Team Grayboo Takes a Winter Break from Competing

Amanda and Grayboo have had an up and down fall competition season. They finished well at training at River Glen in August. Cross-country was easy for Grayboo but he knocked one rail in stadium. He seems to get a little lazy sometimes and knocks a rail, but he hates to knock rails so he jumps well after that!

Pine Top in September was not their best outing. Dressage was not as good as it has been, Grayboo knocked a rail on a bending line, and had his first stop in a long time on cross country. The stop was at a corner that I think took him by surprise. He jumped it at the second attempt though. Amanda did not expect to see a corner at training level so I think she wasn’t quite prepared either.

Amanda and Grayboo were scheduled to compete at Middle Tennessee Pony Club HT in October. We arrived on Friday, only to have Amanda wake up Saturday with temperature. Needless to say she scratched.

Her last outing of the year, Poplar Place, started off very well. She had a good dressage score (35) and a clear stadium round which put her into third place going into cross country. Halfway around the course (eighth jump) Amanda was called for jumping the Novice jump instead of the Training jump. They stopped her on course at jump 13 and told her she was eliminated. She was extremely crushed! She still believes that she jumped the correct jump but we have nothing to refute the call by the jump judge. Oh well, it’s a learning experience. She was very disappointed because the course was going very well for Grayboo and she didn’t get to jump the water complex. I’m sure Amanda will give the Poplar Place Training course another try this spring.

So now, Grayboo gets several months off from competition. Amanda will look at the calendar to decide what shows she wants to do in the spring. Amanda is going to attend college locally in the fall, so Grayboo will be staying at his current farm and hopefully Amanda will continue to train and compete next year. She has aspirations of moving up to Preliminary – she thought they might get there this fall, but with Grayboo out of work most of the spring they didn’t get the experience and skills nailed down yet for the big move up. We’re looking for good cross-country clinics and instructors to work with Grayboo and Amanda to make sure they are prepared when they do move up.

Grayboo is looking really good. He’s maintaining a good weight and is well muscled. And best of all, he’s very happy!

Karen (Amanda and Grayboo’s mom)