First test at Gladstone...check!

The show finally got underway for Monk and I today, with the Prix St. Georges test.  The competition was tough, with 5 riders scoring above 70%.  We were one of the last combinations to go, and we had a solid, mistake-free ride to score 65.76% from the 5 judges and place 11th among some of the best Intermediare combinations in the country.  I was very happy with my ride!  I've had some issues with the PSG with Monkey recently, for some reason he likes to throw in one-time changes in various locations.  Plus I was a little nervous for this ride, being my first test at such a venue!  So I was relieved to ride the test mistake-free. 
The Intermediare I is on Saturday, and my goal for that test is to add more uphill expression and power to his overall way of going.  Everything worked today, but the comment from the judges was that I was too conservative and he needs more power/expression.  We have a schooling day tomorrow to address some of those issues.
The biggest problem with this show is how much down time there is!  I'm so used to riding a bunch of horses and having several clients to teach, that having a lot of time to sit around and hang out is hard to get used to.  It is a little harder to control your nerves too when you have that much time to think.  I did spend some time in the morning watching some of the GP horses school, which helped give me a good mental image for my ride.  Tomorrow I'll get to watch the GP (it starts at 9am), then ride Monk afterwards.  That will help too.
Weather was perfect today in Gladstone, maybe 80 degrees with some sun and some clouds!  We really lucked out with that.