Sunday, May 25, 2014

First Show of 2014.

The first show of the season was...disorganized. I'm sorry to say it, but that is the best way I can describe it. I was on it, Armani was braided and put up by 8:30pm the night before. Yes, I braid the night before because it works in our situation and Armani doesn't rub (yet).

We had a colleague of my husband's staying over night, which was fine since he had to get up at around 4am anyway. I got home at around 9pm and had some tack cleaning to do but not a lot since I had already done most of it. When I got home, I was met by two very happy (and very drunk) Geologists. Oh boy. So I poured myself a glass of wine and cleaned some leather. By 11pm, I announced I needed to go to bed regardless of what they did.

This year, we are moving up from the Bronze circuit to the Silver/Trillium circuit. I decided to do the Silver Hack division and the 2'6" Child/Adult Hunter. All I can say say is I've never seen a ring empty for as long or often as I did that day. Sooo many delays. It was awful. I am afraid that many of those delays were because my coach asked the ring to wait but I'm not even sure of that yet. Ugh.

I was at the show grounds from 7am to 5pm, for only 2 divisions that were supposed to run in the morning, last division starting at  noon at the latest.

First show at a higher level and we didn't do as well as I am used to. We did pin 2 fourths in the hack division (it was a crazy division with so many asked to hand gallop at the same time, Mani was great but bucked once when another horse crowded him. After a winter of being in an indoor with one other horse at most, I can't blame him for being sensitive to it. He even started off warm-up reactive to other horses.

I did not pin in my hunter division o/f (2'6"ch/ad) over fences but took 6th/18 in the under saddle portion.

Disappointing but I am very happy with our rounds, especially for the first of the year.

First Round.

Second Round.

I learned we have to be a whole lot more serious and prepared if we are going to be competitive at this level. Armani has the quality but that won't come out unless I school him well and train myself well. Cardio and core strength boot camp? I think so!

4 comments:

Melissa-ParadigmFarms said...

I hate show days like that, that drag on forever while the ring sits empty half the time. There were a few bobbles in the two trips but overall they were nice for a green horse at the first show of the season. He's got plenty of quality both in his gaits and his jump, he'll be able to be very competitive.

RuckusButt said...

Thanks Melissa. I'm not too worried about Armani...I am the weakest link for sure! Bobbles...yep! I can only blame myself for not being more definite and focused during the show.

L.Williams said...

Congrats on your ribbons and the best thing about first shows is the improvement you see the rest of the year!

RuckusButt said...

You are absolutely right L.Williams. Thank you for the reminder!