The Best of Times- Saturday Show Report

 Last weekend Carmen, Quaid and I headed to our first show of the season.  Julia also planned to join us.  She came early Friday and helped me finish the packing.  Remembering the last time when Carmen refused to load I started a little early. It wasn't necessary- Carmen looked at the trailer, gave a small sigh and walked right on and then so did Quaid. 

This was the first time I towed them with the new truck (I had done a test run with the empty trailer) and I was really impressed with how easily it handled. 

I love this set up

The drive was uneventful until we arrived. Just as we were starting to unload Julia got a call that her grandfather had passed away. A good friend of hers came and picked her up to take her home to go to her family. I felt so bad that I couldn't take her but it all worked out. 

I had requested that Carmen and Quaid not be beside each other and they were  two stalls apart.  Neither was happy with this but it's all part of helping them not get too attached when we travel. At home they are fine separated. However, I realised that I need to work on this more because there was a lot of calling. 

Quaid quite liked his neighbour Archie

I had booked time in the show ring for both of them. My plan with Quaid was to take it one step at a time.  For him the purpose of this weekend was to learn about being a show horse without actually showing. A dress rehearsal if you will. I tacked him up and took him in only planning to mount if he seemed okay. Which he was. Although definitely up he was really able to focus on me and so I mounted outside and had Julia help lead us into the ring. 

little horse in a big world

He was definitely tense and uncertain, but tried really hard. I tried a little trot but he was a bit too excited for either of us to feel safe so I settled for just walking.  Here's a quick video if you want to see: 

Then it was Carmen's turn! I tacked her up and brought her out. And she was fabulous.  We got straight to work and she didn't even look at anything. Which was (spoiler alert) how she was all weekend in both the show ring and warm up ring.  

On Saturday I wasn't riding until 2:30 which gave me lots of time to organise myself and the horses. Quaid really struggled on Saturday with all the horses coming and going and the excited atmosphere. He would call a lot and spin in his stall. My goal is for him to learn that this is all okay and how to settle. As soon as I would go in his stall he'd calm right down and start to relax. Of course it's not practical for me to spend the day there so I worked on increasing my distance and leaving at times. By Sunday he was a LOT better. Both horses would get upset when the other left but by Sunday they were pretty much over it. 

I took Quaid in the warm up ring to lunge at lunch time when there weren't any riders. He was excited but it was easy to get his attention on me and he relaxed over time. I was quite happy.  I left it at that. 

When it was time to warm up Carmen it was a bit warm but not too bad. And our warm up was incredible. She was with me right from the beginning. Jane helped us warm up and she kept saying how good she was. It felt fabulous and like we were truly partners. I kept saying I'm having the best time! And I was. The warm up alone was enough to make me happy. 

When it was time for us to go I I felt really ready. I walked in and heard the announcer say our name and number. I looked at her bridle and was horrified to realise I didn't have her number on her bridle.  I swore out loud. Krista (who was reading my test) ran to get it while I quickly left the ring trotting after her. She grabbed it, put it on and I trotted back to the ring hoping I wasn't going to be disqualified. As I trotted back in the judge rang the bell for us to start. Totally fair. But now we were a bit unsettled. We never got our groove completely back but you know what? It didn't matter, Carmen was still awesome. We have a *hem* history in that ring of being tight and spooky but she was not remotely stressed by anything, although slightly peeved that I trotted her to the barn and then back to the ring. Fortunately, Paula videoed my rides: 

 

I was thrilled with our test. Definitely a whole bunch to work on and our final score was 60.14. The judge is a strict marker but every comment was spot on and helpful. 

Our next test was less than 30 minutes so I stayed on and walked her around for a bit before doing a warm up before going in to do our next test: Second level test 2. Again it felt like we were a true partnership. 

I was really happy with this test and the score was 62.56.  

At the end I walked out of the ring smiling. I untacked her and hosed her off before putting her back in the stall. 

In the end I had two second place ribbons, which was the icing on the cake. 

That night a bunch of us got together for a potluck bbq on the show grounds. It was so much fun to sit around laughing and talking. We teased each other, complimented each other and generally were just enjoying being in each other's company.  I got a lot of ribbing about forgetting my bridle number.  It was the perfect end to a perfect day.  That night I slept like a log.