MDTE March 2025 Show Part 3

 Sunday arrived with a windstorm that wasn't predicted. Thankfully the rain held off till the end of the show, but the wind was brutal. Cinder was not amused during our hand walk in the ring at the big doors banging on the far side of the barn. There was much spooking and spinning involved. Thankfully someone closed and latched the doors by the time I rode. 

Both Cinder and I were tired but we kept to the plan and stepped into the 2'6" equitation. We were supposed to do two over fences, the flat, and the 2'6" medal. She warmed up great, really moving forward and jumping me out of the tack a bit. Our first round was going really well for the first three quarters, until I ran at the long approach single diagonal, saw it was going to be short, and then proceeded to do absolutely nothing to help Cinder out. Thankfully she saved my ass and chipped it, but that kind of took the wind out of our sails. The last two fences were nice, but a little underpowered. We earned a third out of four for that round.

purchased from Philippos Photography

Cinder was definitely tired and behind my leg for our second round and we added a stride in the one line on course. I knew I didn't have enough horse to make the strides, so at least this time I planned on the add instead of chipping it. Coming to the second to last fence we got a stuck in the corner and just didn't have enough power to find a distance to jump and had a stop. I circled and really dug into her and we made it over but it wasn't pretty. We rightfully came in last. 

As we came out of the ring I told Trainer M that we were done for the day. Cinder had been so good all weekend and was obviously out of gas and there's no point in making her do more. We had met all the goals I had set for us and there's always another show. M agreed and we scratched the flat and medal. I'm sad we didn't get to do the medal, but I'm so, so proud and happy with how the rest of the weekend went. 

Freeman Farm November 2024 Show

 We managed to make it to one last show this season, at at venue I haven't show at in ten years.  The farm was established in 1921 and was owned by the same family till they sold in 2022, and I'm so happy the new owners managed to keep the same vibes and aesthetic while doing some much needed upgrades.  

Cinder got her first winter clip the day before the show. Not great timing, but at least she wasn't a sweaty mess at the show

I had asked Trainer M if she had trailer space to haul for me, as it would cost about the same in gas for my truck as her mileage fee, and that way I didn't have to get up at 5am. She did, and apparently Cinder took great offense to being loaded at 6am in the dark. She got loose from M and jogged around the front pasture to say hi to M's two year old stud colt. But once caught she loaded fine and settled into her day stall at the show. I arrived about 30mins after the horses got there and she was happily munching her hay. My classes were the last of the day so I helped my barn mates showing earlier and then took Cin for a little lunge in the round pen. Unfortunately the footing was full of rocks, so we didn't do much in there. We then went for a walk around the outdoor that was being used at the warm up ring. There was a pig and a very big rooster in a paddock next to the ring that had been causing multiple horses to loose their minds all morning, but thankfully both were in their shelter and didn't cause us any problems. 

She came into flaming heat on Monday, so that probably explains some of her behavioral issues on Saturday

In typical horse show fashion I thought I had enough time to order a burger from the concessions, but classes ran fast and I needed to start tacking up as soon as I got it. One of the teens from the barn was helping groom, and was helping me with Cinder while I scarfed down my lunch. I was standing about five feet from the stall eating as fast I could when I saw Cinder poke her nose out the unlatched door then take off. So for the second time that day Cinder was loose. She was easily caught by another trainer while I ran after her. She then lost all of her privileges and was tied up in the stall while I finished tacking up. 

This show was jumpers and equitation, and the eq only went up to 18". My main reasons for coming were to support the restarting of this show series, and to get her out to a new venue, since she's only shown at Heirloom this year, and Freeman Farm is completely new to her. I figured she'd be fairly distracted and up, and I was completely right. Trainer M hopped on her first and while she was a bit looney in warm up, she settled once they started jumping. They were allowing schooling rounds so M took her in one since she can't do the eq. Cinder looked great and they had a nice round. 

Spoiler alert

I got on and we went in for the flat. We held it together, but Cinder felt spicy and was very distracted by an open door at the end of ring. I was a little caught off guard in our first over fences round by how forward Cin was and got left behind at the first fence. The rest of the round was decent, but Cin kept building and it felt like trying to keep the lid on a pressure cooker. I dropped my whip before going in for our second round but Cin was even more wound up. I ended up making her do the adds in the lines, to emphasize the point that she has to listen to me and not blast around like a rocket ship. She also missed a lead change and then got mad and we ended up trotting a fence because she was too frazzled to pick up the correct lead. We definitely put the "schooling" in schooling show. There were only three in our division, so we ended up second on the flat and for our first over fences round, and third in the second round. 

To put the icing on the day, Cinder once again protested at having to load in the trailer to go home and got loose for the THIRD time that day. Her and Trainer M had a conversation involving a stud chain, and Cinder walked right on after that. I apologized profusely for my horse being a rank asshole, and we made a new rule that Cin must always have a chain when loading. I was expecting her to be spicy and fresh, what with being freshly clipped and the weather deciding it's really fall now, but I wasn't expecting her to be that bad. We might need to rethink how we deal with showing in fall/winter going forward. 

GLEE Spring into Summer Show #2

 Peebs and I did our second show of the year last Sunday. It was the second show in the same series as the first one that we did. This time we did two equitation classes and two jumper rounds.

The show has a couple of $500 equitation challenge classes; a gymnastic class and a handy and dandy equitation class. Originally each class had a 2'6" and 3' section, but due to popular demand, they added a 2' section for this show. I didn't realize that till the morning of, and looked at the courses before deciding what to enter. The gymnastic class called for no stirrup work, and a trotting a fence without stirrups, so I decided to do the handy class instead. I have no shame pulling the weenie, flabby ammy card. 

There was a lot more space between 5 and 8 than 5 and the rail

Peebs was little more awake and distracted for the handy class than he normally is. Trainer and I talked about it, and decided to go for the inside turn from 1 to 2, as that turn also showed up in my jumper rounds and there wasn't a whole lot of space between the outside fence and the rail. I was to take fence 1 on a slight angle, as Trainer was afraid of me loosing the impulsion in squaring off the turn, and angling it would encourage Peebs to land on his left lead. I liked how I rode the turn, but I cut the turn to sharp to 2 and we ended up aimed at the inside standard. Peebs never felt like he locked onto the fence either, so I circled and re-approached. So much for winning a piece of the prize money. But the rest of the course rode well and I mainly wanted to use the class as a warm up for our medal round.

All I have are blurry screenshots, sorry

The medal round was at 2'3" and I don't think Peebs realized the fences had gone up a hole as he smacked the first fence pretty hard. It stayed in the cups, but since there were only 3 of us in the class and no one else hit poles, I knew we were going to be on the bottom. Peebs was more focused and with me for this round, but also strong and wanting to counter bend and motorcycle around the turns. He's earned himself some flat work boot camp, as well as halting straight after fences for a while. But overall I was happy with our two equitation rounds. None of the fences looked big or felt scary and I could see every distance and know when I needed to hold or move him up. 

We had about a two hour break before my jumper classes.  Peebs paced a bit at the trailer and tired himself out, which was a good thing. I tried to focus on bending and moving his shoulders around in our warm up, but the arena wasn't that big and trying to work around other people was tough. He was more rideable and I was ready for our 2'3" jumper rounds. 

I never really got Peebs in front of my leg for our first round, and we never fell into a rhythm. I know we pulled a rail, but can't remember at which fence. We placed third out of three again. My instructions for going into the second round were to gallop him across the arena to the first fence, then settle a bit on the approach and keep that pace the whole way around. Peebs was definitely tired by this point and I had to help him a bit more, but we found our distances and I was really, really happy with the round. 

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Till the second to last fence. It was the turn from jump 1 to 2 in the eq class above, now fences 8 and 9. I had dropped to the trot for a simple change coming up to fence 8 and Peebs thought we were done. He kept trying to drop his head and stick his front leg out. I was pulling his head up and kicking but he was determined to scratch his head while trotting. I realized there was no way we were making it over fence 8 and stopped him, where he immediately started rubbing his head on his leg. I had forgotten my crop at home so I couldn't whack him, but I booted him forward and circled back to 8. I did nail the inside turn from 8 to 9 so at least I redeemed myself there. 

I was pretty pissed at the time, but now I can look back and laugh. The day as a whole went really well, with just a few bobbles that can be fixed. I felt comfortable with the height, felt like the courses were within our capabilities and dare I say it, maybe ready to move up? Just next time I'll remember my crop in case Peebs decides he needs to itch again.

Team NW Bedrock Show August 2019: Day Two

To be perfectly honest, I woke up on day two of the show and wasn't feeling it.  I was considering scratching and just packing up and heading home.  But I rallied and told myself to longe Peebs and see what horse I had.  If he was still amped up I'd scratch, but if he seemed like his normal chill self we'd show.

Peebs played and cantered for a good long while on the longe. He doesn't buck but dolphin leaps and strikes out with his front legs. I can usually tell when he's got his crazies out and Sunday was no exception.  He finished playing, let out a snort and was back to his usual Peebs.  So I called my trainer with an estimated time of go and decided to stick it out.

I'm a bad blogger and got zero media from the show so enjoy Cinder and Scottie sharing dinner

I was pleasantly surprised to see that they actually had an interesting eq course for us.  Usually this show does the single/outside line/diagonal/outside/diagonal hunter course for their eq classes but this time they had a short turn to a diagonal fence we hadn't jumped in the other course set almost on the center line bending to an outside fence.  Exciting stuff!

When I got on to warm up Peebs felt like his normal first day at the show self.  Awake and energetic, but not spooky and he was listening to me.  We did have some issues over bending right and drifting left when we schooled over the warm up fence but I'll take that over running through my hands.  My trainer told me to let him go and ride forward, but I was still hesitant from the day before.  Our first round started off behind the pace till the fourth fence when I got myself in gear, but overall it was a decent round.  We did add a stride in the lines even though trainer told me we could have easily made it without the add, if I had let him go.

Our second round was the one with the bending line and while Peebs was behind my leg to the first fence I sat up and pushed him forward to #2 which was the start of the bending line. The line rode really well and I proud of myself for making the decision to push him forward.  I need to stop thinking that because he's short that we have to always do the add and let him flow a bit more.  He's capable of making the strides. We did have rub at the first fence in the diagonal line but I think that was Peebs just being lazy. 

There were 14 in my classes (they combined the juniors and ammys, damn them!) so we didn't place in either class. But considering the day before I was super happy with our progress. We might show in early October, or this might have been our last show for the year, but either way I'm planning on working on letting him go and getting the strides so we can hopefully be more competitive. And if we do this same show next year, and it's the same weekend as the Art and Air Festival, we're hauling up on Friday to avoid the balloon invasion!

Team NW Bedrock Show July 2019: Day Two

So day two of the show really started after my rounds on day one.  Trainer and I were back at the stall untacking Peebs when she told me she wasn't going to be able to make it up on Sunday.  Originally when I entered the show she wasn't going to make it Sunday, but then thought she would. I don't know if it was the adrenaline of being in the GP ring, or a bit of heat stress (it was in the 80s and humid for Oregon), or what but I almost immediately started internally panicking. All night I gave myself a stern talking to.  I've shown plenty of times by myself, but never over courses this complex and built up.

Sunday's jumper course

Our classes were first thing Sunday morning so after I fed Peebs I wandered down to the ring.  They were just finishing dragging and setting the course so once the tractor left we could walk.  It honestly looked like a sea of oxers and big fences even though I know it wasn't. The turn from 3 to 4 was almost a V and I spent a long time trying to figure out my plan for it. When I went back to tack Peebs up I felt slightly sick and anxious over it. Both Peebs and I were tired so I didn't do much warm up, trying to conserve our energy for the ring.  My plan was to have a good rhythm and pace and not have a death grip on his mouth.  But doing that and starting with a long approach to a single oxer wasn't easy.  I basically picked up a canter, put my hands forward, and let Peebs figure it out. Which, bless him, he tried to do but when he added a stride we ended up crashing into the fence.

Crashing into fences has always been my biggest fear. Not so much because I worry about getting hurt, but because I worry about my horses getting hurt, or their confidence getting shaken. Peebs has never stopped like that, never crashed a fence like that, and I was immediately convinced I  had ruined him. Once they rebuilt the fence we circled around and re-approached.  Only this time I panicked and pulled him away two strides out. It was a very long, sad walk back to in gate. I told the woman running the back gate that I was scratching our second round and then cried the whole walk back to the stall. I knew I needed to get back on and jump something but I had to take a breather first.

Much easier than a jumper course

Our regular hunter ring was just off the end of the row of stalls and I watched some little kids do trot pole courses.  I checked the class schedule on my phone and decided to add a couple equitation classes later in the day. I hoped being in our normal ring with a simpler course would help both Peebs and my confidence. Luckily I had brought my show garment bag and had a white shirt and hunt coat.  I didn't have my hunter show pad, but figured Peebs could rock the old school just-a-half-pad look.  Then I remembered I had Peebs' blue sparkly brow band on his bridle and didn't have a regular one. The one tack vendor at the show didn't have just brow bands so I ended up getting a whole new bridle. Which I do like better than my current one but it still sucked having to spend that money when I really didn't need it.

We redeemed ourselves

I'm pretty sure Peebs was pissed when I pulled him out again but he warmed up well and didn't seem at all phased about crashing into a jump.  It was definitely my confidence that was shaken, not his. He was very tired though. Our first eq round was really nice, except that when I asked Peebs to wait to the first fence he broke to the trot.  We managed a 4th out of 7 for that. His energy was pretty much gone for our second round and he broke twice during it and we got some ugly short spots. We got a very fair 6th out of 7. But we jumped everything without any hesitation, I actually rode and made decisions, and most importantly got my confidence back and proved to myself that I can at least do the hunters/eq sans trainer.

Quiet Rein Outreach Show Day 1

Saturday morning dawned bright and early, and I was at the barn by 7am to haul out to the show.  I had loaded 95% of my stuff Friday night, but had to grab Peeb's hay pellets and buckets and him. He loaded pretty well; he had to think about getting on for maybe 30 seconds before I smacked him with the end of the lead rope. I was somewhat worried that he and Cinder would be too attached and he'd scream for her once he realized she wasn't coming.  But he didn't.

I lucked out at the show and scored a stall in the barn instead of the portable stalls.  The barn had 16x16 stalls bedded deep versus the 10x10 canvas stalls on grass.  And their barn hand ended up cleaning my stall! Peebs settled in and immediately started eating his hay and didn't care about the automatic waterer.

I went to check the rings and realized we had gotten bumped from the outdoor ring to the indoor.  This show has two rings going on Saturday, with jumpers in morning followed by equitation classes from 2'-3'6" in the outdoor and the walk/trot to 18" classes inside.  They had so many entries (over 120 vs the 65 they had last year at their biggest show) that they had to move our 2' classes, and some of the other eq on the flat classes to the indoor. I was slightly pissed as the indoor is small and dark, making for tight turn and not so great pics, and the show photographer was only working the outdoor ring.  Because it's all about the media, right?

Hope you like blurry screenshots

Peebs was perfect in warm-up.  Awake enough so that he was forward and moving, but not so much that he was hot or spooky.  It was a bit of a madhouse schooling, but once again, Peebs don't care. There was about 15 in our division, combined short/long stirrup, and they decided to split it and give two sets of ribbons.  I love it when shows do that.

 Our first round was our best; we found nice distances and got all of our leads.  The only problems was I slightly misjudged the turn to the first fence, a single diagonal, so we were a bit crooked (they also used 8' long poles in the indoor and it through me off) and I got a 5 in the first outside line and 4 in the second.  They were set at about a 4.5 and my trainer said she didn't care what I did, as long as it was a whole number and I consistent. Oops. We never really found our groove in the second round and had a couple of chips and missed leads. The arena was so small it was hard to do a simple change and have enough space to get a good rhythm to the next fence.  And again I did a five and four in the lines. At least I'm consistent at not being consistent? We earned a 4th in the first round and a 5th in the second.  We ended the division with the flat which is not our strong suit but managed to eek out another 5th.

Our last round was the USHJA Outreach medal and it had a couple funky bending lines.  The last two fences were almost a boomerang.  The first half of the course was nice, but I got left behind at fence 6 and never recovered.  Peebs found the perfect distance but I thought he was going to chip in and was not expecting him to jump.  In perfect Peebs fashion, he didn't care and kept on going. He was slightly surprised to turn to the first fence in the boomerang line (a fence we had already jumped once going the other way)  and because of the narrow poles we missed and had to circle.  I decided to trot it to prepare both of us for the awkward turn, and it actually worked out pretty well. Needless to say, we didn't place in that class.


I untacked Peebs, cleaned him up, and headed to my hotel.  After I cleaned myself up and ate I went back to the show to feed him dinner and wrap.  It was about 6pm when I was finishing up, and they still had a couple of classes to go in the outdoor. I was just hoping Sunday wouldn't be as long.