I bet I wasn’t the only one who didn’t really know that “big eq” and the Maclay Medal Finals was a really big deal before the Horse Power TV series on Animal Planet. Since I didn’t grow up showing on any type of hunter/jumper (or any) circuit, I had no idea of the big eq world. Even when I did figure out the big eq existed, the classes weren’t usually big in NC and we don’t even have a decent 3’6″…
When we left off yesterday, I had just finished up the ticketed warmup and changed my goal from “hunter derby domination” to “survive hunter derby with a smile on my face.” Since I was almost at the end of the 2’6″ order of go, I put Simon in the trailer (since he could no longer be tied) and watched some of the horse show for a while. The course had a few “surprises” since we couldn’t school all the jumps…
Overall? We did the hunter derby! I had a lot of fun doing it and checking that (hopefully first of many) item off the bucket list. That being said, it was not without any shenanigans. I headed to the show grounds at a reasonable time to meet my trainer and the horses. Since this was a one day show, we didn’t have stalls… which usually isn’t a problem. Historically Simon has been great tied to the trailer. Historically. On my…
You know, I hope my derby jumps tomorrow look better than this… But if not… we’ll be wearing a shadbelly and having a blast! Wish me luck, I’m off to my first ever hunter derby 🙂 Cheesy I know, but dream come true!
I love love love the Viva Carlos blog hop this week! It’s especially topical since we all know how much horse showing can make you question everything about yourself including the quality and talent of your horse. Let’s take a moment to appreciate the Pros of our current ponies, whether you own them or just ride them in lessons. Simon has a lot of good qualities, and I probably don’t write about them on the blog as much as I…
I am a total sucker for a colored sporthorse. That doesn’t mean I don’t love my plain bay Thoroughbred, but if it’s flashy… I adore it. Bonus points for spots. Triple bonus points for palomino. One day… one day I will have a palomino hunter, and it will be beautiful. Anyway, WEF is a sea of bays. Even a chestnut or a gray stands out among the grays, but I did find some color few and far in-between. I’m sure there’s a…
Saturday night I drank one glass of wine, had bread and cheese and about 5 bites of sorbet before I passed out at 10:30pm. A good night’s sleep helps a lot, and I drove to the show early Sunday morning determined to have a better attitude. Of course, that better attitude didn’t include being nervous for my first ever medal class. The 2’6″ Medal runs first thing with no warm-up. I could have gotten up super early to school the fences…
I know my instagram was suspiciously quiet over the weekend and I’m sure lots of folks are looking for a show update. I’ll write one post for each day, but if you are looking for the overall synopsis here goes: I came into this show with a lot of hope (read: unrealistic expectations) and I’m a very passionate person (read: extremely competitive). My horse and I stepped up a division and went from doing the adds to doing the strides, and there…