Tbird Summer Fort Welcome 2025: Actually Showing

 The original plan for Wednesday, the first day of showing for Cinder, was for trainer M to do a couple 2'9" rounds. There was only one 2'6" schooling round that Cin was qualified for; the other 2'6" classes were for young horses and it's really weird to think that she's aged out of those. Of course they switched the ring schedule Tuesday night and moved the 2'9" division to one of the other hunter rings, so we scratched those and put her in the 2'6". Trainer M wanted to keep her in the ring I'd be showing in, so hopefully she'd settle in by the time I'd be showing her. 

Wednesday dawned with a lovely summer storm and a power outage at the show. I was to hand walk Cinder in our ring before the show started at 8, while Trainer M rode her mare, and then one of the other amateurs was in the first two classes in one of the jumper rings. Cinder was very offended that I took her out in the rain, too offended to care about spooking which was nice. I then headed off to jumper land and held a horse while Trainer M and the other ammy walked the course. They quickly warmed up and went in and had some decent rounds, despite the weather. By this time everyone was so thoroughly soaked that I used the hour and a half before I needed to tack Cin up for M to run back to the Airbnb to get dry clothes for myself, M, and the working student.  I was just going to buy a raincoat, and coffee, at the vendor village but everything was closed due to the power outage. 

Tbird doesn't have an official show photographer, you have to pay for private client photography and that starts at $850/week, so enjoy these lovely video screenshots

Thankfully it stopped raining and dried out pretty well by the time M got on Cinder. Cin was more up than she had been on our morning walk, but held it together. She did have a big spook coming down the one outside line when she saw the jump crew and their tent which led to the very crooked moment above. Unbeknownst to us, the 2'6" rounds were judged red/blue, any score over 80 got a red ribbon and anything below got a blue (red being first in Canada) and they announced at the end of the round if it was a red ribbon round. We didn't hear anything announced, and after checking with the back gate lady, we picked up our blue ribbon. 
 

Thursday was my first day of showing. Trainer M took Cin in the 2'6" schooling round early in the day and Cin was on fire. They left a stride out of all the lines and earned another blue ribbon. Cin got about an hour break before I got on for two rounds in the 2' jr/am division. Unfortunately there was a horrific accident in one of the other hunter rings, and they had to stop all the rings while the ambulance came and picked up the rider. That threw all the timelines out the window and we ended up getting pushed to the back of the order, all while the gate lady kept telling us just 15 more mins. I was on for just under 2hrs. Most of that time was spent walking, but by the time I showed my blood sugar was low and my anxiety high. Cinder had spooks in both of my rounds, leading to us circling and getting excused in the first, and then circling and trotting in the second. I did manage to take care of Cinder and take myself off to the food truck for a much needed cheeseburger before the tears started but I was really beating myself up about our rounds. 

walking around waiting to go

I came much more prepared for Friday, arming myself with snacks and a smoothie and having them available on the golf cart so in case my rounds got delayed I could have something to eat. Which of course meant the show was running smoothly and I was able to warm up and go right in the ring.  I was determined that we would get around the whole course on the first try and not trot any fences. Our first round was really nice. Cinder wanted to be bold, but I was able to hold her together and we earned a 3rd(which is white in Canada, not yellow and I keep thinking I got a fourth). In our second round I saw the move up distance to the in of the first outside line and Cinder took that as permission to bolt down the line. We left a stride out, took down the rail on the out of the line, and then she tried to bolt in the corner. I circled and was planning on trotting into the diagonal line when one of the jump crew ran out to reset the rail we took down and I had to circle again to avoid hitting him. The announcer did call out for jump crew to wait and that I could continue. We did trot the rest of the course as both Cinder and I were pretty frazzled. 

I was pretty much done mentally and physically by Saturday, but we moved up to the 2'3" long stirrup division. I don't really remember how the first round went, other than Cinder was anxious and spooky, I just know that we didn't place. I retired in our second round because as we were coming around the far side two kids on electric scooters came flying down the path and Cinder stopped dead. I could feel her body quaking, and when I put my leg on she squealed and jumped straight up. I was just done at that point. We did go and jump a few things in the warm up ring, but I was beating myself up a lot. The imposter syndrome was hitting hard. 

Grazing with Trainer M and her mare Carolina, who Cinder fell in love with

The other ammies also had a rough week and none of us wanted to show on Sunday. Our plan was to hand walk the ponies first thing, then pack up and head home. We managed to get everything loaded and were on the road by 11:30. Crossing the border back to the US was a breeze, and thankfully we didn't have any blown tires heading home. It was the first day of a heat wave, with temps reaching 98* so we stopped three times on the way home to let the ponies have water. Despite having all the windows open, Cinder arrived back home a little sweaty so she got a shower before getting tucked into her stall. 

Mental Game

 After the show Cinder got a few days off, then a couple light rides by Trainer A. I had a lesson last Friday, and A wanted to pick up right where we left off at the show, and had us do a brief flat warm up, then got right to the jumping. I was 100% expecting a flat lesson after the show, so I wasn't mentally prepared to just jump right into the jumping and I let my anxiety get the better of me a bit. For the most part, my mental game lately with Cin has been great; I've been managing her spookiness and baby moments at home and at shows really well and I know I'm capable of riding her through just about anything and I know she's going to jump whatever we put in front of her. But last Friday I started doubting myself a bit. 

The show photographer hasn't posted anything or replied to the email I sent so all you get is blurry screen shots

Trainer A handled my mini meltdown really well, and had me do flat work and would occasionally call out for me to pick up a jump. Lots of transitions, figures, changes of directions. Basically she said she was treating me like a nervous horse and giving me a lot to do without time to anticipate anything. And it worked. We ended the lesson on a good note. 

Always pat your pony

I flatted her last Sunday and then asked A what we were doing for our Monday lesson. Usually our Monday lessons are flat, and we jump in our Friday lessons. A wants Cin to jump in the martingale, so I wanted to know A) so I could mentally prepare, and B) know what to tack her up in. A told me I could pick, and since she's gone at a horse trial this weekend and I don't have a lesson today, I said jump. I (always) need more help over fences, and I didn't want to go too long between jump lessons and let any insecurities build up. 

So tired

It was almost 90* during my lesson, and heat=a very behind my leg Cinder. We did a quick and dirty flat warm up while A finished the lesson before mine. Over fences we warmed up with a single on the center line before A had us move onto two single diagonal oxers. She had us do the long approach to both of them, working on getting our pace along the short side and maintaining it and not picking to fences. I kept seeing a slightly waiting distance to one of them, but I made it work and A said she was happy with it. The other one I was able to see farther out and could move Cin up to it. A had put the single on the center line up a hole and then had me take it from the opposite direction we had warmed up over. I kept not being able to see the distance and Cinder was fairly tired and we had a couple pretty awkward jumps. The first time Cin didn't realize it had gotten bigger and pretty much jumped into the top rail.  I finally started riding and packaged her a bit more to add a stride and it worked out much better. We quit with one nice one since both Cin and I were hot and tired. I was very happy that even though I couldn't see the distance to the center jump to save my life I trusted Cin to get us over till I could pull myself together enough to help her out. 

Stress City

The past month has been Stress City.  We had a big accreditation site visit for work and have spent every moment getting ready for it.  And of course, the week before, our internal review board said they wanted to their biannual inspection before the visit, instead of during the visit like originally planned.  So our time frame was suddenly shortened.  But both are over now and hopefully things can return to normal.

Still as cut as ever

To keep my sanity, I've mostly managed to keep riding during Stress City. Peebs, for the most part, has been good.  We've started putting the jumps up a bit to a whopping 2'3" and even a 2'6" fence.  And added in oxers.  I'm nervous about them, but Peebs don't care.  As long as I don't get handsy, and keep my hands down, he just goes with the flow and jumps from where ever I put him.

One of the easiest horses to ride through a gymnastic

We did our last show of the year at the end of September and while it was a bit of  a hot mess (apparently Peebs doesn't like waiting in the rain for his classes to go and got a bit spicy) I'm happy with how I handled it. He wanted to run, but at the same time was spooking at whatever and trying to go sideways.  We mostly trotted fences and I tried to keep my cool and not let it affect me.  Which I did, and we did improve with each round. In the past if Buddy or Phoenix pulled something like that I would have been in the fetal position crying and not able to push through and keep going.  So while we didn't have the show I wanted, it was worth it in terms of showing how far I've come as a rider. And the mental victories like that are worth more than ribbons any day.

I swear I'm not that pale in real life

There have been a couple big splurges, because we all know Stress City is best dealt with booze and retail therapy. I dropped my GPA on the concrete tack room floor a week or so before International Helmet Awareness Day, so of I made lemonade out of lemons and took advantage of the sales.  CO's and Samshields don't fit my head and the tack shop I went to didn't have any GPA's in my size and I was wary about ordering another with out trying it on first.  I liked how the Kask fit and it's pretty comfy so we went with that.  You'll have to wait for another post to see the other big purchase.

Mental Game

The weather for the past few weeks has been great for this time of year in Oregon.  Usually by the time I get off work and do chores its starting to get dark.  We have some lights along our outdoor, and I don't worry about working  Buddy as it gets dark, but I've been doing McKenna inside. She's too ADD and I don't trust her enough to work her outside in the dark.

I got out to the barn midday on Saturday and it was bright and sunny, if a bit cold.  Two other people were working inside so I made the decision to ride McKenna outside.  I put her on the lunge to let her blow off steam and to let her take a look at the sheep that are now in the field across the street.  She ran, bucked, jumped, spun, ran more, snorted, reared, and ran some more.  I let her be an idiot till she started dropping her head and paying attention to me.  We walked around the ring in hand to let her see everything and catch her breath before I got on.

She was still pretty keyed up and pretty tense under saddle.  We worked at the walk trying to get her relaxed, doing lots of circles, bending, and baby leg yields.  My friend came out with her mare, spooking McKenna and we started our relation work all over again. Some of the sheep moved closer to us and McKenna decided to become a statue and wouldn't move towards them.  Luckily my friend's mare didn't care and walked along side of us to show McKenna the sheep aren't scary.  We went back to circles and loops at that end of the arena till she relaxed again.

Poor tired baby after our ride

 

We had been working almost 30 minutes at the walk at this point.  I decided that getting a nice, relaxed, soft walk out of McKenna was all I wanted.  Once she gave that to me for one lap around the arena each direction I called it a day.  I figured we had won a huge mental battle, considering what a maniac she was when we started.  I'd rather her get a positive experience in the outdoor arena then try to work and set her off.  With babies the mental wins are just as important as the physical ones.