This Thursday I am flying to North Carolina so I can gather with friends to spread Tim’s ashes in the mountains as a more final farewell. I am looking forward to this weekend like someone looks forward to their execution. I know I’ll feel better after it’s done, but I don’t want to have to be there and I don’t want to have to do this. What does that have to do with a horse show? I’ve been getting through…
My weekend of showing has come and gone. I’m sitting at home with a light sunburn, a mild headache and a lot of feels. Then again, when don’t I have a lot of feelings? When I came back from the San Antonio show in February, I was exploding with happiness and hope. My feelings as I write this blog post tonight are quite a bit more complicated and a lot less positive. I’ve decided to break up this show report into…
For Sunday, I decided to give myself a little more ring time by signing up for the 2’6″ Equitation medal. I had competed in this class once last year, and enjoy it because it’s the toughest course for the height at our local show series. Adding this class meant that I had to get up early on Sunday to come school in the outside ring before the show started. My trainer seemed to think that schooling the jumps would be necessary…
I’m writing this post on Sunday evening with Pascale passed out on the couch next to me. We are both very tired from a long weekend of horse showing. This weekend was one of those “learning experiences” shows for me, and while I did not take home any satin to hang in the new apartment I did really enjoy myself. I think I posted something on Instagram to this effect, but I’ve never had so much fun losing before. Simon was…
Regardless of what is happening with the rest of the world, one of the things you can count on if you’re an Austinite equestrian is the Central Texas Hunter Jumper Summer Circuit series of horse shows. It’s a three show series that are two weeks apart, and they’re basically a beefed up version of our usual weekend shows. One extra day of showing means for lots of additional divisions and some special classes. Despite showing in Austin for four years now,…
For reasons outside the barn, this has been the toughest week of my life. I needed a good show, and my nerd horse gave me his whole heart on Saturday. I am so proud. I felt more confident going into this show than I did last year for my semi-disasterous 2’6″-2’9″ debut. Pace is beginning to be less of a mystery to me, and after 20 years of riding “sit up and go forward” is starting to become more than…
First off, thanks everyone for their encouraging comments yesterday. I didn’t get a chance to reply individually to all of them (crazy trying to get ready for vacation and work and life!), but I really appreciate all the support. I am feeling much better about all this! Now, back to day two of the show. Sunday morning rolled in, and I wasn’t exactly feeling bright eyed and bushy tailed. My throat hurt, my head hurt, I was nauseous from worry and…
I have both a ton to say about this show, and nothing at all. Luckily (or not so luckily) for you, I’ll write out the ton I have to say in two parts. For those of you who want the cliff notes, I have both a pessimistic and an optimistic version. Pessimistic: I spent a decent amount of money to go to my year end show, and kinda sucked. Optimistic: I had one of those ‘learning experience’ horse shows that…