A timeline of a horse show. :)

7 a.m.: Get to barn, fetch horse from pasture. Throw him in stall to eat his breakfast.

7:15 a.m.: Off to hook up trailer. Get trailer hitched and pull up to driveway. Discover a tire is flat. WTF!!!!

7:16 a.m.: Limp up the road to nearest gas station to put air in tire.

7:30 a.m.: back at farm, load up last minute things. Start to braid the horse.

8:15 a.m. Finish braiding said beast.

8:30 a.m.: Load horse, hit the road.

9:40 a.m.: Arrive at show. Wow. LOTS of horse trailers here this time. Find a good place to park. Unload horse, throw him in stall with hay and water. He was a bit sweaty coming off the trailer.

... So my friend/groom/reader and I spent most of the morning just watching and relaxing. I felt it would be good for Hampton to spend some time in his stall without me bothering him. Also I wanted to get a feel for how the combined tests and event derbys were run.

12:30 p.m.: Start grooming beast.

1 p.m.: Off to lunge the horse. He was an idiot on the lunge. Great. Super tense, some screaming ... But did eventually start to calm down. I realize he might be a little too fit for a young dressage horse. We lunged for nearly 40 minutes and he wasn't even out of breath in the slightest. I decide to just get on as I know I can get his mind working better under saddle.

1:45 p.m.: Aboard the horsie. We spend maybe 15 minutes just walking to see if he will RELAX. Works maybe a little. The hunter pace begins and we are informed that those participants will be galloping directly through our warm-up ring - including a log jump obstacle. This freaks out a few people, but the horses never even blinked.

I love Triple Creek Farm.

2 p.m.: Still trying to relax the horse. He is tense, wiggly and is bucking through canter transitions. A classic sign he is super super stiff right behind the saddle. Turn on the haunches helps him some and starts to get him somewhat more obedient.

2:30 p.m. We go in the ring for Training Level test 3. Right off the back horse spooks at a terrifying hay bale in the field next to the ring. Judge is kind and lets up work that out before ringing the bell. Off we go.

2:40 p.m.: Our test begins ... there is much spooking (not at the hay bale). One side of the ring butts up against the side of the barn and so when we rode by, the sand would hit the siding and Hampton was most offended. This resulted in a 3 for our first trot loop. Yes, a 3. And a comment of "disobedience." Everything seems like a hot mess. So much so that now I am laughing. I am surprised I did not get a -2 for use of voice. :) End of test - judge kindly smiles and me and says that was a very "tactful" ride. I am grateful for her kindness and understanding. We manage to pull off a 61% and 3rd place.

There were some lovely moments ...

3:15: Next text Training Level 1. The spooking went away but now horse is irritated (I later discover he really, really had to pee). There was much squirming and BUCKING at the canter transitions. Good grief. Also, my reader loses her place. Thankfully I had the test memorized and continue on. Again, I am laughing at what a hot mess this has turned out to be. This test earned us a lovely 59%. Oh Hampton! :)

3:20: Put horse back in stall. He pees like a race horse. I take a break and decide to scratch out last test and decide I will just school him instead. I get my scores and find I have earned 8's on rider position and seat!! This makes my day!!

4:30 p.m.: Hop back on horse to school. He is of course relaxed, no bucking, and obedient. :) I am happy with this as I wanted his last ride to be a good one. I start eyeing a cross rail set up in the warm up ring for the jumping people. ... I wonder over there .... I will just trot him up to it and see what happens ...

4:35 p.m.: Hampton jumps his very first cross rail under saddle. At a show. In the middle of a field. I am BEAMING now. We pop over it a few more times. One time he did a little happy buck after. He LOVES this. I now eye the cross country area ...

4:40 p.m.: We "school" just a bit of cross country. At the walk! We walked over the bank and over a few logs. :)

4:45 p.m.: I look out over all this beautiful jumps. At the beautiful farm. At my naughty but beautiful horse and realize just how lucky I am. I also feel an irresistable desire to try this eventing thing ...

4:50 p.m.: I trot back to the barn as the skies are now black and there is thunder. We quickly pack the trailer, unbraid the horse, load the trailer and load the horse just as a massive torrential downpour hits.

6 p.m. Home safe. I turn horse out and he GALLOPS out to his friends. I guess he wasn't tired. But I sure was!!!