Although I am
actually writing this blog a week and a half removed from the actual day it
happened (it’s been a busy week and a half!), I am still mourning over the end
of my winter showing. It is also
possible that I have the shakes, the sweats, and other general symptoms that
can only come with withdrawal from a serious addiction. For those of you wondering (there were at
least 3), I absolutely plan to continue to blog, about horse shows, horses,
things related to horses, and horse things.
I’m currently on vacation in Vegas, I’m sure that too could make for
some entertaining blog material. As a
note, I packed 6 bikinis for 5 days. No
one can rival my packing abilities. I
thank everyone for reading, and all of your kind words over this fun and
adventurous 6 weeks, and as they say on television…. “stay tuned!”
I started day 6
with that extreme bittersweet feeling that can only mean things are coming to
an end. On the bright side MY MOST
FAVORITE BRAIDER IN THE WORLD was still there braiding DC when I arrived. Braiders have a tough job with all of the
pain in the legs/back/neck/fingers and none of the glory. They braid all night just so our horses can
look pretty bright and early in the morning.
DC’s main braider and I are close friends, though I rarely see her as we
are like two ships passing on different schedules. I was so excited to see that she was still
there, and we got to spend at least 20 minutes talking in the flesh.
The only
downside was that she reported that DC was VERY grumpy and was sleeping with
his head in the bucket when she got him out to braid. Sleeping with a head in the bucket might not
seem like that big of a deal, unless you know DC. He only sleeps that way
when he is so exhausted that he doesn’t feel like holding it up on his
own. I think it's kind of genius myself. And grumpy? I think I’ve only seen him grumpy one time in
the entire time I’ve had him. He’s so boisterous,
outgoing, friendly, and in your pocket all the time.
When she was
done braiding I spent some time in his stall feeding him treats and scratching
on all of his favorite spots. Although
he slowly chewed the treats, he definitely was not his normal happy go lucky
self. This was a red flag to me for
sure. I whispered to him, only a flat
and two jumping and we go home, sadly, he doesn’t speak ‘merica. Grumpy does not a good show horse make.
With that “exciting”
piece of knowledge in hand, I tried to make the most of my last show day in
Gulfport. I once again walked with the jr/ams
for their classic.
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| These always makes me giggle |
I had a chai
smoothie, I watched as much as I could, and I hung out with DH, who once again
was having the time of his life. Oh wait, maybe that was me.
Same as the
previous Sunday, my day started with the hack.
Also similar to the previous Sunday, there was a small panic as the
divisions were running much faster than thought, and I was in a huge rush to get
down to the ring. So, instead of a nice
relaxed mosey, it was more of a rattled speed walk.
The resulting
showing really can be displayed by a simple math equation:
Grumpy horse +
Tired horse + flustered rush to the ring != Good flat class.
There was
nothing particularly wrong about it, but absolutely nothing particularly
right. I didn’t have time to warm him up
and get that long and low feeling that equates to hack success, and the results
were somewhat as expected. He trotted
around in a plain way without suspension, hind end impulsion, and a plain face. We ended up 7th.
When Matt came
down for our jumping, I told him we had an irritable horse. His response?
“Oh good, because we know how emotional this horse is.” I had actually never thought about it, but he’s
right. Once again the yang to Tj’s yin,
DC is an open book on how he’s feeling and it absolutely affects his
performance in the ring.
We warmed up in
a very nice way, and I had hopes that we could put in some nice trips to finish
off our show series. I am sad to
announce that my hopes were dashed with a horse that just generally was not
agreeable. Again, quite simply nothing
was going right. He was not listening to
me through the corners, not wanting to balance up to the jumps, riding around
on the forehand with no response off my leg, and pulling and heavy though the
bit.
That description alone is enough
to know that the resulting ribbons were not fabulous. Our handy trip was actually not awful, and we
were 5th. I don’t want to
pain the picture of a sullen horse, because that wasn’t the case. He just simply ran out of DC gas, and as a 7
year old still greenie I honestly can’t blame him.
The day
concluded with the 77k grand prix that Matt and Caronline were both doing. Woodhill had a table in the tent, and much
fun was had.
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| Search and Rescue demonstration |
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| Stephen found a jump he can understand |
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| Wow, DC has a new career! |
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| awwwwwwww |
And with that, I
said goodbye to Gulfport knowing that I had my worst fear to face, the dreaded
bridge in Baton Rouge on our way home.
Ugh.
