Back in the Swing of things

It has been a while since I have had enough time to sit down and write a new post-- this time of year everything picks up quite a bit and free time becomes rare. 
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In the month of May we got our show season rolling. It has been a number of years since I made much of a focus on working toward regional or national championships. My horses are often still very much developing and so I have changed my focus from big competitions to moving them up the levels. We are trying to get some of my less experienced horses out more often to our local schooling shows to get them some exposure and get in some test practice. Typically, I have found it takes a while to figure out the warm-up we need and how the horses perform best. Most of my guys can be quite hot and sensitive so it is very important to figure out how they perform best before we dump tons of money into trying to show them rated and do qualifiers. 
We started May by taking them all (with the exception of Lumie) to school or show at the IDS Schooling show. I took Jeriah along as a non-compete as we planned to show him later in the month and I wanted to get a feel for how he was doing mentally this season. He is a tricky horse to show and does not do well in stalls away from home. In the ring he can become quite introverted or tired because he overstressed himself in the barn. He was certainly a handful at this show and was more distracted than normal. Monty also went as a non-compete; he hasn't been out since Florida 2023. He is sitting somewhere between 2nd and 3rd dependent on the day so I have decided to wait to show him till his is more confident in the 3rd level work, although I may take him for a 2nd level test in the late summer/early fall to get some test riding in on him. He can be a very hot and sensitive horse who needs more experience before he can relax in the show environment. 
Melman was entered for a 4th level test, but I was out of town 2 weeks leading up to this show and when I returned how his body didn't feel as prepared as I felt he needed to be to do the test confidently, so I dropped him into a 3rd level test 1. He scored a solid 69% with some mistakes but became continually more rideable as the test went on which is really all I can ask from him at this point. I also took Pia out for her first test-- she has really struggled in the canter transitions, so I was pleased with her 68% at TR1. I ride her only once a week as she is owned and primarily ridden by my father so in some ways it feels a bit like catch riding with her. Thankfully she is an honest horse and almost always predictable in her temperament/try. 

Between the two May shows, Illuminator got the vet thumbs up to return to more work. It has been at least 8 months since he was in any kind of full work and a year since the issues began. He is keen to get back to the hard things and is at times quite the handful right now. Lumie doesn't seem overly convinced that doing 1st level or so work is really his forte. We still have a long road to getting him back to competitive fitness, but maybe we are finally seeing the end of this "tunnel".   

Jeriah had his first go around in the Intermediate 1 at the Harmony in the Park show for a 66% under two judges. He was much more relaxed and focused this time and there was a dramatic improvement in his focus which was quite good. Unfortunately, he is still green in some of the canter tour and had multiple mistakes that kept the score from being higher. We didn't have quite enough "engine" and as the test went on, he began to drop me quite a bit especially in the change work. We are going to do a few weeks of work to improve it and some physio things for Jeriah (chiro, pemf, etc) to help him feel his best and give it another go at the beginning of June. We find that figuring out the "prep" work with our vet and alternative therapies we need to use prior to competing is just as important as learning the way to haul, stable and warm-up, especially as they become FEI horses. 
I will have more soon-- I promise I will try to not go MIA again for 2 months!