Second day of NWEC/Adult Riders Derby

This is a very belated blog entry, since this was April 5th, so I'll be concise (for me).
I had fun.
For the first time in a long time, and maybe the first time riding Willig, I had a good time. The weather was great, and Willig was pretty good and relaxed.
Plus, I hooked up the truck and trailer perfectly. One try.
We got third place, at Intro. 1st place was 35.3, 2nd 42.7, and we were another slight improvement to 43.2.
No refusals on the course, and dressage could have been a bit better, but the ground was frosty and I was worried about him slipping, so I didn't do as vigorous a warm up as I would have liked. (Our dressage ride was 7:56 am!)
Then, after the terrible trailer incident the day before, I coaxed him in with carrots. It took about half an hour, but there was no pulling or fighting (he got a carrot each time he came a step farther in, so he could back out and stand and stare (but not eat), but he didn't get a new carrot until he came in farther).
The next day, Janis suggested, sagely, the stud chain, which was just a few feet away from me.
But then on the roundabout (like the 5th one) on the way home, I almost hit a truck going through, and I had to slam on the brakes, and poor Willig came out of the trailer sweaty and scared. (Sigh).
Anyway, Adult Riders did a great job and I had a great time and even got a bit of a tan on my face. Oh yeah, and third place was jackpot. I scored my first bucks ever - $15!!