Monday, February 29, 2016

Spooky Show

Well, it was an interesting show.

It started with my truck not starting on Friday. That was a bummer. I haven't used it since November and when I went to start it on Friday I got nothing. Wouldn't even turn over, it was dead, dead, dead.

So I bought a new battery and the amazing, awesome bf replaced it on Saturday. Except now the hood of the truck decided it no longer wanted to close or open, really, anymore. The center is latched, but the sides aren't closed all the way and kinda flaps. I was terrified the entire drive that it was going to fly up in my face, especially crossing the rail road tracks (all 7 of them... each way).

Anyways, everything else went smoothly. Woke up at an awful hour, loaded the pony up with no problem and hit the road. Got there perfectly on time, braided and attempted to remove the new manure stains that Misty of course accumulated since her bath on Friday.

 
Bubble wrapped pony!

I don't know why I always end up at this show, because I always say I'm never coming back. The show management is awesome, it's not too far away, there's actually heated bleachers! But the footing SUCKS. Plus the judge they had for Sunday I really don't like. I usually won't go to shows that she judges.

So I went into it knowing that there was a harsh judge, at an arena with awful footing and it was the first show of the year doing a test that Misty hasn't done yet.

That said, I was really happy with Misty. We had some not so pretty moments and some really good efforts.

We were the second ride of the morning, the first of our class for Training 3. We didn't get a chance to go in the arena beforehand which was a bummer. They had the tractor in there and once the tractor left, it was showtime. Misty thought the judge's hay bales looked delicious, the camera was a little nerve wracking, and the far end of the arena terrifying. It was super windy and the far end of the arena would shudder periodically. Not helpful.

Our test was super tense. Misty was doing her best drama llama impression but despite that, she was still very obedient. We had a very exuberant canter transition at the scary end of the arena when Misty decided she had to kick out at the wind noises. It amusingly got the comment of "wild". Luckily, most of the horses were being spooky too. I was pretty bummed with how tense Misty was so I wasn't looking forward to seeing our score. I had two and a half hours before the next test, so I plopped Misty in front of her hay net and took a nap.

The next test went better. Misty was very energetic, rare for her. I didn't want to tire her out before our First level test 1, but she kept trying to trot or canter when I didn't ask, so we ended up doing a lot of trotting. The warm-up arena was super rocky so I was nervous she'd get a stone bruise. The footing started very deep, but by the time the afternoon rolled around, the outside tract was rock hard.

The arena was still scary so there were still lots of drama llama moments. I wish I had had my spurs to really push her forward and get her more over her back. But I was super happy with our first level debut. Our first trot lengthening didn't really happen ("showed some lengthening") but she was better with her stretchy trot and free walk. The canter lengthenings felt a little rushed, but I just went for it, at least trying to show a nice difference between the lengthened and working canter. Surprisingly we got a 7 for both of them! That's pretty awesome for not practicing. The comment was "Bold" which made me laugh.

I was really pleased to finish with a really good effort for her last trot lengthening. We got a better score on this one (6.5 vs. 5.5). It felt really good, still needs work but in the video you could even see her flicking her toes a little bit! I was excited.

We ended up with the abysmal scores of 59%. I haven't scored in the 50's in like... 10 years at least. It was depressing. But, she scored over half the participants around that range, so I placed 5th out of 9 for Training 3 and 5th out of 10 for First 1. I'll take it. Next time we'll do better!

But we got some HOT pink ribbons!

To work on: Stretchy trot and free walk - Inconsistent.
Left 10 m circles - I sit crooked, she doesn't turn nicely (it wasn't helped by the inconsistently deep footing in the arena, but still. Bad)
Trot lengthenings - they're 50/50 so we need to get them more confirmed.
Travel more - we need to go more places so they aren't that scary!

Overall, pleased with the pony despite the drama llama impersonations. Now to find more shows that I'm able to attend!



6 comments:

  1. Whoa, I would have aimed for fifth just to get those ribbons!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Those are awesome ribbons! I love Misty all bundled up!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Those ribbons are legit. Better scores next time I'm sure!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Sounds like the judge really liked placing in the 50s and nothing to take too close to heart. I'm not a fan of pink but those ribbons look pretty cool!

    ReplyDelete