In 2003, one of my two Dutch horses, Jeddien, and I competed at 16 competitions, including 2 Regional Championships.   We competing primarily at Medium Level Dressage and won 13 classes.   I had my own 7.5 tonnes of "wheels", enjoyed driving to competitions, got an adrenaline rush out of competing, and a kick out of winning.

In 2004, we only went to 6 competitions, half of which were Championships.   However, part way through the year, I sold my gorgeous lorry and competing quickly lost its charm.   Begging, hiring, and borrowing equine transportation made competing less fun.   I basically stopped competing altogether.

Training continued, however...   But to what end?   Who would critique our progress?   Aside from my trainer, there were no truly critical eyes monitoring our work.   And where did we stand in comparison to our peers?   The desire to compete soon crept back.

So, next weekend, after a long hiatus, we compete once again.   The winter competitive season comes to an end this month ! and we must win 2 classes with scores of 63%+ if we are to qualify for the Winter Regional Championships.   We have only 2 opportunities to pull this off.   The pressure is on and I love it!

But competing again at Medium Level, where we are well established in the work, is not enough to get the full adrenaline rush of our earlier competitions.   Nope.   So, just to add more pressure, I'm going to do an Advanced Level competition on a friend's horse.   We're talking top hat and tailcoat.   Flying changes every four strides.   Competing up against the big boys.

Yup...   This weekend, the adrenaline will truly be flowing once again!

PS:   Once again, we managed to qualify for the Regional Championships!