Regionals 2022: The Weekend I Wish I Could Live In Forever

2022 GAIG Regional FEI Junior Team 3rd Place rider🥉

2022 GAIG Regional 4th place Jr/Yr - 3rd Level

While this all just feels a bit surreal & I genuinely am struggling to gather my words, I believe Jack deserves to have this weekend shared with everyone in the best way I can put words together to do so. This year has been one of the most memorable times of my life & I will certainly never forget it. Jack went into the FEI Junior Team test on Friday feeling super. We had not ridden through the test since June, so I did not have super high expectations as I was directing my focus toward my third-level championship the next day. While it did have some costly mistakes, that will just take muscle development to fix, it was a clean, consistent test. We ended that test with a 63.78% with a 3rd place finish. Jack got to do his very first victory lap, and while I won’t go into quite exactly what that meant to me, it most definitely put me to tears. It was so rewarding, I can not begin to explain it.

On Saturday morning, we went into our third-level championship and he was just not quite on his game. He was just a bit tired & slow. He wasn’t quite as sharp as he typically is, so while we did have some expensive mistakes on my part, we managed to finish off with another 63.5%. I was so genuinely surprised. We missed a third-place finish by just .437 & that is 100% surreal to me.

Again, the awards ceremony was just indescribable.

Lastly, on Sunday, I had signed up for a Junior Team test just to get the opportunity to run through it with no pressure or high expectations. I finished that test feeling so incredible. It felt like one of the best tests I have truly ever ridden. I honestly RODE. We got all of our changes clean as a whistle & in the exact spot, which has been one of our struggles with that test & our trot was finally up in his shoulders & poll & it just felt like he was floating. I had never gone through that test feeling like it was ‘easy’ and this test finally felt easy, simple, flowing, and consistent.

Although I ended with a 64.848, I almost feel as though the score didn’t reflect the test, but that is absolutely okay, and normal!

While this is just simply a recap of the weekend, I will eventually be able to gather words as to what these past few days meant to me. So much has happened & changed in the past 365 days & I often wonder how. How did so much change for such good, SO fast? While I worked day & night for these moments, I simply would not have been able to do a single thing without that black & white perfect pony. You will often hear me telling people that there are not many physical attributes of jack’s that make him technically ‘able’ to do what we do besides his HEART. His heart is everything & that is how this magic happens & I am astonished every single day by it.

I covet to be able to thank every person near & far who wished me luck, congratulated me, cheered me on & made me feel so loved. I was truly dumbfounded by the texts, dm’s, calls, and comments wishing nothing but the best for Jack & I. I must have received messages from no less than 300 people. Thank you, each & every one of you, from the bottom of my heart. I would not be able to do it without you.

To the Moody family, thank you a million times over for so graciously sharing this once in a lifetime, miracle of a horse.

Mom & Dad, you make the magic happen every day, 365. I will forever express my gratitude toward you the best I can because I would by no means be doing a single thing without either of you.