Road to a Finesse Audition

Well, I finally did it. Me and Mo finally got ballsy enough to try filming out Finesse Audition. And we had fun doing it! We did it in one shot, we smiled, I laughed, and Mo jumped imaginary things, just for fun.

If you want to watch it - the link is here : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUVdXpo25Z8&feature=youtu.be

Mo was wonderful. A little slow, but it was actually the first hot day in weeks, so I dont really blame her! From 15 degrees to 27, with her partially grown winter coat! POOR MO! Other than slow, she was perfect. PERFECT!

Attitude is the number one thing I can cite as why it went well. Taping previous auditions, I really had the attitude of "OMG GOTTA DO THIS OR ELSE" - because of the deadline and what not. Yesterday, I literally woke up and thought "Hey, today would be a great day to film my audition for Finesse I think". I still had to go to work and do all that business, so it even had to wait until I got home. And I still had a great thought about it. I was actually really excited to film! That never happened before!

So I came home from work and Mo was in the shed, hiding from the bugs and sunshine. She and Zephyr got their tiny portion of supplements, and then I spent a whole bunch of time making Mo pretty! I brushed her until she shined, put a gallon of show sheen in her mane and tail, and even braided her mane a little bit :) She looked so pretty!! No that she doesnt always look, pretty, but she sure looked extra pretty :)

After saddling, we slowly made our way out to the shifty dressage arena I made. D was coming in from cutting wood by now, right on time to video Mo in all her glory :)

We warmed up online as usual. I went really slow, waiting for her to put some try in. Mo went really slow at first and then came out squealing and goofy, trotting and cantering.  When I mounted we just played around freestyle first. She was even slow freestyle, so at least I know it wasnt about the bridle! For reference, it was hot enough for ME, the eternally cold one, to be wearing a tank top! Poor Mo in her half winter fluffies, she was a little toasty. She got a ton of apples for her effort though!

After testing out our follow the rail and a few flying changes [HA! Who knew I would ever say THAT semi-casually!] I checked my pre-laid pattern in my head and told D when to start filming.

Turns out my pre-planned route would only take three minutes. Oopsy! So we had to improvise a little at the end, but I had semi-accounted for that, and had a sort of idea what else I would like to do, at least :)

It all went great. Mo jumped the log twice on our left to right changes, because she is a goober like that. Then one time, when we stopped, when I tried to go again she was all "WAIT!!!! MY NOSE IS ITCHY!" and it was really funny because she is so dramatic. I just laughed and let her scratch her nose, and then we went on.

Overall, I think it went very well. I dont know if it will pass or not, but hopefully :) At least I had fun doing it. Getting to this point has been a hard road. To be able to just let go and have fun and let the Audition Gods play as they see fit was a very hard thing for my perfectionist personality!

Black string, here I come!!

:)
S