February San Antonio Charity – Sunday
On day two of the horse show, Simon and I were kind of over it. It’s not that I didn’t wake up excited and ready to horse show (and maybe a little bit hungover… turns out day drinking isn’t really my style)… I did! However, when the hunter ring is dragging and a nap feels like a super solid idea, it can be hard to motivate one’s self.
By the time we got to my first class, the 2’6″ Equitation, I was a wee bit out of it and lackadaisical. If you need proof, notice that my collar is unbuttoned with my coat on. That’s a grave sin in Lauren’s hunter princess land, but I didn’t even notice until Heather pointed it out to me.
My 2’6″ eq proved to me that I need a warmup round in life, because I was all “Durr I ride horses!” and Simon was all “Durr I jump jumps!” and together we were the captain of the derp squad.
You’ll see me circling, because when I asked for a lead change pony was like “HAHA YOU’RE A FUNNY PERSON!” My motto for Sunday was not to let the nerd horse get away with blowing me off in the corners, so I was quite prepared to blow ribbon chances by circling to make him listen.
Granted, this plan would have probably worked a tad better if I was less tired and riding properly. Instead, I relied way too much on my hands at times and balanced off of the reins versus sitting deep and being softer. The result is less than stellar, but I’m a fat adult amateur rider on her 2nd day of showing… this time sans Prosecco. Sue me 😉
After the disastrous 2’6″ equitation, I went in for my 2’6″ hunter round a little annoyed and determined to make the creature listen when I asked for a lead change. The result? Multiple clean lead changes! He still blew me off in one corner, but as we already determined I wasn’t riding my best so I’ve decided to let that one go.
Before our 2’9″ rounds we had a break where I managed to get less and less motivated. Simon basically stood still and found his inner zen, watching the other horses in the warmup ring. When I got back on for my 2’9″ equitation, I didn’t have a whole lot of fight left in me.
Overall our course went well, but we added in the outside line that had been riding pretty long all day. Bonus points for the pretty kick ass rollback, but the magical lead changes from the round before were long gone. I will say that it was much better than our 2’6″ equitation round though.
So that leaves the last round…
Oh, the last round. I wanted to go out in a triumphant victory of personal achievement, but instead I will take you through the course of the inner dialogue of the nerd horse.
I think I can make this whole thing end MUCH FASTER THAN YOU. Gallop! No, Gallop? Wanna gallop anyway! OH LOOK THERE’S A JUMP BETTER PUT MY FEET DOWN ONCE MORE JUST TO BE SURE. Yup, that was for sure the right decision. WHAT DO YOU MEAN I HAVE TO CHANGE LEADS? I politely decline. WHAT CIRCLING?!? I hate circling. OOO MORE JUMPS. I should put my feet down again. WE ARE GOING SO FAST WHEEEEEE LIKE RACE HORSE! WHY IS THERE MORE CIRCLING? IS CIRCLING THE GOAL? DO I HAVE TO CIRCLE AFTER EVERY JUMP? Oh phew I think it’s over. Can I have cookies now?
I could feel the judge rolling her eyes at me by corner number three, but I felt it necessary to try and tell my creature that blowing past aids and barreling to the next jump was not the best option. In the end he kind of did that anyway… but it’s fine. We never got the same, relaxed canter that I had been enjoying all weekend and the course didn’t stand much of a chance to begin with.
I wasn’t disappointed as I walked back to the barn, because honestly most of our hunter courses have looked this way in the past. The fact that this was the worst course of the weekend is a pretty solid improvement overall.
On Sunday we pinned 7th in the 2’6″ Eq (which was a little tragic), 8th in the 2’6″ Hunter and 7th in the 2’9″ Eq. Shockingly, they did not award a participation prize for “Most Strung Out OTTB With Circling in the Corners.”
If they did, I’d have a new neck ribbon right now!
So that’s the full show report. It was so fun, I might do it all again this weekend. Stay tuned.
23 thoughts on “February San Antonio Charity – Sunday”
Simon says “Mom, hunters are for the birds…. And fat warmbloods”
Hehehe love you both
He definitely spent a long time watching the other horses warmup as if to think, “Which of these is not like the other?”
I think it’s awesome that you were able to school Simon when he got naughty instead of freaking out or trying to push through and ‘get it done’. And that rollback in the 2’9″ was absolutely perfect!
I definitely took the “schooling” part of schooling show quite literally this weekend.
That collar still makes me giggle after you teased me about mine. 😉
A jacket with an unbuttoned collar is like wearing a Tuxedo t-shirt to a black tie event 😉 Sadly, I wore that T-Shirt for two classes on Sunday haha. The pro photog got a cute pic of us cantering and I didn’t buy it because my collar was down!
He is for sure the fastest cross cantering racehorse in that last round. I’d complain to show management for not giving out awards for that.
god i do not miss doing hunters… the mare i used to lease was like queen of being on 6 different leads at once and I was like “cool if you want to have each leg doing the cha cha seperately, fine, so long as you jump the jump”.
she also did not do flying changes. best case she’d trot behind and trip up front and that was her lead change 😉
good on you for using it as an educational experience!
oh the lease was an eventer, we did not do 8 different leads down to the jumps for hunters.
I have the same Sunday rally issues! Overall sounds like a blast of a weekend!
🙂 I am so familiar with day two show brain! Love your attitude and congrats on a great weekend!
I vote a solid YES for again this weekend. Mostly because Simon told me he had fun, and that he looooooooves JOMPING JOMPS. Esp. 2’9″ jomps <3
woo congrats having fun – i love that pic of you two over the 2’9″ white fence! and also that rollback in the 2’9 eq round, looks great!!
i think my favorite thing about h/j shows is that there are so many classes, so many courses that it *is* possible to get kinda ‘over it’ and ready to be done by the end of the day, rather than constantly being a tangled mess about making our single course count… (i still <3 our ride times tho lol)
That is a SUPER kick ass rollback!
omg. that last video had me cracking up – only because you previewed it with Simon’s thoughts. You can totally see how he is thinking “must gallop EVERRRYTHING!!!”
Way to go though, you kept your calm and made the most of your ring time. High five!
Simon’s thoughts paired with the last video = priceless. What a goober! GREAT job riding that out though!
I love listening to him go around. He sounds like a power house. You guys look great.
Hey they can’t all be perfect! I’m glad you had a positive experience, even if it wasn’t magically ideal. I heart your nerd horse! And I agree you should definitely have gotten a circle prize!
Haha, that last round was EPIC! Love the commentary. I’m so glad that you had fun at this show… that’s what it’s all about!
While I question your lack of Prosecco on Sunday, I salute your dedication. There were nice moments even if overall it wasn’t absolute perfection – which is pretty much what I shoot for when I show, some “nice moments” as opposed to “overall disaster, we almost died.” And just so you don’t feel left out in your Hunter-Princess-y ways, when I saw your first photo I thought “wow they don’t button their collars in Texas?” before I read about it. Not that I was judging. Just, you know, right there with you on the buttoned collar thing. Haha.
Gustavo Woltmann loves horseriding. This is a great blog about his favourite past time! – Gustavo Woltmann
Even when he’s not wanting to listen to you about that pesky little lead change, Simon still looks like he’s having FUN. Glad you also had fun even if it wasn’t your greatest individual day of showing.
I’m extremely impressed with your progress!!