We all know that
a green horse can be like living in a Forrest Gump movie, an adventure at every
turn. And we all know that DC has
certainly had his green moments over the last 6 months. But what we haven’t covered is how much it
sucks to have a horse that is downright awesome and amazing and perfect in
every way, but your riding is so bad that you feel like you should take up
tennis. If only I had any eye hand
coordination at all, that might have been my back up plan for Day 6.
Since TJ had
already done double duty of a derby and rusty stirrup, Matt and I decided that
it would be best for me to not do a division on him. No real need to tire him out further, and he
had another day of rusty stirrup yet to do in finishing his division.
This left me
with a plan to only show DC, and a warm up and two hunters to do. I got to the show a bit early, and decided
that due to a burned forehead the day before, I needed to buy a hat. And buy a hat I did.
I know, everyone
is jealous of my pink and orange visor, seriously cool there.
Since DC was
being so great, we chose not to hack and save a little energy for my
classes. Amazingly enough, there was
absolutely no drama getting ready for my classes. For once I simply got on, walked to the
ring, and warmed up. Perhaps the lack of
stress and panic was my downfall, as I can honestly say that my riding was just
flat out terrible. My first class
started with a left lead going away from the gate. I kicked for all of my might for a gap, and
then did the sensible and logical thing and abandoned the leg at the base and
dove up the neck in an incredibly graceful
way. Cardinal sin of jumping, abandon
the leg and jump up the neck. My saint
of a gray horse faithfully leapt of the ground as best he could with the monkey
clinging to his ears. I’d love to say
this was the biggest issue of the day, but it was not. I saw nothing, I rode to nothing, I was
underpowered when I needed to be supportive, I was overpowered when I needed a
soft ride, I was just bad.
Walking out of
the ring Matt was no where in sight.
When Matt is truly disappointed in you, he wanders away from the in gate,
and takes a minute to provide feedback.
I tell myself it is to give the rider a minute to compose before discussion,
but in reality it’s likely more a combination of shame and a desire to collect
himself and try to find some sort of inkling of a positive thing to say. This day, he was across the aisle and over by
the warm up ring. I knew that was a bad
sign.
Me: “There you
are.”
Matt: “yes,
here.”
Me: “so um.”
Matt: “yes, um
is just what I was thinking.”
Me: “right.”
Matt: “your
canter started well? That’s about all I’ve
got.”
From there we
had a long discussion about how I am not trusting my decisions, second guessing
myself, and generally look like a lost puppy atop a horse.
I went in for my
second round with much trepidation.
There’s nothing more mentally crippling for me than not trusting a
decision, changing my mind, and having a worse outcome which then results in
not trusting my decision. You can see this is a vicious cycle that I have a hard
time climbing out of.
My second trip
did improve for the first three jumps, and then one of those tricky long
approaches to an in and out had me making about four different decisions at
once. Once again it was ugly, I won’t
talk about how ugly but a winning round it did not make.
For my last
round, we had a handy. Matt tried a
different tactic telling me to just relax and have fun! In my ever so bizarre place of that day, I
then put the utmost amount of pressure on myself to GO HAVE FUN. I plastered a smile on my face that would
rival Toddlers and Tiaras and cantered into the ring determined to HAVE FUN. It was fine, not great, not even good, but no
major horrible mistakes and I’m sure that I HAD FUN. Or something.
I ended up
jogging 5th and 5th, so I mean it wasn’t world ending,
but I certainly didn’t feel successful.
Thankfully I had
a full day of agenda left including…..
Watching TJ
bring home the rusty stirrup champion AND win the classic!
Ice cream social!
Admiring Tino
for his love and care of my beasties
Watching the
pre-Grand Prix entertainment
Seriously these
guys were crazy.
I think I was so
mesmerized by the flying flag horses that I forgot to get any pictures of the
Grand Prix, but I didn’t.
The day finished
up with what is probably my favorite part of the Colorado shows, and that would
be the exhibitor party. They had a camp
cookout for the entire show, live music, roping demonstrations, and a
MECHANICAL BULL.
The evening
winded down (or up? depends on your perspective) to a campfire in the camper park.
Other than that
whole sucking at riding stuff, pretty much a perfect day in Colorado.
Haha, love Matt's response. Sometimes you just have to get back on and try again.
ReplyDeleteSometimes it's just a wash... we all have those days, some of us more frequently than other ;-)
ReplyDeleteI have off days too, and while they are certainly frustrating, they also make success taste that much sweeter :-)
ReplyDeleteAmazing! I've heard Colorado is super fun for exhibitors.
ReplyDeleteand those mental mistake cycles are crippling. I have a fantastic tendency to hold for the add, then abandon that choice at the last possible moment and chase for the gap. My poor, poor, mare, how she hasn't dumped me yet, I do not know.
Bummer that your riding day was off but sounds like a blast in the evening!
ReplyDelete