Sueno Championship in July 2013.