Friday night was a great opportunity for horses and riders to gain valuable experience.  There really is nothing like riding in a huge arena under the lights with a ton of atmosphere.  I was a little worried about how Blue Rondo "Joey" would react to all the atmosphere.  He is a very reactive horse and I wanted to find out if he would come unglued with the situation.  In the end I could not have been happier with his reaction to everything.  Joey trotted into the ring and proceeded to jump a beautiful round.  He showed a couple moments of his greeness, but overall he put in a very respectable round.  Riding in a derby cross is a very tricky thing.  On one hand you want to go fast over the jumps but on the other you need to be sure to leave all of the show jumps up,  The big difference for the event horses compared to the jumpers is that when our horses go fast we also ask the to flatten out a bit.  That works fine over long galloping cross country courses, but not so good over twisty show jumping type derby courses.  I think that showed a bit between the two different groups.  I also have to mention our superb mare Safdie.  I took her down for one of the polo riders to ride.  She was super and really thrived in the situation.  I am hoping to sell her as a preliminary packer, but I must say that if she were to stick around to make future event horses for me I would be fine with that too.  She is a beautiful mare and a great jumper.mmWe leave the farm on thursday for Rocking Horse and I will try to update after that event.