The Secret Life of McKenna: The future is bright

As junior blogger McKenna Oxenden wraps up her first season on new horse Gigi, she reflects on how far they’ve come and expresses optimism about where they’re heading from here.

From McKenna:

I’m back again with yet more good news! Gigi and I have another event under our belts! Together we successfully completed the Loch Moy starter trials on Saturday!

Dressage went pretty well. Gigi’s trotwork was fantastic… her canter work was a little lacking but I know that it’s a work in progress. Needless to say, our transitions were a bit exuberant so our scores on those weren’t all that stellar BUT I did end up with a test full of 7s AND a 7 on rider! The judge gave me some great feedback and overall was really impressed with Gigi!

Show jumping also went fairly well! I still have a lot of improvements I need to make but overall, it was smoother than most of my rounds. The big thing I need to work on is getting out of the saddle and refraining from my “chair seat.”

XC was the best round I’ve had on her to date, she was super the whole way around. We really got in a rhythm as we went around the course and by the end we were both doing great!

Maryland was a great learning experience. I always have to keep in mind that Gigi is a lot greener than what I think and so sometimes I mistake her for looking at a fence or misbehaving, when it’s her just not 100-percent knowing her job yet.

My horse is pretty awesome now, so I can’t wait for the future.

Big shout out to Courtney Sendak for being an awesome coach and for finishing the big elementary course on Trip to the Light Fantastic, an amazing sales horse!

This weekend I’m off to the last event of the season at Full Moon Farm, wish me luck!