The unfun work is the work you have to do to get to the fun work. It seems like it should be fun work because it's technically the same thing as the fun stuff, it just hasn't reached the fun level yet.
In case you're still wondering what the fuck I'm talking about, I coined this phrase this morning on a trail ride (fun!) while my horse was screaming his fool head off and his face was about two inches away from breaking my nose (decidedly unfun!).
To be used in a sentence: "Opie, you mother fucker, this is exceptionally UNFUN!"
spotted: nothing. A VAST LAND OF HORSELESS NOTHING.
I wanted to clock a couple more hours towards my TIP trail riding goal but I didn't want to go through the hassle of trailering to the park so we marched off into the suburban wilderness instead. Opie's done this trail ride before last December, but it was with two other horses. This time he was alone. And not only was he alone, we left the barn so early that no other horses were outside yet.
So basically it was a post-apocalyptic wasteland where Opie was the only horse left alive (except for the one ancient swaybacked horse hanging out with a donkey that we porpoised by that doesn't count because neither creature so much as glanced at our majesty). He knows this because he spent the whole two hours sending out a distress signal that was never returned.
I do think this horse doesn't mind a trail ride. He's a little stud at the park, but he's been there enough now that it's old news. It's now a fun ride.
Trail riding down the road from your own safe house is, apparently, still new and therefore unfun. And unfortunately the only way to make the transition from one to the other is wear down his soul and spirit keep doing the same thing until it also becomes old news.
Growing up is hard work, yo.
it is pretty out this early though.
Along the same lines of unfun and being alone in a horseless wasteland, Opie's first cross country jumps!
My barn has a bunch scattered around the property for the mini hunter paces they host, but the majority of them are located in the front field where Opie gets turned out. Normally I would count that as a plus since he goes out there every single day and is familiar with the area. But I know this little horse, and I know his little brain would instantly wonder only about where his BFF was.
Fortunately, last Friday I talked a barn mate into coming out with me for the first time on the other horse Opie and his BFF get turned out with. We walked to the top of the field to warm up, she went right, I went left, and she disappeared behind a large bush.
ALSO KNOWN AS THE BLACK HOLE OF DEATH ABANDONING OPIE IN THE HORSELESS FUCKING WASTELAND.
There was a large tantrum. There was a lot of air time. Someone got spanked. And then Momo trundled back into sight, spewed forth from the black hole like horsey magic, and Opie deigned to trot around like a deranged Saddlebred on 'roid rage for awhile until his brain finally settled back in his head.
Unfun.
angry cobra neck because angry
To his credit though, he was super for the three jumps we played over. I've only just started consistently cantering him over things because it's taken him awhile to be trusted to be held responsible for his own feet and staying upright, but he's starting to really get the hang of it. We trotted the first jump, trotted the hanging log the first time, then cantered over the coop and the other two jumps a couple times apiece without any issues.
He's gotten really good about waiting to see if I have any input about where to take off instead of just winging it and going crashy crashies. I'm all about the horse figuring out how to save themselves and see their own distance, but I also need them to be tuned in. Especially when they're young and dumb. He didn't make a bad choice the whole time though (well, in regards to jumping), and we finished up in the ring with some beautiful trot work.
He finds this stuff easy now that all that hard dressage work is settling in. Could he go out and do an Intro HT right now? Probably. Is that even remotely on my radar? No. So please don't suggest what a fun event horse he'd make. Eventing around here makes me angry.
wondering if his bff magically got turned out while he was standing here. spoiler alter: bff still in the barn where we left him.
I want to keep jumping, and I want to keep trail riding, so I need to keep slogging through the unfun as it comes. Could he be worse? Of course. But he can always be better.
One of my goals this year was to make sure I don't get caught up in what anyone else is doing. I've worked hard to make that happen, and every time a hint of envy or jealousy or self-doubt tries to creep in I immediately shut it down. Your horse is not my horse. Your struggles are not my struggles. Your wins are not a direct challenge to me to do better.
However, I did get a little carried away and start to compete with myself. I got caught up in wanting to make up for last year's lost show season, and Opie progressed so well and took everything I threw at him so mostly easily that I was able to jump right in and show show show and push push push.
Then an emotionally upsetting deviation from his schedule the day before yet another show really threw him in a mental tailspin. Fortunately it coincided right when I was planning to give him a week off anyway. Unfortunately, it happened at all.
i swear he has different snoot spots every time i look at him.
I spent that week doing a lot of grooming, cookie feeding, and nothing else. Opie started to get a little reactive though. His BFF is a bit of a mental case, and it felt like Opie was starting to pick up on his tendencies to get wide-eyed and twitchy over absolutely nothing. While I firmly believe the week to himself was a very good thing for both of us, I was eager to give him and his hamsters a job again.
We've been doing mostly long and low work followed by long trail walks. The next show isn't until the 14th, and I feel like I have ages before I have to check in and make sure he's show ring ready again. It's a great feeling as every ride has had zero expectations finally.
lots and lots of walking
Opie has responded by being super relaxed yet responsive, and all the sudden he's figured out how to stretch down at both the walk and trot. He's taking the reins all the way to the buckle and flicking his giant clod hoppers out and loving his newly discovered freedom. I still have to remind him to balance himself as he gets so carried away he starts to sort of somersault forward and out of control, but I'm hopeful we'll have an actual stretchy circle from now on instead of just having to write that movement off.
a very good pone also starting to really figure out leg yields
I've also tabled lessons for the time being. There are a few reasons, but mostly that I don't want to feel like I have to get something done by Friday to make sure I'm not wasting my own or BM's time by spending the entire lesson getting my horse to focus because I didn't feel like drilling him during the week. BM put us on a good track with the basics and I'm not doing much right now beyond making sure the w/t/c aren't a complete mess. I can handle that all by my lonesome.
We've also been doing some jumping, including Dopie's first (very small) cross country jumps! I'll make that its own post. It's really not that exiting, but I'm going to need some blog fodder for awhile.
he never stopped coming when called so he must not have been
Opie is my first grey horse. Before him I've never paid much attention to the greying process of other people's horses, so watching how his coat and markings have changed already even in the short time I've owned him has turned me into kind of an obnoxious child. (Shout out to my barn mate who patiently listened to me as I giddily pointed all things out to her the other day.)
dopes the day i bought him off the backside 10/21/17
he's starting to get a lot of brown on both his shoulders 6/2/18
sometimes it looks more red than brown 6/20/18
what i originally thought was a large white sock all the way up has turned out to be a normal sized sock with lighter grey hairs filling out the top of it. it's really noticeable now when he's wet. 6/10/18
and this great big white blaze...
is actually just a great big white snoot that only extends halfway up his face. the rest is just lighter grey hair--with maybe a star snuck in there at the top as well! 6/18/18
For those of you with greys (either currently or in the past), how much did your horse's appearance change as they lightened up? Did it take them forever to start to change shade, or was it within a year or two? I'd love to see some posts with pictures on this, too! Lauren just did a really interesting one!
Almost every post I've written in the last two months has been a show recap. I'm starting to fill out entries for the next block of shows coming up in July, and--as ever--along with that comes carefully looking at the budget to see how I need to space things out to work in the accompanying entry fees.
hopefully with less angry baby horse cantering this round
I named this blog Poor Woman Showing because it is me. I enjoy showing no matter the discipline. I need a goal to aim for, something to set out expectations towards each ride. While the lifestyle Hubby and I live now is vastly more secure and comfortable than where we were when I started blogging however many years ago, we still try to maintain as debt-free an existence as possible (I mean, let's be real. The house and car are going to get paid on for a good while longer.).
That means that I still sometimes feel like I'm living the poor life even if it's solidly in the Horse Poor category now instead of the How am I Paying the Electric this Month Poor. I don't get to charge it and think about it later; we don't have credit cards. Show season get planned out at the very beginning of the year. Gas costs are calculated. Memberships are rationed out and sent in one at a time when doable. The whole thing gets itemized, totaled, and put on my bulletin board to plan around the rest of the year.
I thought I'd share how I make my show season affordable while still hitting up as many opportunities as I can fit in. I'm sure these costs are going to seem unfathomably low to some of you, but remember--just because you have a larger budget than I do doesn't mean I think this is chump change. It takes a lot of planning to make every show season work, and there are a lot of things we give up to spend on the horse instead.
gotta budget in that satin
Memberships:
GMO: $40. I've never paid more for a PM in dressage because I've never had a horse that's made it worth it. I can get my scores towards my bronze with just my GMO membership, and that's all I've ever aimed for. Maybe if Opie continues his child genius ways I'll think about it in the future for Thoroughbred year end awards.
USEF: $80. Or maybe it was $85 this year?
USDF: $35. For Opie's registration. A one-time cost.
US Rider: $149. Optional of course, but I pay it every year for peace of mind.
Schooling Shows: Entry fee: $10-$15 per test. Secretary/Office Fee: $10-$15 Membership: $10. One of GMOs whose shows I go to charge an additional $10 per show if you're not one of their members. Total: The schooling shows I've done so far this year have run me between $30-$50 depending on the discounts I get through my GMO or the extra I pay for another GMO.
Rated Shows: Entry Fee: $40-$45 per test. Drug Fee: $23 Secretary/Office Fee: $20-$30 Total: I pay $256 for a weekend of showing--same facility, but they split the two days into two separate shows so separate drug and secretary fees. The one day show I did last was $143.
The Other Stuff:
No PM means I have no aim for qualifying for Regionals, so I don't pay the extra $15 GAIG fee for Training 3.
I hate driving, so I only compete within a three-ish hour radius of my barn. This used to be extended when I lived in PA, but I'm so over it now. That means:
No overnight stays, so no hotel fee.
I work exclusively out of my trailer so:
No stabling.
No bedding costs, no stall cleaning deposit.
My truck gets good gas mileage for an old lady. I take care of her, she takes care of me. She does especially good on the highway, and I generally can do a round trip for around $60.
I bring my own food and drinks. I never buy show food and stick to whatever I packed in my cooler from home.
i also bring opie his own cookies from home and dole them out regularly.
What does your show budget look like? Do you plan for it at the beginning of the season, or are you able to take it as it comes?
Yesterday was not the most fun show day I've ever had. I have to say that for all the drama my past horses have given me under saddle, none of them have ever had so many Feelings about their existence the other ninety percent of the time they were off property.
On the bright side, Hubby was able to come down with me so I have some media to share. It's not particularly flattering because of said Feelings, but it's better than nothing, right! I signed up for the show photographer not wanting to count on Hubby making it, but she ended up taking zero pictures so that was a wash.
The morning started auspiciously when I got done wrapping Opie and came back to his stall to put his halter on and bring him out. He saw me coming, spun around to stare blankly out the window, and began weaving in earnest. Way to make me feel like a horrible person, Dopes. He let me grab him without fuss and walked right onto the trailer with zero hesitation, but the whole ride down he spent weaving and screaming.
He'd spent the whole day inside Saturday while his pasture mates were away cross country schooling which meant he probably spent all day weaving and screaming in his stall. I'd completely forgotten they were both going to be gone or I would have gone out there and found someone else to babysit him in turnout, so that's partially on me, but clearly that can't be allowed to happen in the future. He was a complete fucking nutter to ride when I came out to show prep, so I chucked him outside with his friends as they'd just pulled in and let him have an hour of turnout before he had to come back in.
I think that was a huge factor in his mental instability the whole morning. He was absolutely dreadful at the trailer the second he unloaded--hands down the worst he's been yet. We were parked far away from stabling and the rings so he couldn't see anyone, and he just could. not. even.
just needs to see all the horses all the time. also my browband was crooked which i didn't realize until the day was over and now it's all i can see in every picture. life ruined.
I took him for a walk and a graze so he wouldn't be alone which he was mostly alright for, but eventually I had to go back to the trailer to get ready. Cue screaming, weaving, pacing, circling, pulling back, and eventually getting handed off to Hubby where he got walked in circles between flinging himself around and trying to rear (at which point I had a brief intervention and laid down a CTJ about keeping one's feet on the ground at all times).
Once I was on, he made the long walk down to the rings quietly, but he was ungodly tense and scrunched up. At that point I had already committed to the day being a wash. I'd accepted defeat before I even gave improving the situation a chance. I made zero effort to rally and make good decisions.
I let Opie walk around on a long rein for a good bit while he stared all around him. Once at the trot, I had a horse that was periscoping everywhere when I usually focus every ride on getting his head head out and his neck up. My reaction was to just go to town with my hands and try to force his head down. I legged him and tried to get him forward as well, but it was hands down (pun intended) shit riding on my part on a horse that wanted no part of participating that day.
pure elegance
I'd also shortened my stirrups a hole the day before for no other reason than that I wanted to change them to see if they felt better shorter because one day last week they felt a little long. The change wasn't great, but I never got around to dropping them. It made my posting huge and ugly and put me in a horrible balance.
Honestly, the whole lead up to this show was approached with complete laziness. I knew this was going to be the last one for a month, and I was basically coasting on last weekend's success. Of course last weekend's success was due to a well thought out and executed game plan and didn't just poof into existence.
could do some jumping with those stirrups
I was cantering Opie around at a high rate of speed hoping to get some steam blown off when the ring steward asked if I could go in early. I told her I need another couple minutes (it was a solid ten minutes early), but I'd hurry it up. That wasn't a good choice on my part. I should have let her find someone else to go early or just made them wait until my ride time as I'm allowed to. Instead I wrapped up the canter as quickly as possible and went right over.
Training 3 I hate when shows have the higher test before the lower test. I know it's training so it's not that exciting, but when your horse is not much for stretching at the trot on a good day, he's certainly not going to do it in the first test.
We were in Ring 2 which was tucked into the furthest reaches of the show grounds. The judge... ahh, the judge. I feel like I probably should not whine about judges as much as I do, but this lady really gave the impression she didn't want to be there. She was ringing people in the second the previous rider cleared the court--not even the ring around the court--and while I was standing around waiting for scores later, she went hustling past after the lunch break exclaiming loudly, "Thank god I only have a few more!"
Also she hated me. Probably on a deep personal level by the time we were done showing.
Opie wanted no part in being in that ring all by his lonesome. We came down center line as the previous horse was leaving the ring (I seriously had barely made it into the ring and past her truck when she ran the bell for me to go in), and he stared forlornly at his best friend disappearing.
Thus kicked off an entire test on a horse who only wanted to look for all the other horses. He did the things in right places, but he was tight, braced, tense, above the bit, hurried... I think that's a summation of all our comments. Aside from the constant head wag from both my too busy hands and that being one of Opie's go-to's when he's tense anyway.
you don't have to watch the test. this should sum it all up for you.
We got a wide variety of marks for this test. 5s. 6s and 6.5s. Lots of 5.5s, and our very first 4 for the nonexistent stretchy trot circle. I came out of the ring knowing there was no way this thing was even going to make it to a 60% and I was right. A 57%+ got us fourth with the final comment of, "Stunning youngster whose rider could develop elastic feel and quiet hands to encourage horse to reach down and out to bit."
Ouch. My stunning youngster could help by growing up and paying attention, but let's be real. We're building a reputation for judges loving Opie and not being a fan of me. Just little old me over here, taking this young, not long off the track horse everywhere by myself and getting him around to the point where you judges can love him, no big deal.
Okay, I'm done with that. I promise.
could have used this stunning youngster in the ring
I was pretty fucking annoyed with Opie at that point and decided to take him right back into the warm up ring to trot around more in hopes that when I brought him out for our second test a few hours later I'd have a more tractable horse. We'd been cruising along for a good fifteen minutes without Opie showing any signs of relaxation or at the very least exhaustion when the show organizer called me over.
She wanted to know if I could move my second test up--as in, could I go back in in twenty minutes? I wanted to get off this stupid baby horse, put him back on the trailer, and dump him in his paddock where I didn't have to deal with him anymore so I quickly agreed. It turned out that about half the show had scratched after the previous day. The footing in the rings was not particularly good. It was hard and uneven, and there were quite a few complaints about it so I wonder if that had anything to do with it.
I got Opie trotting again, and when they tried to call me in early again, I told them no.
gritting my teeth so hard at the canter. so over it.
Training 1 Opie was slightly more settled and therefore a bit lighter in this test. Still, the childishness hadn't gone anywhere. At the first canter depart a horse in the distance neighed so Opie answered back. He hasn't made a peep in the warm up or in tests yet, but he was a scream machine all day long. We got a few 7s in this tests, but mostly 6s and another 5.5 and 5 for the second trot circle and final halt. Fortunately she didn't comment on him tripping behind in the corners in both canters because the footing had really turned to uneven shit by that point.
(youtube is being super slow, so this might not be uploaded yet)
More overall comments on me being a bad rider with horrible position (like, a lot of these comments), but whatever. I've had worse judges, lady, and way worse rides. We ended up with a 63% and a second.
both happy to be done with this nonsense
Thus began the two hour wait for scores to get done. I scored an entire show last Sunday so I know it can be a serious hassle, but I scored by myself and had those puppies in people's hands asap. There were three people that were supposed to be in charge of it here, and it took them forever to get anything done in the most unorganized fashion possible. Then the musical freestyles started and instead of leaving someone to continue scoring, everyone emptied out to watch. Never mind the growing crowd of people milling around the scoreboard waiting to leave.
ready to leave this creature behind by this point.
Fortunately for all parties involved, today starts Opie's week long vacation I planned into the schedule at the beginning of the year. I think it's safe to see we're both ready for some mental down time. I won't even be doing lessons for the rest of the month. When I bring him back we're going to start playing over fences to get in gear for hunter paces. There's still a bunch of dressage shows on the docket, but right now I want to give the kid some variety to keep him fresh.
I was whooped after day one, but I had perfectly respectable ride times for day two. I was able to sleep in until 7:30, get some house work done, and get to the barn with plenty of time to re-bathe and braid Opie if needed. Fortunately his braids stayed in even with a few hours of turnout, and besides a couple of poop spots from sleeping that got quick Cowboy Magic treatment, he was good to go.
Unfortunately, I was crawling around the barn trying not to throw my guts up. I felt fucking awful all morning long with a pounding headache and constant nausea. I think the heat got to me worse than I thought the day before despite my best attempts to stay super hydrated. Opie, for his part, didn't seem any worse for wear, and we got off easy with temps in the 60s Saturday. At least one of us can handle early death summer well!
Parking was atrocious yet again, and since I was literally the only one working out of my trailer I was stuck trying to find a spot to finagle my trailer into by myself. I got it stuffed in by the barn, but while we were closer to everything than the day before we weren't in view of any horses. This was very upsetting to Opie whose ADD brain was having a lot of trouble not being a complete tool at the trailer.
not at the trailer. looking for horses to be besties with anyway.
It started right off the bat when he couldn't wait two seconds for me to finish dropping the butt bar while I unloaded him and he blew through it right as I unhooked it and then he fell off the ramp into a big dumb heap on the ground. So that was a great way to kick off the morning although at least he was none the worse for wear for it.
We only had about an hour to blow before I had to get on for the first test, so I grabbed my water and we went back over ringside to watch some Second level tests.
Training 3 Warm up started out pretty well at the walk and trot. When I asked him to pick up the canter, he was all, "I do not know what leads are." And I was like, "That is false."
He's gotten to the point where I no longer have to bodily throw him onto the correct lead, and I've been asking for them like I would on a normal horse without issue. Yeah, not so much here. It was either pick up the incorrect lead or just not pick it up at all. The ring steward called us over to go in, and with one last attempt I did bodily throw him onto the left lead and make him do a circle before going over.
I've ridden for this judge before with Bobby--she's a 6 judge. She will give you a 6 for everything unless you really give her a reason to do otherwise. We kicked things off with a whopping 7 for the first center line and halt and then got all 6s except for 7s for the walk work.
The red flowers decorating the letters that Opie didn't give two fucks about the day before were suddenly offensive to him, and every time he passed them he tried to drift away. That's a lot of letters in a standard arena. That was a lot of drifting to keep a lid on. We got some comments about needing to be straighter, which uhhh completely warranted.
Final comments though were in capital letters and underlined, "Capable horse" with another 7 for gaits. Dem judges love them some Opie. Still, a line of 6s only got a 62.5% which was a titch higher than T3 the day before but only got us a 5th this day. We beat people though, and pink is much better than yellow! He even got both leads and offered a little real stretching at the trot.
still looking for some besties.
We came out of the ring and the show organizer (who also runs the college's equestrian program) was standing with the bit check volunteer. She asked me how old he was and what his breeding was and then told me he was really lovely--he just looked like he was a little wide-eyed the whole test. Well, yes. Red flowers and no besties are very disconcerting!
We had a split of more Second tests and then an arena drag before our next test, so I grabbed some lunch and went back to the ring to watch a few tests. Opie was grateful to be in the presence of horses again and took a nap.
how cute is this stocktie? and my horse about to bash me in the head with his own head because bugs.
When I brought him back to the trailer to get my things around, he lost his fool mind.
Y U being so crazy, Opie? Let me show you!
do you see them? his new besties? i didn't either until i was up in my dressing room.
We still had quite a bit of time before I needed to start warming him up, but I threw his tack on and got mounted to go over to the rings anyway. The last thing I wanted was for him to escalate and learn he can get free of the trailer. I parked him in an a corner completely out of the way of the two horses in the ring and hung out for a good bit before starting his own warm up.
Training 1 My goal for this test was to not get beat by POINT TWO FUCKING PERCENT. We could have gotten beat by ten points and I would have been okay with that. The judge wanted to see more energy in the last test so I really put the gun to Opie and got him pushing. BM's last lesson of making him dance beneath me was in my head as I sent him forward, rebalanced, and sent him forward again.
As we made our lap around the outside of the ring, Opie was like, "Look at the other h--" And immediately I was on him to pay attention and push, dammit!
"but look over there at my besties!"
We marched in for a 7.5 right off the bat, laid down a line of 6.5s, 7s for the walk work again, 7s for the right lead canter and trot transition, and threw down an 8 for the final halt. He wanted to look around quite a bit so I got a little handsy playing with the bit to keep his attention on me which the judge commented on in the final comments ("Keep steadier hands"). She liked the forward though ("much better tempo this test--good job!"), and again commented that he was "willing and CAPABLE" (her caps) with a big smiley face and a "good luck!"
I ran up to the bathroom and checked the board to see if scores had been posted yet (they hadn't) and ended up chatting with another competitor who was bemoaning how low the scores were all day. Almost everyone throughout the levels were topping out at 65%. She'd gotten 7% lower than the day before for a test she thought rode better and we were both like, "Meh, 6 judge, what are you going to do?"
So imagine my surprise when I went back up a little later to grab my test and was handed a blue ribbon--with a 68%!
first place at pining for besties
what whaaat!!
Needless to say, there were much cookies given and grudgingly taken (because cookies are barely acceptable when all you want is besties) before loading up and heading home.
Opie got Sunday and Monday off and goes back to work today to prepare for another show this Sunday. I've been trying my hardest to guilt trip Hubby into coming to this one since Saturday's show was on my birthday and he missed it completely. Hopefully the next recap will have real media!
Once again I have no riding media for this show. There wasn't a photographer (for shame because I always buy pro pictures when they're available), and it's spring so I pretty much never see ag-working Hubby this time of year. Oh well. I'm well used to showing alone, and it's worked out well to just dump Opie right into it and expect him to deal.
STILL WISH I HAD SOME PICTURES THO.
he enjoys ripping the hay out of the net then eating it off the ground. actually i think he just enjoys ripping my fucking nets to shreds.
I know that you're all really here to find out if Opie got on the trailer. And he did! Both Friday and Saturday morning he put on the brakes as soon as I pointed him at the trailer, but we had the briefest of discussions about how the feet don't get to stop moving until he's paying attention to me. It took all of five minutes combined for both mornings and on he went. Heading home from the show he marched right on without a second thought.
I got Opie unloaded and we went for a brief hand walk around the ring to check out the flowers before stopping in the barn to get his tail re-washed. I needed to check in and get my packet, so for the first time I left him tied to the trailer unsupervised. He was in sight of one of the barns with a bunch of people milling around so I wasn't too worried if he got loose or got himself in trouble, but when I hustled back he was hanging out in the same place I left him munching his hay. Phew! First hurdle passed!
searching for horses in this desolate wasteland.
It was balls hot Friday--in the mid eighties with 80% humidity and full sun with no breeze. Essentially the worst horse show weather known to man... or woman in a sports bra. We had a little bit of shade to start the morning in our parking spot, but that probably had more to do with it being six in the morning than anything. By the time I went in for our first test at 7:37am, I was already dripping sweat.
Training 1 After being a complete fuckwit Thursday, I was happy to have my normal child genius back under me warming up for the first test. He felt a little sluggish, but he's a lazy dude. I got up at three in the morning and was drowning in my own sweat; I was sluggish, too.
Half awake and on complete autopilot, the judge rang the bell and I turned Opie in to the ring following the tracks of the horse before me. First mistake there, as the horse before me hadn't entered straight and we started the test off center line. Dumb ass. Needless to say when I got my test back and saw that comment I didn't repeat that mistake for the rest of the show.
The entirety of the test proceeded to be a string of 6s and 6.5s with one 7 for the medium walk because Opie has a great walk even when sleeping. It's so great he would like to stay in it forever and I had to pony club kick him at A to pick the trot back up.
The whole test was fine. Just fine. He got a 7 for his gaits as well, but it was a boring test with both of us just plunking along doing our thing. The judge's comments were that he's a "talented horse!". She wanted to see him more through in the transitions, especially the canter work "for even higher scores". Seeing as how I took a month off of cantering this horse because it sucked so bad, I'll allow it. Definitely a work in progress there.
We ended up with a 64.348% for second... POINT TWO PERCENT behind first place. RIDE YOUR OWN DAMN CENTER LINE, YOU FOOL.
best baby horse deserved a blue
Our second test wasn't until noon-ish so we had four hours to kill. I spent it reapplying sunblock and fly spray every hour on the hour and forcing myself to drink nonstop while we hung out ringside to watch the FEI tests. Mostly I did the watching and Opie alternated napping, grazing, and licking the bleachers while being admired by the people sitting beside me. He didn't make a peep though and didn't make a nuisance of himself which was all I cared about.
i loved this lady's shad. opie was getting his learn on for future goals.
Training 3 When I got back on for the briefest of warm ups, Satan made a reappearance from the day before. Opie wanted to give a big old Pass to dressaging. Even though it was so hot out, I opted to give him a little canter right off the bat to see if it settled him any. The second I put my leg on he blasted off and when he hit my hand he went up and tried to spin. He's done this on the ground a few times--most recently after breaking the crossties the night before while I was braiding him, and it usually ends with him on his ass falling down so I wailed him in the ribs and he jumped forward out of it before we both landed on the ground.
I think that knocked most of the stupid out of him because I was able to go right back and pick up a normal canter.
Still, we went into the ring (straight, and on the center line) wobbling all over the place. He wanted to stare at the horses outside the ring and was just generally feeling like a very green horse--much more green than he currently is. The judge gave us a couple more 7s, but our 6.5s were knocked down to 6s and our stretchy circle was spent staring at the world around us and earned a well deserved 5.
"Promising horse", another note to work on transitions, and that the right lead canter was better this test. That earned a 62+% which put us in third out of seven.
i hate the color yellow and i seem to always come home with 3rd. my barn mates think this is the funniest thing ever.
Overall it was a really good first day of his rated debut. We were out of there around 2 (we were the first ride in T3), but since we got there so early it was a long day. Opie was eaten alive by the bugs, but I was able to leave him a few times at the trailer to run to the office and not have to worry about him getting into trouble which was a huge win for me.
And while he was a fruitcake for warm up for the second test, the judge really liked him and I only have myself to blame for missed points. Ride better, get better scores because the judge wants to give them to Dopie Horse. That's motivation for sure!
