It is Friday night, and I am sitting at the barn alone contemplating the last two days. 

I would be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed in Woodburn’s test today. Phillip is a very competitive person, so he is very hard on himself when things don’t quite go as planned. Woodburn warmed up beautifully, and I thought we might be able to pull off  our own best score. 

Unfortunately it was not not meant to be. Woodburn was awesome in his trot work, but then he did an early change. When Phillip tried to correct him, Woodburn got nervous, and then the canter fell apart a bit. 

On the upside, the judges gave him two 9s for his extended canter!

Congratulations must go out to Becky and Comet. I did not get to see the test, but everyone said it was beautiful. Karen was a little bit disappointed with Mandiba, but 44 is nothing to be scoffed at. Boyd was very happy with Neville who put in their personel best score, and I felt that Buck got a little bad luck scoring wise. But who am I to say so? I am only the groom!
 
I do believe that tomorrow will be an interesting day. Having walked the course, I think there is a lot to do. It will sort out the men from the boys. Fitness of horse and rider will be a key factor. The terrain has been incorporated to its max, and I think time will be hard to get. I am hoping we can put today behind us and look forward to tomorrow. I think we have strong cross-country horses, so I hope we can all stick together and show the world how to ride cross-country.