It was rather sad, for the second year in a row to be in a position to dedicate Lauren’s dressage ride to her grandparent. It felt at first a case of real deja vu…..but it turned out to be anything but the success of last year.
To cut a long story short, the decision was taken to put Lauren on a new (non RDA) horse to compete to the tune of Halo. The horse was beautiful but when the crowd clapped enthusiastically, it got spooked and threw Lauren off the horse. What a shock for Lauren and everyone watching. Fortunately neither Lauren nor the horse were not hurt! You would be understanding if I told you that after this frightening experience Lauren would not get back on the horse….but you would be wrong! Lauren communicated that she had not finished the song! So she wanted to get straight back on! So back on the horse she got but it was clear the poor horse was still spooked and it was best she dismount. But Lauren was not done! She wanted to get onto her usual horse and complete and compete! What a trooper…..She is amazing this child. She has more resilience than me!For this she was awarded Second Place. Not sure she deserved that for riding but she sure earnt it in courage! It had been a big week with Nunna so that just was the icing on the cake! Still, we all survived. I got to see the not so safe side of horseriding and Lauren learnt a lot.
Thanks to the wonderful volunteers at RDA Oaklands and all who came along to support Lauren (and her distressed Mum when she fell off).