So, the day started out interesting. First, because thunderstorms were forecast and it was already cloudy so we were periodically looking up at the sky and
asking it to not rain until later (preferably, for me, until Monday because I want to go to the MD Faerie fest tomorrow, but anyway!). And then because we all
knew that Rurik (the horse I was riding) has...issues...when it comes to trailering. He's fine once he's on and he's fine to get off, but getting
him on can be the tricky part. Rurik's overcome a lot of various issues in his time, actually, but sometimes with trailering he just apparently decides he
doesn't want to get on and nothing anyone can do to him will make him until he decides he's ready to get on. In fact, pressuring him just makes him
more inclined to balk so patience really is key. He did indeed balk a bit this morning, but only for a few minutes and then it was like a lightbulb went on in
his head and he went, "oh, she wants me to get on this trailer!" and he hopped right in. No big.
So we go to the farm where the (little "fun") show is being held. Horses unloaded, tack and grooming supplies brought out, et cetera. Everything goes fine for a bit but I go to get my show stuff on (boots, jacket, helmet) while Rurik's owner (she adopted him from Gentle Giants and he's boarding there still right now) is bridling him. Not entirely sure what happened, but I guess it's a good thing (or maybe not, depending on whether it would have made a difference) she'd untied him to bridle him because he took off. Like, cantering away. And Coyote (Kerri's horse) bolted with him. *face. palm.*
Luckily, there were two things in our favor: 1) we were already in a mostly fenced in field. 2) the boys ran around behind the barns into a smaller paddock where it was easy to get them again. Though both were easily catchable.
Rurik's bridle was around his neck by the reins when he took off and half hanging off his head. By the time he stopped, he'd broken the noseband (no biggie, bridle still useable) as well as one of the little metal bits that hold the reins onto the bit. Effing hell. So Laura (Instructor/Coach) borrows a set of reins from the people at the farm. They're brown and the rest of his tack is black but hey, it's either that or no riding so....we make do.
Now, while walking toward the ring, somehow one of the kids must've let Jezzie walk on her reins because she breaks those, too. So for now, we're stuck with switching reins between Rurik and Jezzie (luckily, in the morning, they weren't sharing any classes).
First classes (the younger kids on Jezzie) go without a hitch. Then it gets close to time for my first class on Rurik, so I take him over to the warmup ring to get on. I was just going to get on out in the open where we were but Laura suggested I do so in the ring. Another good "luckily" moment because as soon as I got to the top of the mounting block and was about to put my foot in the stirrup, Rurik took off at a canter. *face. palm.* So I go catch him, and apologize to the lady lunging her horse in the ring at the time. I should've known better, the only other time I saw him get mounted out of doors (he's usually only ridden in the indoor arena) he did the same thing to someone else.
Anyway, I get on and warm up. One corner of the warmup ring is scaaaaary and he refuses to go along the fence on that side no matter how many times we circle back to it. Noooot helping my nerves any. Laura comes over to "escort" us over to the main ring when it's time for our class. I joke that maybe I should've gone in the leadline classes.
In the ring, we're kind of a mess. It was just a green horse walk/trot equitation thing but I'm all
nervous and that's not helping him any and every time we go down on the end around toward the judge's booth, he suddenly starts speeding up into the
"death trot" and I'm going "easy, easy, easy," which doesn't help until we make the turn back up toward where the audience is.
Though I think part of that was that the ring seemed to be built on a bit of a grade and that was the downhill section he was speeding up on. Not sure. Anyway,
we came in fourth out of four (or fifth out of five one or the other) for that class. Don't have time to think about it because I was in the
immediate-following class, another walk/trot. Same deal, still nervous. Ended up fifth out of five (or fourth out of four, I'd have to go back and look at
the ribbons to see which class was which).
Apparently a big part was that I was all tense up top and not breathing. I could've sworn I was breathing but I've been informed that my face was turning red and every time I got up to where instructor!Laura was and she yelled at me to breath and I took a big breath, that's when everything would click and we'd look good. Then I'd get tense and...you get the idea. So maybe that was actually the cause of the death trot.
Er, anyway. After that I had a bit of a break. Originally, I'd signed up for the green horse walk/trot/canter class immediately following those two but considering I've only ever cantered Rurik once before and our performance so far, I scratched out of that one. No sense in borrowing trouble, mm?
A few classes later, Rurik's owner rode him in two classes. Also walk/trots. IIRC, they also came in fourth and fifth (or vice versa) for those too.
Then came my next class. Yet another walk/trot (it was like walk trot novice rider over 15 or something). Here we finally hit our stride.
Okay, then there was the class 20. Walk trot, blah blah. I felt much better. I remember telling myself "Just pretend you're in the ring at home." It worked! We came in second! Out of like...seven or something. Go us!
One of the other Gentle Giants people, Carla, was riding Humphrey, a Thoroughbred
who's being boarded there, and they came in first, which is cool too! Humphrey was amazing which...I had sort of expected him to act up more than he did
(not because he's a TB but because he's the slightly wiggy TB who used to spook at silly things and got me off doing so once) but he behaved well for
the entire day.
Then lunch, then another walk trot class (open w/t). This one was kind of annoying, only because there was this one guy on a big warmblood (lovely horse) that seemed to be too much horse for him. Anyway, more than once it felt like he was "tailgating" Rurik which...didn't make him very happy. And I think at once point said "tailgater" broke gait into a canter which almost set Rurik off but luckily I brought him back down and got him away and it was okay after that. We ended up with second again! (and Humphrey got first again, hah. That horse [and Carla] cleaned up today!)
One last class for us was the all day pleasure w/t. I kind of laughed and told everybody it was the "black horse class" because until the last second (when Carla was reminded to get in there because she and Humphrey were signed up for it, and Humphrey's a bay) we had this lovely black Western Pleasure looking horse, Rurik (black, Percheron), Coyote (who you'll remember as the horse who ran off with Rurik that morning, also a black Percheron), and Jezzie (black Morgan). I also had been joking that I needed to remember to "just smile!". I wasn't sure how we'd do in this one because I was a bit afraid of giving Rurik more rein but apparently we did okay because...*drumroll* we got second again! Woot!
After that, all that was left was taking Rurik back to the trailer and getting him untacked and so on (alas, I missed Kerri's first jumping round and Humphrey's only jumping round. That was the only not-blue ribbon Humphrey got today. Carla said he tried to refuse the first jump and after that was just of all over the place and knocked down a rail, so they came in last in that class). Got back in time to see Kerri's subsequent rounds jumping which was cool. There are pictures, obviously.
Then we all relaxed for a few and then it was time to load up. Remember I mentioned Rurik's loading problem? Yeah. Uh. Everybody loaded okay but him. The first time we tried to get on, he didn't even get his head in the trailer. He was almost there, then Tabitha (one of the other horses we brought and loaded ahead of him) kicked the side or something and the sound was his excuse to go, "OMG I'm running awaaaay!". He wasn't scared, I don't think, he just...took off. Back to that paddock he'd run to earlier. So I fetched him. And tried again. Still hadn't gotten him all the way there. Laura took over. She also pushed him too hard and got after him for something (details evade me) and he took off yet again. Back to the same paddock. We fetched him a third time. This time I said, "why don't we bribe him with the mineral lick?". The mineral lick, you see, is horsey crack. There's a big story behind it, but that's the important bit. We'd used it as a "pacifier" for Coyote while he was waiting between classes (seriously, that's how he acted). Rurik had been eying up Coyote with it all day. So that's what we did. Let Rurik get a sniff of the lick and hold it just out of reach. Wait for him to step forward, let him get a lick, pull it out of reach. Wait. Step forward. Out of reach. Step forward. Out of reach. And it took a long several minutes of him standing just outside the trailer before he finally decided to suck it up and step on for the darn lick. Once he was on, he got a lot of licks off of it as a reward and then we were ready to go. All throughout, every time I'd put more than even a little pressure on the lead rope (and by extension, his head through the halter), he'd stiffen up/back up. So the trick with him is bribery and lots of patience.
So after this whole novel....that's it! Pictures!
Me walking Rurik to the ring.
Notice he doesn't actually have any reins on yet.
Kerri, riding Coyote in one of
the early Green Horse classes. He's only four.
I look like...I don't know
what. Probably still the nerves. This is one of those early classes I was in. Also apparently my helmet was on crooked. Notice his reins don't match.
Carla and Humphrey, the
blue-ribbon wonder.
Rurik and me, posing with our
first ribbons!
Cari, Rurik's owner, in one
of their classes. And I feel like I should mention that Cari had had encephalitis that basically gave her a brain injury and the doctors told her she would be
lucky to ever walk, much less ride a horse again. But here she is!
Tyler, on Jezzie.
Jenny on Tabitha. This is right
before Jenny decided she couldn't do the class. She fell off a couple of years ago (from Humphrey, who she owns) and ever since then has been pretty
nervous about riding. This right here is a huuuuge step for her.
Me and Rurik with one of our
shinyshiny red, second place ribbons.
And I leave you with what I
consider a really nice picture of Kerri and Coyote (sorry, typed Rurik at first) doing a 2' jump.
So we go to the farm where the (little "fun") show is being held. Horses unloaded, tack and grooming supplies brought out, et cetera. Everything goes fine for a bit but I go to get my show stuff on (boots, jacket, helmet) while Rurik's owner (she adopted him from Gentle Giants and he's boarding there still right now) is bridling him. Not entirely sure what happened, but I guess it's a good thing (or maybe not, depending on whether it would have made a difference) she'd untied him to bridle him because he took off. Like, cantering away. And Coyote (Kerri's horse) bolted with him. *face. palm.*
Luckily, there were two things in our favor: 1) we were already in a mostly fenced in field. 2) the boys ran around behind the barns into a smaller paddock where it was easy to get them again. Though both were easily catchable.
Rurik's bridle was around his neck by the reins when he took off and half hanging off his head. By the time he stopped, he'd broken the noseband (no biggie, bridle still useable) as well as one of the little metal bits that hold the reins onto the bit. Effing hell. So Laura (Instructor/Coach) borrows a set of reins from the people at the farm. They're brown and the rest of his tack is black but hey, it's either that or no riding so....we make do.
Now, while walking toward the ring, somehow one of the kids must've let Jezzie walk on her reins because she breaks those, too. So for now, we're stuck with switching reins between Rurik and Jezzie (luckily, in the morning, they weren't sharing any classes).
First classes (the younger kids on Jezzie) go without a hitch. Then it gets close to time for my first class on Rurik, so I take him over to the warmup ring to get on. I was just going to get on out in the open where we were but Laura suggested I do so in the ring. Another good "luckily" moment because as soon as I got to the top of the mounting block and was about to put my foot in the stirrup, Rurik took off at a canter. *face. palm.* So I go catch him, and apologize to the lady lunging her horse in the ring at the time. I should've known better, the only other time I saw him get mounted out of doors (he's usually only ridden in the indoor arena) he did the same thing to someone else.
Anyway, I get on and warm up. One corner of the warmup ring is scaaaaary and he refuses to go along the fence on that side no matter how many times we circle back to it. Noooot helping my nerves any. Laura comes over to "escort" us over to the main ring when it's time for our class. I joke that maybe I should've gone in the leadline classes.
Apparently a big part was that I was all tense up top and not breathing. I could've sworn I was breathing but I've been informed that my face was turning red and every time I got up to where instructor!Laura was and she yelled at me to breath and I took a big breath, that's when everything would click and we'd look good. Then I'd get tense and...you get the idea. So maybe that was actually the cause of the death trot.
Er, anyway. After that I had a bit of a break. Originally, I'd signed up for the green horse walk/trot/canter class immediately following those two but considering I've only ever cantered Rurik once before and our performance so far, I scratched out of that one. No sense in borrowing trouble, mm?
A few classes later, Rurik's owner rode him in two classes. Also walk/trots. IIRC, they also came in fourth and fifth (or vice versa) for those too.
Then came my next class. Yet another walk/trot (it was like walk trot novice rider over 15 or something). Here we finally hit our stride.
Okay, then there was the class 20. Walk trot, blah blah. I felt much better. I remember telling myself "Just pretend you're in the ring at home." It worked! We came in second! Out of like...seven or something. Go us!
Then lunch, then another walk trot class (open w/t). This one was kind of annoying, only because there was this one guy on a big warmblood (lovely horse) that seemed to be too much horse for him. Anyway, more than once it felt like he was "tailgating" Rurik which...didn't make him very happy. And I think at once point said "tailgater" broke gait into a canter which almost set Rurik off but luckily I brought him back down and got him away and it was okay after that. We ended up with second again! (and Humphrey got first again, hah. That horse [and Carla] cleaned up today!)
One last class for us was the all day pleasure w/t. I kind of laughed and told everybody it was the "black horse class" because until the last second (when Carla was reminded to get in there because she and Humphrey were signed up for it, and Humphrey's a bay) we had this lovely black Western Pleasure looking horse, Rurik (black, Percheron), Coyote (who you'll remember as the horse who ran off with Rurik that morning, also a black Percheron), and Jezzie (black Morgan). I also had been joking that I needed to remember to "just smile!". I wasn't sure how we'd do in this one because I was a bit afraid of giving Rurik more rein but apparently we did okay because...*drumroll* we got second again! Woot!
After that, all that was left was taking Rurik back to the trailer and getting him untacked and so on (alas, I missed Kerri's first jumping round and Humphrey's only jumping round. That was the only not-blue ribbon Humphrey got today. Carla said he tried to refuse the first jump and after that was just of all over the place and knocked down a rail, so they came in last in that class). Got back in time to see Kerri's subsequent rounds jumping which was cool. There are pictures, obviously.
Then we all relaxed for a few and then it was time to load up. Remember I mentioned Rurik's loading problem? Yeah. Uh. Everybody loaded okay but him. The first time we tried to get on, he didn't even get his head in the trailer. He was almost there, then Tabitha (one of the other horses we brought and loaded ahead of him) kicked the side or something and the sound was his excuse to go, "OMG I'm running awaaaay!". He wasn't scared, I don't think, he just...took off. Back to that paddock he'd run to earlier. So I fetched him. And tried again. Still hadn't gotten him all the way there. Laura took over. She also pushed him too hard and got after him for something (details evade me) and he took off yet again. Back to the same paddock. We fetched him a third time. This time I said, "why don't we bribe him with the mineral lick?". The mineral lick, you see, is horsey crack. There's a big story behind it, but that's the important bit. We'd used it as a "pacifier" for Coyote while he was waiting between classes (seriously, that's how he acted). Rurik had been eying up Coyote with it all day. So that's what we did. Let Rurik get a sniff of the lick and hold it just out of reach. Wait for him to step forward, let him get a lick, pull it out of reach. Wait. Step forward. Out of reach. Step forward. Out of reach. And it took a long several minutes of him standing just outside the trailer before he finally decided to suck it up and step on for the darn lick. Once he was on, he got a lot of licks off of it as a reward and then we were ready to go. All throughout, every time I'd put more than even a little pressure on the lead rope (and by extension, his head through the halter), he'd stiffen up/back up. So the trick with him is bribery and lots of patience.
So after this whole novel....that's it! Pictures!
Me walking Rurik to the ring.
Notice he doesn't actually have any reins on yet.
Kerri, riding Coyote in one of
the early Green Horse classes. He's only four.
I look like...I don't know
what. Probably still the nerves. This is one of those early classes I was in. Also apparently my helmet was on crooked. Notice his reins don't match.
Carla and Humphrey, the
blue-ribbon wonder.
Rurik and me, posing with our
first ribbons!
Cari, Rurik's owner, in one
of their classes. And I feel like I should mention that Cari had had encephalitis that basically gave her a brain injury and the doctors told her she would be
lucky to ever walk, much less ride a horse again. But here she is!
Tyler, on Jezzie.
Jenny on Tabitha. This is right
before Jenny decided she couldn't do the class. She fell off a couple of years ago (from Humphrey, who she owns) and ever since then has been pretty
nervous about riding. This right here is a huuuuge step for her.
Me and Rurik with one of our
shinyshiny red, second place ribbons.
And I leave you with what I
consider a really nice picture of Kerri and Coyote (sorry, typed Rurik at first) doing a 2' jump. 