Ah, my first contesting show was yesterday, and it was AH-MAZ-ING! Okay, so - keeping in mind that this show was an hr and five minutes away from SunnyBrook, here is the rundown of how the day went!
I arrived at the barn before Lisa and Troy did, and helped Asia out (dad left) while I was waiting. Apparently Outlaw's knee is/was all swelled up so he might not go off to training this week... depending on if he gets better or not. Anyways, I checked on Missy - who was in her stall from bathing last night - and gave her a ration of hay and grain. Her water bucket was empty so I refilled it for her and held it up and she gulped it down like she was parched! I filled another and she drank 3/4 of it... I was kind of worried but she didn't look colicy or sick, so I asked Asia and she said that she might've just been thirsty and that she'd be fine. I went back to Missy and checked that she didn't have any cuts, scrapes, or bruises and that she had four shoes and no swelling or heat anywhere on her legs or ears/face.
Lisa and Troy arrived and I, squealing, ran out to Lisa and we jumped up and down together. Troy hooked up the truck while Lisa and I dillydallied. Troy put the license plate on the truck and got stuff ready to load Missy. Lisa and I checked everything one more time, and then I got Missy. We loaded her - using a butt rope; and as usual as soon as the rope touched her butt, she moved forward - and got all of OUR stuff into Troy's red Ford. We grabbed some more snacks out of the office and HIT THE ROAD!
It was a long drive, with lots of finding out directions and talking about random things that came to mind.
When we got there, there was only one other trailer there! We went inside the pretty barn and asked around to make sure the show was, in fact, this week (LOL). Apparently we were just early. =) So, since the arena was open to ride in, we unloaded and tacked up Missy and went into the barn, which had a really nice indoor arena with great footing. The only down side to the arena was that there were gates at one end so you didn't have much room to circle - you had to circle in the gates, then tun through the chute and do your pattern. Missy warmed up great, and we practiced a few things before I got off and signed up for my classes.
The exhibition (read:: 'practice') classes were starting by then, and there were a LOT of people there. The first exhibition pattern I ran, we just loped and I wanted Missy to see the arena at a faster pace with barrels in it. I wacked my knee on the metal barrel (OUCH! bruise!) once, but Missy was great. The second exhibition pattern was a little faster and I hit my knee again on the same barrel, knocking it over. I sighed and told Missy that it was good to get the kinks out now before the real thing.
We went back to the trailer and unbridled Missy, tying her to the side of the trailer with hay. Then, we went inside the camper part of the trailer and had soup and laughed and talked for an hour or so. By then, we were bored and my mom was there. We went inside with some chairs and sat in the aisle to watch the classes go by. Then it was two classes before me, we went back and put Missy's bridle back on. I put on my show shirt and belt and got on to warm Missy up in the field beside the barn.
I asked Missy for a canter. We did one large, slow, beautiful circle, then went to turn to make it a figure-8, and....
flying lead change.
I've never ridden a flying change on a quarter horse, and it felt amazing. Like heaven. I was so happy, I looked at Lisa and shouted, "Did you SEE that?" And she nodded really fast and clapped. We did it again and again, and finally I could feel Missy really stretching, reaching, lengthening her stride. It felt so good; I haven't been on a horse that was that nice in a while.
We went inside and I endured a long, long, long wait before my class. Lisa kept asking if I was okay, and Troy asked how my stomach was doing. They both know I have a history of having pre-class breakdowns. Luckily, everything was mostly okay. One girl had an insane horse and ran into me and Missy (who delivered a swift kick into the other horse's butt - thanks girl), but that was about all the excitement.
My turn came. My heart was pounding so hard. I asked for space to circle and people promptly gave me... not very much space. But we circled, I pulled Missy's head around, clucked, and we shot out of the chute like a bullet. I was kicking so hard. We came to the first barrel, and I pulled Missy's head around. Man, that horse can turn. She whipped around that barrel and we shot to the next one. I pulled her head around and made sure we didn't knock a barrel. We ran like a rocket to the third barrel, wrapped around it, and raced for home. As soon as we cleared the timer, I stood in my stirrups and WHOOP WHOOP'd until they announced my time. 15.3 - the best run I've ever done!
In that class, we didn't place in a division, but were right between 2D and 3D. Yay!
Next was Dash 4 Cash. No, there was no actual payback (bummer). But we shot out of the chute and Missy turned the barrel really sharp. I almost fell and she swung wide to catch me (being the angel that she is). If she hadn't caught me, I would've been on the ground. If I'd ridden the turn, we would've won hands-down. Our Dash time was 7.3 seconds.
It was an amazing show. We went back home and turned Missy out with Grinder. Mom picked me up and we went home. =) Pictures coming soon!
Go give your horse a hug and a kiss for everything they do for you! <3
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