So... this was a crazy weekend! I took Lyric to Chatt Hills to show on Saturday and then it was Dan's turn on Sunday at Stableview. Lyric was good but it was a LONG hot day so Dan got the day off. He got a bath after his ride Friday and was still clean Saturday morning so I was hopeful. But figured we'd be getting up extra early Sunday morning for his bath. Which... literally as I was unloading Lyric from the trailer and turning her out, Dan, who was all clean and sparkly... went to the mud pit and wallowed! Yep. Staring at me while he did it. Argh! Oh well. Like I said, I had figured as much. But man... with a 7:54 ride time in Aiken.. I was secretely hopeful he would still be clean. Doh!
Anyways... the good news about our early morning ride time was that we would be done before noon but also I would be up early enough to hopefully catch some shooting stars during the meteor shower. I did see two faint ones so yay for that! I got up at 3:30 and put on my show clothes and got the ponies fed. I was surprised they actually came up to eat! But they did. Dan did NOT want to leave the pasture though. But I got him bathed and he loaded up and was munching on his hay. We headed to Aiken and made good time.
I got him all ready and we headed to the warm up. Sigh... I asked him if we was going to cooperate and allow us to warm up in the shaded covered or if he was going to be a fool again and make us go outside in the sun. And of course he chose poorly. We got into the covered and for a minute I thought we would be okay. But then he saw the new tarps and started spooking at them. Fine... we'll just go to the other side. NOPE! Then he put his head down, threw his shoulder and went to trying to bolt. Or porpoise. Sigh. I didn't even bother for more than one lap because he was so on the muscle I was just fighting him instead of getting a nice relaxed dressage ride. So we informed the stewards and headed out to the field to warm up. Unfortunately I don't have a watch... and left my phone... so it was a little bit dicey knowing when my ride was. I didn't want to be late. Luckily the awesome steward who is part of Dan's fan club came out yelling for us!! (I had also already checked to see and knew I was after the girl with the pink belt, so I was heading in already).
In we went. I thought it was a nice test other than me forgetting that I had the short diagonal and getting almost to E before cutting across to B. Ha ha. Whoops! The judge was nice (and I'm guessing tired of it happening all morning) and just gave me a "late" instead of an error. I was quite pleased with him. Especially considering how rowdy he was wanting to be. However, I was a bit disappointed with our score. It was a 34.3. Which put us in 8th. However, then I looked and that was out of 21 people, so... okay, maybe that's not so bad!! Still, I want to get back to scoring in the 20s. I know, I know.. greedy and ambitious! Anyways... He got rinsed off and then I put him back in the trailer with his fans on while I went to go walk Xc and stadium. I took my bike and rode it but holy heck!!! I was soooo sweaty because I had to stand up on the pedals and really use my thighs to get over the hills and even some of the flat ground. Towards the end I gave up and walked it. So... I'll be investigating electric bikes. Anyways...stadium was set for training when we walked it but it looked like a fun course. I was so tired from pedaling I don't think I even got nervous but I also knew they were dropping the fences. So then we biked over to XC and walked the course. The first three fences were cabins and fairly close together. Then a roll back and a long stretch to a mushroom skinny thing. Then a long gallop to the hammock. Then down the hill to another coop, then to another jump then through the water, then more jumps. Lots of odd diagonal type lines but enough space to make it not so diagonal. And a fun little swoop around the tree line for another table. Then the second combo (first was water) was a reverse chevron semi-skinny upright plank on a bendy line to a small cabin. Then a big table then a small bench and then another big table. Overall it looked like an awesome course. Nothing was terrifying and there was only one or two big tables that were "big" in my brain and the only other thing he might look at was that upright reverse chevron thing. So yeah! Kind of excited about the course!
So I unloaded him and let him eat his hay next to the big battery fan and he was acting silly. So we took a little walk to say hi to our friends. Then it was time to tack up! We headed back to the trailer and got dressed. And man, we were both so sweaty already! We hacked to the warm up ring with Jill and Brody and warmed up. The first 3 jumps we were off. He jumped them but he was off in his striding. So we stopped and took a minute and then I got going again and rode his hocks and rode better and we had some good jumps! So then I let him rest again. And me, because my thighs were burning from that stupid bike! Then it was our turn. In we went! He jumped the first 6 jumps quite nicely! We were seeing most of the distances and in tune! I wasn't quite keeping my leg underneath me but I wasn't as bad with my upper body I don't think. Then we came to fence 7. I'm not exactly sure if we just got bad striding or if maybe because he was coughing and pulling me forward he got on the forehand, but... I asked for the flyer and he took it. There was probably another stride in there, but who knows. He jumped it but came down between the rails a little bit I think because he almost face planted when we landed. (Probably wasn't as bad as it felt). We got it together and I picked him back up and we carried on and had a lovely one stride out over the last combination. But, yeah.. one rail. Oh well. That was just... dumb luck I think. Maybe had I fixed the canter sooner.. or maybe had I closed my leg and asked him to hold one more stride.. it would have stayed up. But oh well. I was still proud of both of us for that round!
So then we headed to XC warm up. They were like "you can go in 2 minutes if you want". Umm... I'd like my poor horse to be able to catch his breath really! He had a bit of a breather walking over there so... I popped him over two fences. And same thing.. he kind of slid around a bit and we had funky distances. But it's because I was just sending him to them instead of riding. So we took another quick breather and then the guy mentioned that the girl who had just walked up wanted to go first if possible so I let her! That gave me a chance to let Dan catch his breath a little more and I was able to jump him one more time. We got a much better canter this time and then he was more balanced and didn't slip at all so we went with that!
We got in the start box and he was ready to go! Off we went. The first three fences came up quick and Dan was so distracted by everything else! Nerd! You almost at the first two fences because you aren't paying any attention to your feet sir! I managed to get his focus back at hand for fence 3 and it got better. Then we had the rollback turn and the long stretch and he asked to gallop so I let him have his head for a bit. Except about 2 strides in he spooked hard at the woods and shot right, almost dumping me, then proceeded to squirt off at a gallop! No sir.. you have lost priveledges now! Then when I tried to pull him up, he coughed, got his head down, and tried to buck me off. I held tight and he tipped me forward but then I realized and loosened the reins so I could get my core back up and strong and then I pulled his head up and kicked him on, but into a much more collected and controlled canter! Goober! I was laughing at him. So then we jumped the hammock fairly nicely and then he tried to bolt down the hill again. Nope! I've got you now menace! We then had quite a nice round. He was jumping things much better when I was in control. :) We splashed through the water and did all the things. Even the big tables! And he didn't even blink at the big reverse chevron thing. yay! We came through the finish flags still breathing fire. :)
Yay!!!! We're back!!! And I think we're pretty close to training level again too! :) Poor guy was literally soaking wet with sweat and dripping from his belly! But before we made it back to the trailer he was grazing, so... yay. I got him untacked and hosed off and then we went back for a second hosing and then we stood under the fans.
Turns out... we ended up 9th out of 21! So.. not too bad at all! Especially for our first novice back.. our second show back... and in 102 degree heat index. :) And, had I not had that stupid rail, he would have been 5th. Doh! But yep.. so proud of him and so grateful that he is still having as much fun as me!!! Thank you God for giving me back my boy, yet again.
Still clean after the show! We were home by 2 pm!
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