I think I'm too old for this. I seem to say that after every horse show, and then manage to forget about it as I get excited for the next show. Horse shows are exhausting. They are fun... still... I think... but mostly exhausting. I'm starting to wonder how much longer I'll want to do it. Definitely still planning on at least one more show this year.
Anyway so yeah, there was a horse show. We showed. We survived.
Overall it was a good show. Not our best show, but it was good. I managed to remember all my patterns! I'm very pleased with our placings considering the rough day and how unprepared I was coming right off of the busiest part of my work year. I apologize for failing to actually write down the number of people in each class and even writing which ribbon was for which class. I'm usually really good at that. I had four 2nds, a 3rd and a 4th. We did get High Point Adult so we're well positioned to be in the running for the Circuit High Point Adult at the June show.
The Day:
I arrived at the show grounds before 7am. I claimed the only open stall in the barn, moved my stuff in, signed up for my classes, then received a stream of apologetic and frantic texts about how BODH (Barn Owner's Dear Husband) was responsible for a dead truck battery and AAA would be there in 30 minutes. Show started at 8am. I was in class 6. Allright, things could be worse...
So I prepped everything I could prep sans horse, chatted with some old friends and sat down to memorize my 4 patterns. As time ticked by I wondered if I might miss one or two of my English classes. I thought, oh well, it's only $5 per class and at least I can show the western classes.... FRAK.... I forgot my western hat. I could see it in my mind's eye on the shelf in the closet, just as it looked on Friday when I saw it and thought "yup, I need to grab that" ... but didn't.
At 9:45am the trailer arrived, we were still only on class 3, and the BO brought me 2 hats to try. We moved in (all my tack was in the trailer) got a tail attached, got dressed, and got to the arena in PLENTY of time for my first class:
Open English Halter, in which we did not place out of about 12. Junior was very vocal during the class but he stayed put really well.
Adult Hunter Showmanship was pretty good. We got second out of about 5? The winner was a guy who has won the class all but once against me. I only beat him one year he had a super-greenie in the ring who was not having it. Junior was good and it was a pattern I've done several times.
Adult Hunter Under Saddle went well. I think I got 2nd? Maybe 3rd out of 6? I was able to warm up outside for a good while, thankfully those youth classes are LARGE. They were having classes with 2, 3, or 4 splits of 12-16 each.
Open Walk-Trot Hunter Under Saddle was huge. There were 40 in the class so we had 3 splits. We made it to the final round but did not place.
Adult Equitation was kind of a hot mess. The pattern seemed fairly straight forward and I thought we did fair. We were 2nd? of 3?.
We had a decent break before my western showmanship class, but I didn't have the energy to go ride and wearing him down sometimes makes him angry instead of relaxed. So we rested, but Junior did not pee so I knew the afternoon would be a ticking time bomb of naughty-horse.
Adult Western Showmanship was pretty good. I think 3 in the class and I was 2nd. There was an "N" shape and I turned the inside turn too tight, plus I was insufferably tired by this point and there was a brief moment I completely forgot how to quarter.
Adult Western Pleasure was funny. There were actually some really nice moments where I was getting a great little jog and even a decent loose-rein lope but we were DREADFULLY inconsistent. Thankfully there were worse train wrecks than us and I think we got 4th? out of 7?
Open Walk-Trot Pleasure was good but we didn't place in a class of I think 20.
Adult Horsemanship started bad and ended worse. I stayed in the ring after walk/trot and Junior wasn't enjoying the mass exodus of the herd so we were already arguing before the class even started. There were only two of us and the other girl was on a somewhat unfamiliar horse and she didn't seem confident about the pattern so I volunteered to go first. The pattern seemed to be going as well as could be expected until the "halt" quickly escalated into a sidepass-to-turn-on-the-forehand-to-halt. Apparently there are no extra points awarded for creativity and we were DFL. Oh well. I was just glad it was over with. Honestly, I was ready to drop and I still had to load everything up and get back to the barn to take out braids and then back to my house.
I got home at 9:30 and went straight to bed. I didn't unload the car until Tuesday and I haven't been out to the barn since Sunday. All my show stuff is still in a pile in the spare room and my back seat has a pile that goes back to the barn.
Sadly NONE of my show clothes sold at the tack swap, so at least I had something to wear for Showmanship. :) I obeyed the unanimous vote and wore the black shirt outfit for the riding classes. I'm still hoping to get my 2 new pieces done for the June show, as well as trying out my new Hobby Horse EZ Rider show pants which I was too lazy to hem before this show!
Here's the last two... and one of them had been repaired several times before it was no longer reparable. Not sure why either of them are still in my possession... I think I had some stupid idea that I would try to salvage parts of them but they'll be in the dumpster tomorrow. Ain't nobody got time for that.
