In spite of an absolutely TERRIFYING drive over the mountains of West Virginia (during which Billy and Fender were absolute princes, such great little soldiers, plus OMG I love my Jamco trailer), we are safely tucked into the inaugural USDF Finals. We arrived in Kentucky just as the sun was setting, and also as the rainstorm moved in, and of course the first thing that happened was that we expected some signage telling us where to go.

Monday morning post-Regional finals, in years past, has been a day traditionally spent recuperating in the fetal position. But not this year.

Firstly, I had to return to the barn early to unlock the truck, which I had locked the night before with the keys—and all of my, Allison's and Molly's stuff—on the inside. Doh.

But more importantly, this year's competition season is not ended by the Regional finals. This year we have a National finals, which both Fender and Kristin on Billy have qualified for, and so in two weeks we're off to Kentucky for one more show.

Miles travelled: 300
Nights on the road: 4
Hours of sleep: mayyyybe 24
Nights I remembered to do yoga before going to bed: mayyyyybe 2

Remember that plan I wrote about in my last blog, the strategy you devise through months of showing to show your horse to his best? Whether to handwalk, whether to lunge in the morning, how long to warm up, how many classes a day or a show?

Yeah. Scrap it.

Team Sprieser is all settled in at the Region 1 Finals, where we are 10 horses and 8 riders strong. It's a great group of my die-hards, all of whom have been showing regularly since the beginning of the year, which means that by now, we've got it all down to a pretty good system.