What's Up Wednesday: Horse Show Edition!

 

Guys! WE DID IT! We went to a horse show! 

Photo by Chelsea Lothrop Photography

And it technically wasn't even a one day though I only went for one day. I'm really proud of Al and myself if I'm being honest. I was feeling all sorts of feelings about the whole thing. I haven't taken Al anywhere ever other than to the boarding barn and my house. And I haven't driven the trailer in forever. I haven't shown my own horse in over seven years. There's a lot of things about horse showing that I haven't done in a very long time. And so yeah, I was feeling some anxiety. But you know what else I was feeling? Really FREAKING EXCITED! I felt like we were ready to step out in public and do the thing. Now don't get me wrong, I chose this particular show to set us up for success. So the classes we did were only .90 meters, the show was only twenty minutes away at the barn where I grew up riding, and I was able to go the day before to see which ring we would be in and get checked in. All the little things that would make this first time out as comfortable and inviting as possible. So let's walk through the big day, shall we? 

I got up at 4:45 to feed early and have enough time to offer Al a free lunge before we left. So I went out to the barn in my jammies to feed, and then while he ate and digested I got dressed and even had some time to sit down and drink a cup of coffee. Quite civilized if you ask me! He wasn't all that interested in the free lunge, so I brought him back in, got him cleaned up and put his shipping wraps on. I forgot to snap photos, but he looked adorable in his nice show halter and new shipping wraps. (At some point during the pandemic I went through the trailer and restocked everything that needed replacing. Shipping wraps were at the top of the list. I got tan ones from Wilkers, which I must tell you is genius. They stay looking nice for much longer than white.)

My helper arrived right on time, and we got Al loaded and headed to the show! On the way there, we nearly witnessed an accident, because nothing ever goes completely smoothly. We were on a road that is a 35 mph speed limit, but it's a state road, and people generally drive much faster. I was doing about 40. Well. This dude in a pickup truck behind me decides he needs to pass me immediately, despite the fact that there was an oncoming car. I thought for sure they were going to crash. Nothing I could do but watch in horror and hope for the best. Thankfully they didn't hit each other, but I gotta tell you... it was a very near miss. Terrifying. But I was hopeful that would count as the near disaster for the day. And generally, I would say it was. 

So we get to the show and Al is quietly munching hay in the trailer. I decided to leave him be while I headed up to the ring to walk the courses quickly. This was a small show but surprisingly, my class was full with 7 riders in it. I think in an effort to keep the day moving, they made all three classes speed classes. So no jump offs to learn! Another thing making this day slightly easier. I had entered all three, but was planning on probably just doing two classes. Regardless, I walked all the turns and lines in all of the classes just so we were prepared. Then we headed back and got Al ready. The ring was open for schooling which I wasn't interested in doing. I wanted to see what Al would be like seeing the jumps the first time in the actual class, since at most shows you can't practice first for jumper classes. But I did let him take a walk around the ring since that is generally an option in the morning at most shows. I was pleasantly surprised with his attitude. He walked around calmly and seemed very relaxed. I think he was really happy to be at a show! 

My trainer had arrived by now so we headed over to the warm up ring. I put myself down to go first, so I wanted to be ready as soon as the judge was. Al started out very relaxed in the warm up, right up until I cantered the second direction and he couldn't help but let out a couple little bucks. Silly boy. They weren't nasty though, I could tell he was just feeling excited, and he didn't unseat me at all. Though one time I thought we were going to plow down a kid on a pony... We didn't at least! Anyway, he settled back down and we jumped a few schooling fences and headed toward the in gate. 

I had expected to feel really anxious at that point, but I didn't. Which was very nice. Ha. None of the fences seemed big to me, and Al was in a good headspace. My plan was not to ride this like a speed class. I just wanted to have a respectable round with neat turns and a consistent pace. Our consistent pace could use some work, but otherwise I was really happy with our first round. You can watch it here:

I did feel like he was yanking me out of the tack a bit, and as a result my reins were too long much of the time. But that's all stuff we can work on. Even though we weren't fast, we still ended up right in the middle of the pack with a fourth place ribbon for this round.

Photo by Chelsea Lothrop Photography

I went in for the second class with the same plan. To make neat turns and aim for a consistent pace. Unfortunately, I made some mistakes in this class. The first couple of fences were lovely, but I found a tight spot to the third one, which resulted in my reins getting too long. The next fence was a 90 degree turn to an end jump, and with the long reins, I had to scramble a little to make the turn. I changed my mind a little at the end fence and I think jumped ahead a little. Al touched the rail, and then thought it was attacking him so he kicked it right out...

Much drama.

Then he landed and bucked so I had to make a circle because we were well past where I needed to turn. We regrouped and continued on though, because mistakes happen and we don't let them rattle us. The rest of the course was lovely. I left the ring with a smile and big pats for a good boy! Since we had a rail and circle we finished last in this class. But that was okay with me. I still got a ribbon! And all the photos.

Photo by Chelsea Lothrop Photography

I decided not to do the third class. Not because things weren't going well but because trainer and I both agreed I needed a little more bit. I could go in and do the third class and it would be just like the other two most likely. But I didn't feel like we needed to. We had jumped all the jumps already and I felt like we had a great experience and just decided to end on that note. 

Al was a gentleman to get untacked and loaded back on the trailer. He even was polite enough to hang out for a few extra minutes so I could check out and grab some breakfast. My helper and I ate at the ring to support some of our boarding barn friends who were there too. We didn't hang out too long though, because I didn't want to make Al stand around on the trailer too long. Not that he seemed to mind, but he had worked hard for me and didn't need to hang out just to hang out.

And that's the story of Al and my first show!

In other news... (I'll be brief since this is already a novel.)
I had a lesson today with Al and we tried him in a slow twist full cheek. It was magical. He didn't root in it ever. So I think that's what we'll try for the next show. 

I jumped Eros today after not jumping him last week just due to being crazy busy. 

He was nuts! Like I nearly fell off at one point nuts.

It was fun though. I'll free lunge him before we jump next time. I don't usually need to in the summer, but clearly, he's feeling some sort of way this week. It might have been pay back for starting on his mane yesterday. He hates that. 

I haven't jumped Shiny much lately because her kid has been doing it. But I think I will later this week. I want a turn too! She's feeling great, and I want to see if it translates to jumping. I imagine it will. 

In addition to showing Al last week at the horse show, I also had some braiding work. 

Which was nice because it paid for the show! But it was also a little exhausting. And I'm taking advantage of this quieter week to recover.

I had to do all of those things last week with my silly rolled ankle... But it's healing nicely. Almost all of the bruising is gone, but it's still a little swollen. Here's a lovely compilation of all the colors it went through:

And I'll just leave you with those lovely images of my foot. (My apologies if you hate feet. I also hate feet. But I do appreciate a good bruise.)