Well what can I say? A fabulous weekend all in all. Goals achieved all around! So, so proud of my partner Rhumba, who helped me earn my final score for my USDF Gold Medal at Grand Prix with a 63% - and in the oppressive heat no less! I don't think it's quite sunk in yet! I'm so grateful to have had the opportunity to ride this incredible horse and I can't imagine a better partner to climb the levels with. I can't believe the years long quest for medals is over!

I had such a blast showing Brio, owned by Dale Lewis and Holly Sampson of Himmel Tanzen Farm. He's been an absolute joy to train and compete and all around fun guy to be around. He had a great debut at Second Level scoring up to 67%.

All of my crew had an excellent weekend as well. Teresa Kolar earned her last scores at 2nd Level with Ava for her USDF Rider Performance Award,Amy Miller conquered 2nd Level and earned both her 2nd Level scores for her USDF Bronze Medal on Sebastian, Alexandra LaFleur and Jute took home JrYr High Point on Saturday, Susan Gagne showed her young Eros for the first time, ending the weekend with a 62% at Training Level, Sarah Chiodi earned good sportsmanship award in my mind for gracefully accepting her misfortune with a lame horse, and Natascha Kempe Artang's twins and ponies had a successful first recognized show outing and looked cute doing it! Go team Sweet Water Equestrian LLC!

I can't thank enough my parents Cindy and Roger Nelson, and Nathan Pollesch for being there to cheer us all on this weekend and through the years, Spring Hill Farm and Himmel Tanzen Farm for giving me the opportunity to ride such fabulous horses, and of course as always 'the village' for working so hard to put on these shows and for being just so fun to be around and for being so genuinely supportive and helpful.

We had a great schooling show, the first show for most people to kick off the season. Huge congrats to my working student Sarah Chiodi who took Jr/Yr High Point at Intro Level on Saturday with a 66%. It was her first show ever and a little extra nerve wracking as her usual mount was lame leading up to the show. A generous offer from Amy Miller to use her horse Sebastian instead allowed Sarah to still compete at her first horse show ever and to do well, despite only riding him a few times the week before the show! Another huge congrats to Annah Riggs for earning Reserve Champion High Point on Sunday with her horse Kyra. It was their First Level debut and they had lovely tests. Congratulations to all for a job well done! As always, 'the village' was amazing. What a gracious and generous group of people. I'm constantly reminded how lucky I am to be a part of it. Thank you to North Woods Dressage Association for yet another excellent show!