What an amazing weekend! I can’t begin to tell about every wonderful thing that happened, every joke told, every milestone achieved because there were just too many to count. But I’ll do my best to give a recount of my favorite and funniest moments.
Friday began kind of hectic with trying to get the trailer packed and horses loaded by myself, in the rain. I wanted Libby to be able to enjoy her senior homecoming so it was up to me to get to the show all by myself. I wasn’t there long and had just started unloading and getting settled when Tim showed up to help. I am so thankful for him and all his help. I think back to how scared he was of horses over a year ago and he has come so far. These days he makes a darn good post holding any of our horses, even for tricky jobs like clipping. Which we had to do on Friday. Between Tim and I we got both horses ridden, washed, clipped, blanketed and settled in for the night. And then we headed home.
Saturday dawned bright and early, before dawn even, and we were at the barn to begin the day. Can we all just take a minute and thank the Gods above that our show horses are now all dirt colored? No more white manes or tails. No big white spots or pale coats. A couple white socks, but that’s nothing compared to the battle all summer. We had our horses warmed up and touched up for showmanship in no time. Now, neither China nor Peach is a showmanship horse. I’ve practiced a little with China, but not being good at it myself, means that trying to train a horse to do it is impossible. Thank goodness Gabby took her for a few minutes on Friday and taught her a few things because somehow we managed to not make fools of ourselves in the class and even placed 6 out of 12. Libby took Peach in, who had never practiced more than the 15 minutes before the class to our knowledge, and also placed. No wait - she didn’t just place. She got second with the pony that “knew nothing”, guess Peach showed her.
So one class down and I already had achieved a goal I had set for the weekend with China. Place in a class you ask? No - I didn’t expect to place in anything. We have been to these MEC shows before. They are huge shows and they bring out the best of the best in the area. LOTS of trainers and trainer clients showing. And here I was with my bargain baby that I had trained by myself. I didn’t expect to place. No, our showmanship goal was to trot in a pattern. And she did that and way more.
Next we had English. I was super excited for English. All year long, scratch that, ever since we got China, I have known she isn’t a “western” horse. She’s definitely has more of a HUS movement with her springy step and big old stride. But in SEMSCA, there are no 2 year old classes for HUS horses. So all year I’ve been showing my English horse in a western class. So here was her time to shine. Off we went into the class against these older finished horses and just did our thing. And we exited out to the warm up pen to hear our placings. I about fell out of the saddle when I heard our number announced in first place. I wanted to hug her I was so happy for her. Finally a chance for her to shine in what she could really excel in. Next was English equitation and a… pattern. Which, as anyone who knows me will attest, is my biggest anxiety about shows. We did the pattern, I bobbled a diagonal once (damn right diagonal) and didn’t expect much as we headed back to the stall to change. Imagine my surprise to hear we got a second.
Now, if you didn’t think Libby was crazy before, she decided to take Peach in English too. Why not right? We didn’t know if Peach had ever worn an English saddle. We were pretty sure she had never been shown in one. But why not find out on the day of the show? Well, typical for Libby, it must have been okay because she went into her classes and had beautiful rides. That little pony can move. I just love watching her long trot. And of course Libby had to show off her equitation too. She brought home a first in her pattern work.
When western rolled around I kind of relaxed and started to enjoy the day more because, well - I was pretty darn sure we didn’t have a chance in western. I was showing in huge classes of 16 - 19 horses. And remember these were mostly seasoned show horses, many of them under the guidance of a trainer or had professional training in their lives. China and I were doing this ourselves. Well, I think Libby has ridden her 3 times in the past year. But unless you count the 4 and 5 year olds we have given pony rides too as trainers, no formal training. So I decided to just go out and have some fun in western, see if I could get her relaxed and consistent and our goal - to not have her freak out about anything. Oh, did I mention China got ran into in the warm up right before the class. Super thankful I was in a western saddle when that happened… So she was a little spooked about horses behind her at this point, but off we went. We placed. Again. I was just blown away.
Next was another dreaded pattern. But China was amazing, even did a pivot. She got a little nervous waiting for the rest of the patterns to finish so as soon as we were dismissed I went to jog around the warm up a little more and settle her back down. As we jogged around they started placing the class. The announcer started with “and in first place, the cute little bay Appaloosa, number….” and I had to stop China and just look down pretending to pet her on the neck because my eyes had filled with tears and I had gotten all choked up. It was truly a moment I will never forget and it may seem a little ridiculous to some. It isn’t like we won a class at Congress or even Champ Show. But it was a big moment for the two of us and a personal accomplishment that meant so much to me. I was so proud of her. So proud of how far she had come in just a year. Blown away at the fact that she was a 2 year old and had just won a pattern class. And I didn’t even mess it up for her!
It was great fun to get back to the stall and have Libby excited for us too, there was a lot of excitement all around. Especially for Peach, who had two more amazing rides in her western classes. Peach had done her pattern with no fussing. She was virtually flawless, actually we were blown away with how quietly she handled everything. Nothing at all bothered her that normally bothers new or young horses; not waiting her turn, not waiting at the cone, not the starting and stopping of a pattern. She just went out and did her thing like a seasoned show horse. The judge must have thought so too because they won that horsemanship class. Our crazy little pony who we thought would need some work, showed us again that she’s got this if we would just let her.
Next was bareback. Talk about a whirlwind of a day. I had mustered up the courage to do bareback, even though I hadn’t done bareback all year and had only practiced a couple times on China at home. That’s nothing compared to Libby who had never even sat on Peach bareback though. And this time, there was no junior/senior split. Libby and I were in the same class and there was some friendly competition about to happen. I had a great ride considering my nerves. Libby felt she had had the most amazing ride of the weekend so far. Apparently mine was a little better because I got 5th and she got 6th. Boy was she annoyed. But her next class was one of her favorites, egg and spoon, and her second place finish in that class made her day. Well, except that it was switching her rein hand and a silly bobble that caused her to lose her egg. Darn it anyhow!
Once we had the horses tucked in for the night and had a little potluck supper, we headed home to shower and recoup for the next day. I’m pretty sure I was out when my head hit the pillow. But it bounced back up again the next morning to head back to Winona and another crazy day of horse showing.
As it typically happens, the second day was a little more of a blur. Lack of sleep, lots of nerves and laughs and good food caused the day to pass too quickly and not at all clearly. Sunday there were no patterns after showmanship for us and with me getting out of China’s way, we won both of our English classes. Almost a clean sweep for my little two year old in the HUS classes for the weekend. Libby made her clean sweep of English equitation and they placed in the English pleasure as well. China made it pretty clear how she felt about all these classes....
It was at this point in the weekend when we realized that Libby and I might actually be in the running for the walk/trot belt buckle. We were competing against each other and about 30 other horses/riders, but had been placing well enough that we should be in the running. So the pressure was on to do well in western. Well, not so much for me - but I was hoping for big things for Libby. You see, Libby had told me about a year ago that all she wanted was to win a belt buckle before her youth career was over. Just one. But for several years I hadn’t been able to afford to even take her to a show where they gave them away. And the couple we did attend she had been riding this project or that project and often times was just lucky to have consistent rides. So as a mom, every time a show went by that she wished she could attend or wished she could afford the caliber of horse needed to attend, I felt guilty that I couldn’t provide that for her. And here she was, in the running for a buckle. Of course I wanted to win a buckle too, wouldn’t that be great for a 2 year old? But if I had to be beat by somebody, I hoped and prayed it was Libby.
The western classes went by in a blur with both of us shocking each other with our placings. My little English horse went right out there in that big old class and won the western pleasure class. I was just blown away. Unfortunately some vent flaps started rattling in the warm up and China was equally rattled. I wasn't sure if I should do bareback or not, but I decided I would wait to get on until the last minute. Even more unfortunately I didn't remember that there wasn't a split in age group for bareback and my class was going in with me standing on the ground. We ran over and some nice strangers held China for me to get on and we quickly made our way into the class. It wasn't until I was making my way along the rail that I realized I still had gum in my mouth. Of course I couldn't remember if gum was frowned upon in a horsemanship class, but I figured it was so I tried to stop chewing. But as soon as I realized I shouldn't be chewing gum, I couldn't stop chewing gum. So in desperation I swallowed it. That is something I would recommend avoiding at all costs. Nasty. Here we are over a day later and I still feel like it is lodged in my esophagus. But we all had a pretty good laugh about it after the class. Especially since Libby beat me out for a first and I still blame that damn chewing gum.
Gabby convinced me to go into egg and spoon so I would have a chance for that buckle too as I hadn’t done egg and spoon the first day. It is not my class, to put it lightly. I can never understand how people do so well. My egg literally starts shaking at the walk. But I gave it the old college try and was just a second out of sixth place. Libby hung in there until 5th. And then we waited….
and waited….
and waited…
Then finally! The placings for the buckles were announced. Of course they started at the opposite end of the placings so we waited some more. It was fun to hear as many of our friends were placing and picking up their grand champion buckles or reserve champion frames. Then it came down to that walk/trot buckle. They announced the reserve champion and it was the gal who we thought would win for sure. Libby and I locked eyes and we both knew it was probably one of us. And despite how much I wanted to win for China, I wanted that damn buckle for Libby. When they announced the grand champion as Liberty Onsager she started crying, which of course started me crying. In fact I think I called her a little shit for making me cry. She was so excited to share her buckle and get a picture of it with her pony. We headed into the stall area to find Peach literally flat out sleeping in her stall. She had worked so hard to win that buckle for her new family. We wore her right out. She wasn’t exactly thrilled to be woken up and made to sit up a bit for the “win picture”. Dutch Peach, the only pony at a show full of horses but she sure showed them her POA power.
When the numbers came out, Libby and Peach had edged out the second place horse/rider by only one point and had edged out the third place horse/rider (China and I) by only 3 points. It was tough tight competition!
Despite all the talk about placings and buckles and how excited we were to have a great show, the truly wonderful thing about showing this past weekend was getting to share our horses with all of our horse showing friends at a fabulous facility. It is so fun walking down the aisle and seeing someone you have missed, sharing horse stories, or even Lynelle camping and drinking stories. I laughed a lot, cried a little, sweated some and for sure made memories. Thank you to everyone who helped with sharing something, bringing food, listening, holding a horse, pulling down chaps, you name it. The sportsmanship at this event was top notch and the people couldn’t be nicer.
To China, if she could understand me, I would like to thank her for ending our 2017 show season with all the heart and try that she has always shown me. Even if the judges wouldn’t have loved her as much I do, I still would have counted the weekend a success because of our amazing rides. I’m so proud of how hard she tries to please all the time, from showmanship to English, western, bareback and egg and spoon. I just love this gorgeous girl and am so proud to have her in our pasture and so excited for our future together.
To Peach, just writing this causes me to get all choked up. From the first few days you were home with us and the first few rides I could tell you would do anything you could to make us happy and proud of you. You always try to do whatever we ask and you do it with everything you’ve got. You made my little girl’s dream a reality and you will always be a special pony in her memories, the pony that won that first buckle. Your sweet nature and calm demeanor were just what China needed when the crowds and scary stuff got to be too much for her, so thanks for babysitting my big baby. Cannot wait to see what 2018 brings.
No comments:
Post a Comment