This was the most intimidating show so far. So many of the Rolex and US Equestrian team riders were there. The trainer who was there for coaching was supposed to braid my pony, but she lost her cell phone and spent forever trying to find it. Braiding was late, we had less than 15 minutes to get up to the dressage area. I had my bit check, we tried to warm up too fast, it was a disaster. Mac was stressed, I was stressed. My arena had been on break so I didn’t have any riders ahead of me to judge the time. The steward never called me and when I finally went over, the judge blew her whistle and as I went by her she rolled down her window and literally screamed at me that if I was ever late to a recognized event again she would have me disqualified. That put me over the edge. Our test was HORRIBLE, Mac who can give an amazing test was all out of sorts and I didn’t help him at all. I was out of sorts and I should have tried harder to overcome and not be in a horrible mood. It was almost 100 degrees and my stadium jumping was not until 5:00 in the afternoon. (Dressage test was at 1). After dressage I was in 18th place. We got ready for stadium and at 3 p.m. they announced they were going to have us compete cross country first, stadium afterwards. I was ready and warmed up at 5 and was the lead off rider. WE ROCKED!! Mac was the best, I left the dressage disaster behind me. I didn’t care what happed with ribbons, I just wanted to have a great cross country ride. And we did. The course was so much fun, the water complex was beautiful…they had colored the water a bright bright blue….my pony was a little worried about it. We galloped our last fence, came down to a canter on the down hill approaching the water, then to a trot and then Mac walked, lol, in lifting his front legs as high as he could, realized it was not a scary solid blue skating rink, then trotted/cantered out to our last fence. We were clear and across at 4 minutes 10 seconds. (we actually got penalized 0.8 faults for too fast). But I didn’t care. We rode up to stadium and they weren’t ready but the TD let me go before the end of the adult division since the course was the same. Our course was fast, clean and fun. It was so late that we just hosed down Mac, loaded the horses and left. The next morning I found out that I had placed 6th. I had rocketed from 18th to 6th with our cross country and stadium. Only 4 out of the 27 riders in my division went double clear. The best thing is I know, now, for sure that if the dressage had been what we normally do, we would have won Surefire. I know that my pony is in the top and we are going all the way. Terry is the best coach ever and I couldn’t do it without her. I learned a lesson at Surefire….don’t get frustrated, get a pissy attitude and lose faith in my pony. 
This is Terry in the water, I only have video, just wanted you to see how cool it looked. Leah
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