WEC July and Seriatim Shows - July 9 & 10, 2016

Well, we did it. We went to a rated show and survived! I have been groom/support system/videographer at SO many shows over the last 4 years, and I am so happy I finally got to take a horse to one of them. It's been a goal for so long, but it's always felt a little out of reach. My horse wasn't broke enough and I was broke. This year I really worked on getting my horse broke, and getting out there doing things (clinics, schooling shows, etc), and actively saved money from my side-business of pet portraits and pony painting parties (we don't paint on ponies, we paint ponies on canvas. It's fun ;) ).

So I made a plan to do 2 different shows this summer. The first one didn't work out. The timing was bad. So that left me with one. I was hoping to get my bronze scores for First Level this summer, but since I was only doing one show, it didn't really make sense to pay for all the memberships. I have my USDF and USEF, but I would need Tony's and Tony's owners' memberships. So I entered the Opportunity Classes at First Level.

My travel buddy M and I left last Friday morning (edit, this sat in my drafts for forever...we left July 8. It's August now. Yikes) to stop at the lesson barn to give the ponies baths (neither of us has a wash rack or warm water at home) before heading down to the show grounds to settle in and school. There was, of course, a wash rack back up with 7 horses leaving for the show. Good thing the eventers had left for their show the day before, or we would have been there all day. So we hung out and finally got the ponies bathed, wrapped and loaded.

So embarrassing. What you can't see are his
 rainbow unicorn pillow wraps under the pink.

We had a pretty easy drive to the show grounds. It's only about an hour from our lesson barn, and it's a beautiful drive.

You really can't grasp just how high above the water we are. 180 feet.
Narrow bridge. Horse trailer. Pedestrians. It's a fun time.

We get there, fluff up our stalls and settle our ponies in. We opted to haul our own shavings in rather than buy them at the show office. Next time, I'll probably pay the extra $5 or so and just have them ready for me. I'm cheap though ;) After the ponies were in their stalls, happily munching on hay (or watching everything, as Tony was doing), we set up our camp. The very best part about the Whidbey show grounds is that you can camp right next to your stalls. I could poke my head out of the tent and check on the horses. Plus they don't charge a camping fee. Another plus in my (pocket)book. Our tent was seriously massive, and we had a queen airbed, one of those double high ones. M and I know how to camp right. The rest of our showing crew...not so much.

After getting all settled and taking the ponies on a hand walk around the show grounds, it was time to saddle up and school in the rings before they closed them for the night. Tony was good, looked at a couple things, but ultimately settled in and did fine in both the warm up and competition ring. The ring can be a spooky one because it's right near the woods, and deer tend to dart about. Thankfully the deer stayed away while we were riding. After riding, it was dinner, hand grazing, and bed time.

Mmmmm...grass. 

On both show days, I decided to ride two tests. Might as well get as much out of the weekend as I could. On Saturday, my first test was around 10:30. I didn't want a super long warm up, as we would be riding twice, and I knew I'd run out of horse. He's not the most fit this summer, what with me working a full time office job. Whomp, whomp. His warm up was awesome. His canter felt so good, and he was forward and on my aids.

On the way to our test. My stock tie went limp. It was my first time tying one. You can hardly see, but there's unicorns on it!

Our test was okay. We did 1-1 first. It was good, not great. I have to say, I was super happy with the kid though. We went in and got it done. He had some nice moments, but there was no sparkle. I was thankful for an obedient pony, and no spooking. We had mostly 6's, a couple 5's and 7's. One 4 on our canter transition, where he hopped behind into it and was just generally on the forehand and ugly. Our free walk was painfully slow. Just not stepping through in back, and barely in stretch in front. But we got through it, and it actually wasn't as bad in the video as it felt. Overall, I was happy with Tony. No disobedience, no talking back. Sadly we got no cute points! I am all about cute points. We usually get some sort of comment like "nice pair" or "adorable" or something. I know some riders with Haflingers do not appreciate those comments, as they feel like it's condescending, but I don't care. I ride a giant Barbie pony, and I do it with pride! I came out of the ring with tears in my eyes...don't worry, they were happy tears. It's been a long road, and we finally made it into the rated ring (even if they were "just" opportunity classes). I've worked so hard to get here, and had to save up my pennies all year to make it work, and I was just so happy. As I came out of the ring, one of my barnmates greeted me with "Well, it's too bad he bucked in the canter." Um, thanks. But no thanks. I'm happy with him so shush.

Totally cute. 

I have to say I was super disappointed when I got my test back. Not in the score. It was a 61 and change, which isn't great, but scores were low all day, and I was totally happy with it. I was disappointed that there was not one positive comment on my whole test. Lots of negative/neutral comments, and on any of the 7's I got, there was just nothing written. Sigh. The collective marks were completely illegible, and not super helpful one way or the other once we deciphered it.

Our second test (1-2) was almost two hours later, so I walked Tony back to stabling and let him chill out for a while. I opted to get one just 20 minutes before my ride, do some walking, and a super short warm up so he didn't die on me in the ring. If he's tired, it's nearly impossible to have any sort of decent canter transition. Entering the ring, I made sure to push him on right away. Our trot work was much better. More forward and sparkly. Judge said it was too quick. Whatever. I made a plan to try for more in the freewalk, but it backfired when he jigged a few steps. He still wasn't stepping through enough in the back. Things to work on. Our first canter transition, Tony cross cantered to start, so we got majorly dinged there. Even though we had a few mistakes, I thought the quality of the work was better than the first test, and I thought for sure we'd get higher marks throughout the trot, and end up with about an even score with the jigging walk and bad canter moments. Our leg yields were pretty good. Trainer said that the one to the right was perfect for a first level leg yield. It went exactly where it was supposed to, and he was moving almost parallel to the rails. I think I got a 6. Sigh. Still got about the same  marks on the trot, and lower on walk and canter for a 58 or 59%. Collective marks, which were slightly more legible this time (same judge), were that we needed more preperation for this level.

Butt-out like some sort of weird dressage/hunt seat hybrid rider. But look at my pretty pony!

I realized that judges don't know where you've come from, what you are working with, or what your horse used to do. They just see what you are presenting them that day. And even though I thought Tony did amazingly, the judge saw a pair that may not be ready for First Level- a horse still on the forehand in the canter with iffy transitions, lengthenings that are not quite there yet. I'm still super happy with the beast. I'll leave a video at the end. It's nothing special, and there are mistakes, but I think it's a solid test for where we are in life. And man, we clean up nice, I have to say ;) 

A blue ribbon for each test! We may or may not have been the only pair in all of our classes...

Day 2 we left the forelock long. 

My dad videoed for me in our second test. My parents were able to watch me ride competitively for the first time ever! It was their last weekend in the country, and they made it work to watch my brother run a marathon in the morning, and then they drove an hour and a half to watch my ride and take me out to lunch. 

I won't post a recap of day two...it was almost exactly the same. We had good moments, and bad. Scores were almost identical to day 1. We were both tired, but we made it through. Tony walked around the grounds on the buckle, and was a complete gentleman. He acted like an old pro. I just love this horse so much, and I hope we can continue improving!