1st of August Shazada and I went to our first 3 day event. It was just outside Seattle, a beautiful facility called Denoida. Our dressage was terrible, I was so nervous, and at the end of the test I had a blank, the judge rang the bell to tell me it was the end of the test, I had done it all and could leave, I came in last.

Next day the cross country. Novices start at the end of the day, and Cathy Leddy from Cascade Gold Akhal-Teke's and her friend Wendy showed up to cheer us on and a friend of mine.

As we were walking towards the start box I could see the competitors before me go, they had a refusal at every jump, I started to worry this might not be so easy after all.

Our turn came, and off we went to the first jump, she jumped it nicely with plenty room to spare, and on we went.

She did great, I felt her hesitate for the log so I tapped her shoulder and on she went, then thru the water no problem, up the bank into the woods, the bank down she took, the little ditch, and the stairs decorated with all the lovely flowers, she didn‚t mind a bit! I looked at my watch and were actually a little fast! We had finished our first course and she did great.

And that's what I love about 3 day, you're not done yet! The next day we had to wait for stadium as the last score stars first. We were in 6th place. We jumped our round and went clean again, and 6th we kept.

My friend asked if I would go to one more event with her. In Canada this time. I agreed, but by the time it came around her horse was lame and I had to go by myself. And that was a big step for me! I had never braided by myself, Tamara did it for me last time good thing I paid attention to what she did! I had to course walk by myself, warm up, make sure I don't forget anything.

Quite the challenge for me as I haven't competed since I was 15.
I got there, in Chilliwak, beautiful place along a river, and got Shazada settled in and camp set up.

There was a nice camp site were people not related to the horses but into fishing camped. Some girls ran up and asked if they could pet her, of course I said. And we had a little chit chat. Then I had the bright idea, "would you guys want to help me tomorrow" I asked, so the next day, 6 children showed up and sat on the fence and patted her, cut yarn for me to braid and held her still.

She loved the attention, and I got a pretty good shot at braiding.
From then on they stopped by every night and morning, and groomed her, came on walks to let her graze, it was a lot of fun.

Our dressage was much better, I wasn't as tense, she was much more relaxed, but I did not have her enough on the bit. So we scored towards the end of our novice class of 27 participants.

The next day I realized I left my vest at home, and had to borrow one. The course looked big to me, and the water was option.

We got in the start box and off we went. Not a single feeling of hesitation from Shazada. The jump that looked so big she took with ease, the water she trotted right in. When we jumped the ditch, which was in the shade in the woods, just as you came from the bright field, she jumped fine and as we went over I could feel her bend down to look at what it was. We did the course with not a problem, a little fast but within the time. We had moved to mid pack in the scoring.
The next day we got ready for stadium, she jumped the course well, but we had 2 rails down.

So we didn't place, but we finished 2 big events!

The next week the vet came and Shazada is pregnant! I am so glad I had the chance to do this with her. We learned a lot, had a lot of fun, and hopefully she'll contribute to the breed.

On July 3rd I went to a week long clinic in Chase, Canada for 3 day eventing. I took Shazada and went with two other friends. Chase is in a beautiful spot, along a creek and a lush valley, with a top level facility. It was my first attempt at 3 day eventing, and the same for Shazada.

Everyday the lessons were two hours long. We would start on the "pace" course to learn canter speeds. Then we would move on to the arena, and jump grids. Finally we would school cross country jumps.
I knew it would be fun, but that is an understatement. Every day Shazada got bolder, soon we didn't need leads over jumps anymore, and the dreaded ditch, a "petite" 4 foot beginners gape, as our teacher Nick Holmes would encourage us, "they don't come any smaller than this", ....turned out to be fun and easy as Shazada was excited about anything new.

There were 3 water complexes to school, banks, steep hills, and after a lesson the cool creek to stand the horses in and cool their legs. In one week we learned so much it was an invaluable time and we hope to be back next year.

We called him Ak Pashildi, thanks to the help of Flora Floen. It means white splash, as he has a white dot on his forehead. Everyday there are lots of visitors. His mom doesn't mind as long as the dog doesn't come along.

On the night of May 10th Olga had her foal. He is strong and healthy! And she is a wonderful Mom.