Journey’s End Combined Test
Sunday, April 18th – Becca, Mindy and Crystal traveled to Journey’s End Farm in Glenmoore, PA for a Combined Test competition. This was Donato and Max’s first combined test – ever!
Max competed in the Starter/Intro division and had a lovely dressage test. It was very relaxed and fluid and he scored well. In the Beginner Novice division, Donato showed a lot of composure in his first dressage test – scoring several 7s! He took in all the dressage ring excitement with ease. Becca and Priscilla put in another consistent dressage test, and after a clean show jumping round (she loves to jump!), finished third in the division.
All of the show jumping courses were in a small-ish ring with tough turns. Donato and Max – both big, forward jumpers found the ring a little tight and their riders had trouble making some of the tighter turns.
Apollo and Mindy moved up to Novice level for the first time. Mindy was extremely worried about the Novice show jumping course – it was far more difficult than she expected. Not a single straight line in the course, square oxers, lots of tough turns and jumping on angles. After walking the course 3 times and some pep-talks, she put her doubts behind her and rode it with great success (finishing in second)! In the end, it was a real testament to Becca’s instruction, training and planning.
