The Event at Santa Fe

This was 3 Peas in a Pony’s first trip to The Event at Santa Fe, and I hadn’t been to Santa Fe since I dragged my big Paint Horse, Sarge, down there when I was 16.  Even though a bunch of time had passed and I could no longer attest to the quality of the event, I must say that we were all pretty impressed.  The dressage and stadium jumping phases were held at the Santa Fe Equestrian Center, and the Cross-Country was about thirty minutes away at Goose Downs Farm.
Aside from the green fields, the convenient stabling, the perfect weather, and the super nice Secretary, I think one of the main reasons we liked the event so much is that all the Peas and their Ponies were absolutely perfect!  Anika and Zeke finished in 4th place after a 1st place dressage, a clean show jumping, and one minor little stop on cross-country.  Anika worked really hard to let Zeke learn the ropes at his first real horse trials and she gave her horse such a great experience, I know that Zeke will be the first in the horse trailer when it’s time to get to another horse show!
Maddy and Dime have been diligent with their dressage work at home, and their work paid off with a score of 30 in dressage.  They took that awesome score to show jumping and after an ‘unexpected dismount’ in warm-up, the two pulled it back together for a very clean and very organized round.  On cross-country day, Maddy rode Dime perfectly to a clear course and a beautiful 2nd place ribbon.  Brilliant!
Zoe and Timmy spent a month training with Stephanie Goodman and Wasatch Sport Horses in McCall, Idaho and they showed us all how much their jumping has improved.  Zoe stayed very focused throughout the whole weekend, with her absolutely perfect stadium round as the highlight of the event.  And although Zoe and Timmy had a few refusals at the start of their cross-country that affected their penalty points, they completed the course and got a 3rd place ribbon as a reward.
Overall, the weekend was a blast.  Definitely, riders and ponies were amazing, and that always makes it fun.  But we had a great time all together.  We did lots of laughing, joking, playing and certainly…lots of singing:)