Horse Show Update: #2 - 2019

Well, it hardly seems possible that the seven weeks between shows flew by so quickly and we already have our second MEC show under our belts.  Even more unbelievable was that China was able to come with us this time.  At the time we were at the last MEC show, China was still not eating and we were not sure she was even going to be around by the time April 26th rolled around.  I never would have believed she would have gained enough weight for me to even consider showing her.  Did she look great?  Not even a little bit - I'd like to see at least 50, but preferably 100 more pounds on her yet.  Did she feel great?  Judging by her obnoxious behavior, I'm going to go with yes.  You may all remember my vow never to call her a cow again, but boy did she make that difficult this weekend.  Having a couple months off and getting 10 lbs of grain a day (and all the alfalfa she can eat) makes for a sassy, skittery big pony.  She's going to be getting a lot of desensitizing over the next month and we are going to be hitting some open shows so she can see lots and lots of commotion.  Any volunteers to come ride at our place and cut us off, run up on our butt and have angry tails swishing in our faces?  All those things were cause for alarm this past weekend.  One friend described it as her being claustrophobic.  Pretty good description.  However, her claustrophobia made Melissa arenadartphobic.

All in all it was a great weekend though.  China and I qualified for Champ Show in two classes this weekend, one being the first day for showmanship (check off one of my goals for this summer) and two being English pleasure the second day.  Yay for China and I.  There were a lot of things that went well so I'm going to focus on those.  We got our leads in our patterns!  We had one counter canter that we picked up and were doing great with, but then she switched on me. Not wanting to blow her little new to loping brain, I didn't pick a fight over it and just let her be.  That same pattern we also had a hand gallop down to a trot and she did amazing.  So proud of her.  She was a rockstar for the extended trot part of the showmanship pattern the first day.  I had no idea how that was going to go.  I asked Libby what I should do about it. 
Me, "Libby - extended trot?!  How am I going to do that?
Libby, "Does she even know how to extend in hand?"
Me, "Well, we did that hunter in hand class last summer."
Libby, "Well, do that then."
Me, "Run like hell and hope she comes with?"
Libby, "Yeah, that."
Me, "Gotcha."
China didn't disappoint and booked it right along with me and slowed back down when asked too.  Win!  We had our shining moments and I'm trying to remind myself it can only get better from here.  It's not like we haven't had our troubles getting here.  We even still had her "teletubby" windows.  She hadn't shed out yet a couple weeks ago and the places where they had clipped her for all of her tests were still highly visible.  I can't even pretend that I was able to blend them in with the clippers.  It flat out looks hilarious.  But what's a girl to do?  Like I said - it's a miracle she was even there.

Sophie and Mercy also had a great show.  It was their first time trying English.  Sophie was a little too nervous the first show to put that postage stamp, nothing to hang out to, English saddle on.  After practicing at home, they gave it a go at the show.  Mercy was so good that we actually had to make a purchase at the tack shop for the second day - spur straps.  She was too quiet and dead headed!  Not the problem we thought we would be having for English.  Super proud of that duo as they also rocked showmanship, taking home a second place one day (still hate showmanship, Sophie?) and overall had an amazing weekend.  Next show they are adding bareback - no excuses! 

Lastly, Cutie and I had our last walk/trot show together.  It made for a crazy weekend having a lope horse for my age group and a walk/trot horse too, but totally worth it.  Cutie found herself an amazing home clear across the country in sunny Alabama.  We had one last show together and she made it so hard as she gave me her best class after class.  I was okay on Saturday, but on Sunday as I realized that we were having our last English ride or our last western ride the day got longer and the reality that Cutie was once and for all and for real going to be "riding" out of of our lives set in.  She had been sold before, but down the road never seems very real until "down the road" is more than an hour away.  There were tears or fighting back tears more time than I can count. Cutie was everything I needed when China was acting like a nut.  She was safe and fun and well, Cutie like.  We had a lot of great rides and placed in big old classes as the only pony in the class.  I'm going to miss looking at everyone's boots as I go by.  Especially in that English class with the 17 hand hunt horses.  HA! 

Well - I had better get this show update posted as a couple weeks have gone by now!  (And China is officially shed out now - no more tellytubby windows!)