Shows and Bows

Oak Rise, 2008 – first of the series. In the morning, I was waiting for the other shoe to drop somewhere – I was too eerily organized. I had my coffee, my stack of saddle pads and brushes were ready to go in the driveway and although she’d been roaming the field the night before, Sky was surprisingly still clean from her hurried bath the day before.
Lisa was right on time and we pulled out well ahead of Robyn and Cassie. We got there early and settled in, although my nerves were jumping… by the time I got her saddled and was up and riding in the practice ring, it got worse…

Now, I have little to no explanation why this happens to me – I have hosted Army Generals, & heads of State at the O’Club, I’ve performed for thousands of people while cheering in college and I’ve traveled all over the world in places where I didn’t speak a word of the language, but little open horse shows get the best of me!

It probably has more to do with the fact that my nervousness now affects another being. If I’m nervous, I’m tense and if I’m tense than Sky’s tense, which makes for a bad situation when we’re circling the practice ring with 50 other horses and riders. She’s spitting at the bit, tossing her head, going too fast at the trot – typical “Bad Sky” behavior. That’s when John’s wife Lisa, who recognized me before I recognized her, paused in coaching her own students to tell me John would be there soon. I was so grateful for the familiar face and kind words that I relaxed a little and so did Sky. On our next turn around Lisa offered a tip or two and this helped us even more.
Sky, who has never made a peep more than once in the two years I’ve owned her, decided today would be a good day to be vocal! She whinnied out to Lilly when the MMF crew arrived in the practice ring, and then called out to whoever was near!

By the time our first class arrived, things were better but not great. I was silently begging for a peracet or a beer to calm me down since I knew Sky was just fine and all of our nerves were solely on me.

Walk/Trot Adult Equitation turned out to be me and a forty + year old English rider on a short Appy. We chatted at the gate then did our walking and trotting in front of the judge. Lisa (my friend this time) perched herself at the rail and whispered tips to relax me as we went by… this in addition to my nephew Dale yelling to me in his two-year-old voice made me smile and laugh and there were no major disasters. When they had us line up at the end of the class, I prepared myself for second. I’d been tense and Sky wasn’t super soft and I really missed the patterns they gave us for Equitation in Texas. But, when the time came and the other lady’s name was called first, I was announced the winner. Yeah for us!
Immediately, I was myself again.

The rest of the day went very smoothly. We watched the girls from MMF go through the walk/trot green horse classes, chatted with John who finally arrived, and spent a lot of time with Karl and the family who had come to support us. Lisa and I got a good laugh out of the fact that Sky and her horse, Onyx, had decided to be best friends considering we had been worried about a fight when we’d tied them side by side. The hot day dragged on as class after class went by. Lisa and I both did the trail course before lunch and although I’m pretty sure I made one error, I was very proud of how we did. I did an extra sidepass move for extra points and I think that helped.

The rest of our classes went really well, with both John and Lisa whispering silly advice to get me to relax and remember how to ride and my family cheering from the stands. We had a repeat of the Equitation for the Adult Pleasure W/T, then got 2nd out of 4 for Western Pleasure W/T (beating two kids and losing out to an older lady on a seasoned horse), got 1st of 4 for Discipline Rail (beat three kids this time) and heard at the end of the day that we got 1st in Trail and the High Point for the day. Sky did particularly well in Discipline Rail when we performed a turn on the haunches and a turn on the forehand. Even now, I’m not sure if I was seriously inquiring or being a smart ass when my answer to the judge when he asked me if I could turn on the forehand was, “which way?” - I like to think I was being a smart ass.

The day did drag on. We arrived at 7:15 and didn’t leave until nearly 6. Lisa’s classes were late in the day and she was not thrilled with the drag of the schedule. Her classes had been crowded affairs, full of English and Western riders - she’d placed well in Halter but her riding classes weren’t the sweep I think she’d planned on. In one class, she had to contend with a dressage rider carrying a whip on a huge Fresian flying by on the inside, going a-buck-ninety at the canter in the tiny ring. Onyx stopped and nearly kicked the horse, resulting in Lisa placing 6th. John, Karl and I were standing at the trailer watching and he knew she’d be livid… but when she rode over I’m pretty sure all three of us reeled back a little when, still mounted, she threw the green ribbon into the dressing room before commenting on what had happened. Drama.

Anyway, I had fun and that’s what I went for. I wish there would be more people to compete against, but I guess for now we really have to ride for ourselves. It was good to have John around and to see the girls from MMF there. Lisa will be gone when the next one comes around, so I have to find another ride. I might skip LRSS next weekend b/c of money and tiredness and I know this week I’ll be doing some trail riding (and yes, John, riding over the stream this time – I’ll let you know how it goes and hopefully not from my hospital room).


See www.snapfish.com for the photos. I’ll send you all the invite to view them.
C