There’s a first time for everything, and Sunday I had an interesting first—the first time I’ve ever been excused for disobedience in the ring.

Ruh roh.

Poor Midgey. It was monsooning, and Morven Park’s indoor is older and loud and leaky and creaky, so he was a bit up anyway. Then, not five minutes into our warm-up, another competitor comes flying into us sideways, her stallion bucking and kicking, and puts Midge in a corner. I spend the whole rest of our warm-up trying to get his confidence back, unsuccessfully, but he feels OK, so in we go.

Centerline, halt, trot, shoulder-in, E turn left… STOP. There’s a door open behind the judge at E, and the light is coming in funny. Midge nearly ducks out from underneath me; he spooked and bolted so fast. I get him back organized, but it’s not pretty. Off we go, finishing the trotwork, taking the diagonal in extended walk, and all seems to be fine again. Pick up the canter, and the first movement is a five loop serpentine with wacky flying changes, and the second loop, of course, has me facing that door at E again. I’m ready for whatever he throws me, bury my right spur a little, spook, spin, spook, spin…STAND STRAIGHT UP IN THE AIR. And just as I’m about to say OH NO YOU DIDN’T, the judge at C rings me out.

Terrific. Thanks, Midge.

He’s never been such a hero about indoor arenas, but seriously? Grow up, kid. Not the first or last time you’ll be frightened in a strange indoor. Time to grow a set. On the plus side, should I ever get tired of it all and run away to join the circus, Midge could come with me. Yippee!

Fortunately, that was the only train wreck of the day. Ella was still pretty behind me, but I had a much better strategy in my warm-up for the Brentina Cup test, and we came away with a 67 percent, our best score in that test yet.

And little Fender was a little dozy in the trotwork in his 4-Year-Old qualifier, but I think I made the walk and transitions a little better, and his canter was still super, so we came away with another 7.7.

So home we have returned, for a brief interlude before Midge, Ella and I go to the USEF High Performance training session with Kyra Kyrklund this weekend (!!!!). I am SO stoked—I’ve been fighting tooth and nail to get into one of these for years, and not only am I in, and on both horses, but with Kyra. Wahoo! I want to preserve them both—after this weekend, it’s another horse show—so lots of stretching work for Midge, and more boring conditioning sets for Ella, but outside, to keep her mind fresh.

The biggest thing I want to improve with Fender is the contact, and there’s really no way there except time and strength, so I think he’ll be spending some time on the hills, too. Going to load up on my SPF-100 and hit the fields.