Mid-Ohio Show: The Disaster

Found this photo op on one of our morning walks. haha. *cough*

Pop quiz!

Which of the following happened this weekend.

a) We got the lowest score of the show
b) We plowed over one of the top trainers in the area on a very expensive horse in the warm-up
c) Hampton bucked so big I lost my reins
d) I had an epic 13-year old girl meltdown in the warm up
e) ALL OF THE ABOVE


....


If you answered E - ALL OF THE ABOVE - you are correct!!


I waited until I had simmered down and had good sleep before writing this post. Because on Sunday if someone had offered me $1000 I would have handed Hampton over and said BYE FELICIA. Or, I was going to ask for numbers of tiger sanctuaries. I'm sure Hampton would feed a lot of tigers.

Part of me wanted to not talk about the show. Pretend it never happened. BUT, I've always tried to keep it real on this blog. So here it is. Prepare yourselves. lol

We arrived on Friday and while Hamp hauled well, our schooling was pretty tight. He was chomping like mad on the bit, and really did not want me to touch him. He was very tight and wanted to lurch and get behind the leg and bridle. This is not unusual for him sometimes off the property, so I did not let it bother me. I made some adjustments to my bridle and that seemed to help.

He needed a chain to lead around the grounds Saturday morning. 

Saturday morning he was WILD. I thought that was good, at least he wasn't tired! I can deal with the freshness. The show grounds (a nice facility) had round pens and I let him prance around and burn off some energy. He seemed to appreciate that and was in a much better mental state. However, his back was still tight. Like, lateral cantering tight. I took him on a few more walks/hand grazes before our ride which wasn't until 5 pm.

Thank you Eden Park Equestrian Complex for the round pens!

I will say that he WON the warm up! He felt good. Still tight, but manageable. But boy, did things go in the shitter once we hit the ring.

He broke in the trot extensions (which is NEVER does). Late changes. Out of sequence changes. Piros were a clusterfuck. Nothing went right. After the right piro, I had to stop and pick up the correct lead (he was swapping everywhere), and for a split second I thought "I should just excuse myself. I don't want this score on my record." But, I didn't. I should have, but I didn't.

I don't have photos or video, but just imagine I REALLY stiff intro level TB trying to do 4th level tricks. On the forehand, not collected. Not on the bit. That was us. I was THAT GIRL.

I couldn't even  look my trainer in the face as I walked out of the arena. I was so ashamed and humiliated.

We scored a 52. The lowest score of the show. HIGH FIVE.

You guys know me, I can shake off a bad test. It happens. I made a game plan for Sunday to ride a little pissed off. No more fucking around!

The show rings

Sunday morning he was quiet, seemed very normal. When I got on to warm up, he felt ok. Less chomping the bit, etc. I did a lot of piaffe, turn on the haunches to get him on his hind leg. I was determined to keep his poll up.

Hampton is very good on pulling DOWN on you. And once he is down, I have no leverage. I would MUCH prefer a giraffe. It's so much easier to supple them around and down, than to try and lift 1300+ pounds of horse up. I'm just not strong enough.

Trotting went ok, but once we started cantering I knew I was in trouble. His back was tight as a board. Lateral cantering, and what I call an electric back - the kind where you might be bucked off any second. Super.

I did everything I could think of. Shoulder-in, leg yields at the canter, half pass, forward and back. Nothing was helping. And he just kept getting more pissy with me. Before I knew it, we were getting into an all out fight.

My coach suggested I try a line of changes. HAHAHAHA. Oh god. You know how when you see a horse buck so big that the crowd gasps and stops talking? I was THAT GIRL. He bucked so big I lost my reins for a second.

Stabling area

Then it happened. I decided ok, I need to kick him forward and gallop for a bit here. I asked for forward. Nothing. Sucking back. Propping. Pig rooting. Kicked him again. He put his head down, nose to his chest and fucking bolted right through my left rein. I had ZERO control. There was nothing I could do. I was in the middle of a one-rein stop when bad timing happened and we just happened to be passing a "big name trainer" and her VERY EXPENSIVE horse. We plowed right into her (at a gallop), knocking her into the fence. Boy did she start yelling at me! I apologized profously but SHE WAS PISSED.

I am SURE something like that has NEVER happened to her in all her years of riding.

After I got him stopped, I lost it. My eyes started to water. My lip started quivering.

I bit my lip. Dammit. I started sobbing like a spoiled little 13 year old hunter brat.

I threatened to scratch. I really did not want to get a 40%. I felt like the biggest piece of shit rider. I should not be riding 4th level. Hell, we could not have ridden training level in that state. I was humiliated. All of our hard work, all of my money (I had saved up for 5 months to go to this show), all the emotional investment just overwhelmed me right there. And now I was fucking crying to top it all off.

But my coach said "I think you should go in." And I knew I had to. I am no quitter that's for sure.

So I did. I was fully prepared to excuse myself if things went down the drain.

And ... I made it around. I rode VERY VERY conservatively. Frankly I was in defense mode, scared to death to touch him. Basically just nursing him around.

And hell, the test was SO MUCH BETTER than the day before. Yes, he lacked collection. There was late changes here and there. But I nailed the tempi sequences. The piros were big, but acceptable for our level of greenness. No huge blunders really.

But obviously you cannot nurse a horse around 4-3. There is no more faking it till you make it. We scored a fair 55. I was fine with that. I didn't fall off, and I was not riding my best due to my emotional state. I did what I could with what I had that day. A better rider maybe could have done better, but man he was a tough ride this weekend. When Hampton does not want to play, he is big and he is strong. And he will pull out the asshole stunts.

ASSHOLE award goes to ....

BRIGHT spot of the weekend, a SHOW KITTEH!

The fact is that horses are not machines and I could come up with all sorts of things to blame this weekend on.

It was a long haul.
Stalls were small.
Hamp never lied down
He was attached to the mare he hauled with
I put too much pressure on myself
I need to lift weights
We were overfaced
He can't maintain collection needed for 4th

blah blah blah

The thing is, I KNOW what we are capable of. It's just that for whatever reason he did not want to play this weekend. Which made me ride like shit. It was BOTH of our faults.

BUT. These shows are a major sacrifice for me. I spend a LOT Of money on this horse, and his only job is to make me happy. So, he needs to hold up his end of the bargain. His behavior was unacceptable, and it seems to me that we may have a show ring ridability problem here. It's just that at 4th level I can no longer fake my way through it.

So, I am going to think about what comes next here.

Obviously, this means no freestyle this year. And not going to regionals at 4th level.

Show season is going to get a make over, but I am not quitting. Just going to do something different. Showing is supposed to be fun for me. And this weekend was miserable. I would have been happier taking that $350 and just flushing it. Five months of saving down the tubes. No qualifying scores. Not even close. An utter waste. UGH. Part of sport I guess?

Ok, if you made it this far. Congrats.

Peace. I'll write more later.