Spanish Mustang: Three Ring Circus Schooling Dressage and Hunter Show

By Jennifer Klitzke

Last year I had entered my Spanish Mustang Indian’s Legend (Indy) in the Three Ring Circus Schooling Dressage & Hunter Show, but a last minute injury to his lower jaw made it impossible to fasten his bridle, so Indy had to sit the show out. Not this year!

Oh my, just when I think I’ve had the most possible fun time with Indy, we have yet another that surpasses it! Indy and I rode our first Training Level Tests 2 and 3, two hunter courses over 18″ cross rails, and I couldn’t stop. After seeing how beautiful the 20″ vertical hunter course was, we had to give it a go. Flower boxes with white lattice back drops and vertical posts. Oh, Carriage House Farm is such a fantastic facility to ride at. The footing was perfect indoors and out, with plenty of warm up space to hold all of the horses. At last count there were 177 dressage tests ridden and well over 300 hunter and jumper courses ridden.

I was super proud of how bold, consistent, and steady Indy was over the hunter courses. He took the fear out of jumping for me. We have some homework to do before our next schooling show, like establishing, maintaining, and changing to the correct lead. I need to shorten my stirrups, bring my heels down, and provide a better release so that Indy can stretch and round over the jumps.

Later in the day we rode our first of two dressage tests. By this time, Indy was getting tired and began to lean on the reins. My grandma body had a hard time holding him up. We rode Training Level Test Three in the superb indoor arena with rubberized footing. Indy calmly adjusted to the concept of indoor riding. He earned 5th place of 8 rides with a score of 64.2%. Not bad riding with the warmbloods.

Our second ride, Training Level Test Two, was in a standard-sized outdoor ring. Aside from that his spook at the entrance and stumble coming down from canter, I am pleased with how Indy did. He earned 7th place of 14 riders with a score of 61.96%. We could have stretched more in his 20-meter trot on a long rein, and have been more responsive when I asked for a canter transition. Again, more homework.

Thank you to St. Croix Saddlery for sponsoring such a well-run show and for Carriage House Farm for hosting the Three Ring Circus Schooling Show. Thanks to all of the super friendly volunteers.

Spanish Mustang: Three Ring Circus Photo Gallery>

Video: Spanish Mustang: 18″ Hunter Course over Cross-rails