Five Points & Recent Happenings

We have recently returned from the Carolina Horse Park. We had somemwhat of a rough weekend, but not one that was without learning experiences. Once again, I thought that our dressage was not as good as it could have been, Octavian felt a bit tense in the neck in the canter and not as soft and supple as he has been recently. I was thrilled to find that my dressage score was a 37 once again. We were 10th out of 21 after dressage in another open division.
I was really excited about the cross country course. It was another big, yet forward course with some challenging combinations. I had some concerns about the mushroom and corner on course (there's a theme here, corners and skinnies are our difficult fences). The course ended up riding very well. We were clear over both the mushroom and the corner, but unfortunately had a stop at the bank at 13ab. We were to jump up a bank, and then there was a bounce to a log on top. There was an option, however I felt that the bank was similiar to the one at Difficult Run, which was also a bounce bank, and therefore did not feel like we needed to take the option. I was wrong! I was really wanting to go clear, especially since this is our last cross country run before Morven, but Octavian was perfect over everything else so I can complain too teribbly much.
Sunday morning Octavian looked good and his legs were cool and tight. We warmed up well for stadium on Sunday, but when we were in the ring everything fell apart. Octavian was backing off to every fence and was not feeling like himself. We had a stop at the second fence in the in and out. I retired after our stop. Octavian is usually very enthusiastic and his antics were not characteristic of him.
The vet will be coming out on the 23rd to correct his passport (it was rejected...we triple checked but still made a few mistakes) and will be checking him over then to make sure that everything is all right. This week Octavian feels back to himself and does not seem to sore or stiff. If the report is clean from the vet, we will be heading out to Plain Dealing to have a lesson with Monday the Sunday before Morven, and then will be off to Morven the following Thursday.