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The first thing Kestrel needed was a passport photo. Here she is posing for it in front of our barn.
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We took these photos on May 3, so she's not totally in her summer coat yet, but still looking good.
(Stefan made the custom window boxes on our barn).
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Kestrel and Lori.
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On May 14th we headed over to our neighbors at Maple Run Ranch, to practice riding away from home.
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Here we are at Maple Run starting our warm-up. It was a cold day even though it was mid-May.
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We are doing some canter work. The warm-up must be working, Lori's jacket has come off.
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Kestrel doing a little lengthening across the diagonal. We won't have to show this until First Level though.
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Here's another movement we won't need to show until later (Second Level). Practicing a little travers (haunches in).
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On May 27 we met our coach Tina Busse-Irwin at her mother's barn, Sonnenhof Stables, to do a lesson away from home.
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Here we are warming up at Sonnenhof. Nice scenery - everything is turning green.
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Here's another view of us with the pond in the background. You can't see the family of geese that was there that day. Good training opportunity.
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Listening to Tina explain something.
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Starting a leg-yield off the right leg.
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Practicing going straight down the centre line.
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Walk break. We had a great ride!
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Now it's the day before the show and we are at Palgrave. Tina coaches us through some exercises to relax Kestrel and get her loosened up.
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Here we do a little trot-on-the-spot exercise, before going more forward. Changing the tempo helps Kestrel to concentrate on her rider.
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Now she's feeling relaxed and working well.
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Here we are doing a canter lengthening down the long side. Lori likes this picture because it shows how straight the horse is (you can only see two legs).
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The big day! Kestrel's forelock is braided, and we're all dressed up. We are getting ready to go in.
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Here we are in the ring!
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Now it's day two of the show and we are getting ready to go again.
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This is us on the last day. You can see by the dressage fence how sloppy it got this weekend.
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"Do you think this hair-do suits me?"
Yay, the show is over and Kestrel won Champion in her division! More importantly, she had a lot of positive experiences. What a fun adventure!
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