We had our first show of the season last weekend. It was the first in the series that our barn hosts at the fabulous Heirloom Equestrian Center in Washington. This year they adjusted the format so it was a three day show instead of two, but since our barn was running it, we actually went up on Thursday and made it a 3.5 day show.
We had 6 mares (now collectively known as Estrogen Acres) from the barn going, 5 in Trainer M's trailer and I hauled Cinder in mine. We also fully loaded both tack rooms and truck beds with supplies and hay and headed up Thursday afternoon. We unfortunately left during the height of rush hour so by the time we got to Heirloom and got done unloading, it was 8pm. I grabbed dinner and headed to my hotel to get some sleep before heading back to the show by 8am the next morning to help set the course.
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Blurry screenshot of Trainer M and Cin |
The new schedule had the show starting at 1 with just jumper rounds on Friday. After setting the course I played groom and lunged Trainer M's project mare who was having a meltdown and trying to climb her stall walls. Cinder was her neighbor and thought Trillium was being way over dramatic and was very happy to see her leave. Then one of the other mares lost her mind that Trillium was gone and that's when we decided that we need to bring an emotional support gelding next time. There was a lot of big feelings all weekend from most of the mares, but I'm very happy to report that Cinder did not feed into any of them and was one of the better behaved mares in our group.
Obviously Cinder is not a jumper, despite our outings to Jumper Nights this winter, but I wanted her to go in the ring and do some schooling rounds on Friday with Trainer M. I wasn't sure how Cin would react at the show, since she was an idiot in warm up at both Jumper Nights despite having been to Heirloom multiple times. I took her for a hand walk in the ring during the cross rail warm up and she was totally chill. Trainer M was going to take her in the first 0.70m clear round and if she was good, do a second clear round at 0.80m, or do the 0.70m speed round if she was nutty.
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I promise there will be some pro photos in the next post |
The outdoor arena was closed since it had been pouring all week, and off and on raining all day on Friday. Trainer M had wanted us to hand walk the horses for 10-15mins prior to her getting on to school during the breaks in the indoor, but right when I went to start walking Cinder the skies opened up and it dumped rain and wind on us. We retreated back into the stall and by the time it stopped, Trainer M was ready for Cinder. They warmed up great; Cinder was nice and relaxed and wasn't feeding off of other horses. Their 0.70m round was lovely and clear, so we scratched the speed round and put her in the 0.80m clear round. Their 0.80m was clear as well, but Cinder took a couple of peaks at the oxers and planks that hadn't been there in their first round. It was more of a "Oh, this is bigger and there's more stuff under here" situation and not that she was spooking. She got lots of cookies and praise for being so well behaved while I untacked her and put her up for the night.