The Smart Start horses headed out for their second show of the year on Wednesday June 10. The show was at Sorensen Park in East Troy, WI, a 300 mile drive. It was a show of firsts for many of the horses. Lanie Meese was riding in her very first dressage show on Winslow (aka Avatar MVP, aka Little Brett). Luther (aka Avalon's Luthario) was going to his very first show ever, Safarr was going to ride Fourth Level test 2 for the first time and Ra (aka GF Raushana) was going to ride Second Level test 4 for the first time.

We like Sorensen to show at for first time horses and riders as the atmosphere is usually quite relaxed and the footing is awesome! It's soft, just deep enough to dig in but not so deep that the smaller horses think they're riding in beach sand, it has a nice grab to it. As it turned out, the horses that came in for the In Hand classes weren't so quiet, we had stallions across the aisle from us that thought every horse in the barn was pretty good looking and needed extra attention.

Lanie did a good job of not being nervous for her very first show. She rode Winslow in 3 classes a day and learned lots with every ride. As luck would have it Lanie had to ride Training level test 4 first - the most challenging of the training level classes. She rose to the ocassion and scored a 60.8%!! Over the two days she scored a couple of 61s, a 65 and two 66s!! This is with two different judges, a nice affirmation that she and Winslow are coming along well.

Luther, well, we couldn't have asked for him to be better. His very first ride at his very first show he scored a 70% in Training level test 2!! His second ride of the day he pulled ANOTHER 70%!!! On day two he scored 67.8 in Training 1 and 68% in Training level test 4!! He's never even tried to do a stretchy circle before. In fact, the week before the show he was working on learning Training level test 1 Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. He figured it out on Thurs and did Training 1, 2 and 4. On Friday his owner, Page Lee, came out and rode him - her third time riding him and on Monday the dressage ring at home was too wet to ride in so he went to the show with only going through any of the tests once! For the second show, which was Saturday, the new judge was much stingier with her scores. Luther's first ride scored a 62% and the judge recommended on the test Suzette post the trot. Luther had learned so much the first two days of the show that posting the test would most likely work for him so they went into the next test with Suzette posting the trot. The judge liked the change and Luther scored 70.87% in Training test 1! Later on he rode a third test, Training test 4 and he scored a 69.2%. Wow, we couldn't have asked for a better show for Luther.

Safarr rode Fourth level test 1 the first day and scored a 61%! This gives Suzette her first required score towards earning her silver medal. The next day Safarr rode Third level test 3 and won the class against 4 other horses, one that had been Horse of the Year and has been doing Third level, a huge accomplishment. Safarr went in and did Fourth level test 2 and scored a 62% He got a 5 and a 6 on his half canter pirouettes, his first time doing them in public. When Suzette entered him in the test she wasn't so sure he could do it but he came through great. Even on Saturday with the tighter scoring judge he got a 5 and 6 on those movements! What a thrill!

Ra and Kari went in and looked great in the Second 4 tests that they rode. Their simple changes scored 7s and their walk turns pulled in some 7s also, both of which are the more difficult movements in Second level test 4. The test has many, many movements, they come up fast and require more collection and Kari and Ra rose to the challenge. They scored 59%! What a great way for Kari to start in Second level, it's much, much tougher than first level and they are in there and competetive.

One of the most wonderful things about the Smart Start horses is that they are safe and overcome scary things very quickly. It is a stark contrast to a few of the horses we see at every show. Even Luther, at his very first show, who came in as a problem horse that bucked only last November couldn't have been better or safer.

It was two weeks after the Sorensen show, Thursday June 26 the Smart Start horses loaded into the trailer to head to the WDHA Sport Horse and Dressage Show and the Arabian/Half Arabian Region X Sport Horse and Dressage Championships. Since the show was only for purebred and half Arabians, those elected to go were Safarr, Ra, Winslow, Kizzes and George.
It was beastly hot when we arrived on Thursday afternoon, 91 and humid. All the horses did some warm up in the dressage ring, it was still 87 degrees when we were done at 8:30 at night.
It was still plenty warm on the first day of the show, the arena was always too dry and the footing more than a bit too deep. The horses did their best to get through it and had some pretty good rides. Lanie was the bright star of the preshow of the Smart Start team, she won the High Percentage Junior Rider with a score of 69% in Training Level test 2. Another highlight was winning the gold medal for the Team Award, the Smarty Breeches! The team consisted of Lanie and Winslow, Suzette and Kizzes and Stephanie Ekelkamp and Exceptionl Result. The requirements for the team was to have dressage and sport horse in hand horses and since no Smart Start horses were in the In Hand classes Stephanie was more than happy to be on our team and we were more than happy to have her with us! Safarr earned his second score at Fourth level towards Suzette's silver medal riding Fourth Level test 1 and receiving a 63.9!
George (official name Biya Judge) entered the ring for the first time in two years. He's had some physical problems and we think we are finally getting him on the right track. He made it through all four of his tests and placed in three of them, he was 6th out of 17 horses! He wasn't really ready for the show yet but horses learn so much at every show they go to (as do their riders and trainers) that we loaded him up and took him too. We think by the next show he'll be a much different horse as our exercises help him work through and believing that he is going to feel better even when he's working. He scored 8s on much of his canter work!