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Sweltering Show
Last weekend we headed off to Boulder Valley dressage show with a small team of Saras students. The show was around an hour and forty five mins away with a trailer so we decided to stay over, as driving back and forth was going to end up pretty exhausting!
The initial plan was to head up on Friday afternoon so that we were ready for Saturday mornings competing. However mid week we got ride times, and I found out that Axels was competing Saturday evening, like 7.30 & 8.30pm! After I got over the initial shock of such late rides, I chatted with Sara and we decided we would head up Saturday morning instead, her first student wasn't riding until around 10:30am so we had plenty of time to get up there before she had to coach.
It was my first experience of Axel going in the trailer alone and he was as always, good as gold. We loaded the huge amounts of luggage: rolling tack box, chairs, boots, saddles, overnight bags, snacks, fans, hay, feed, water buckets and so forth and set off. Sara was driving and we had borrowed a friends trailer for the weekend which is gorgeous so he had good digs to travel in. The journey was fine, no traffic really and we arrived at the Boulder County Fairgrounds in good time. Sara left to coach and I settled Axel into his stall and setup my stuff in the tack stall. By this time it was already close on 90f (32c) and getting hotter, Axel had got quite sweaty on the ride there so I gave him time to dry off before setting up a fan for him in his stall area and wandered over to the arena to watch Lynn compete on her paint horse Nina.
I had to giggle when I got to the dressage arena as there was a goat show going on right next to it, some of the horses faces were hilarious as they stared at the shouting and bleating goats next to them! Lynn had a good warm up and ride on Nina (once she realized that the goat apocalypse wasn't going to hurt her). Next up was Emma with her gorgeous mare Ira, they were there to try to get their first level qualifying scores and she went in and rode a sound test. Ira was pretty pumped as between the goats and the rodeo stands and chutes the arena was really very spooky, but she rode brilliantly and got her qualifying scores, it was so hot by then- verging on 100f (38c) that Emma decided to pull Ira out of her second test, she had her scores now so didn't really need it anyway! By early afternoon I had sunburnt the back of my legs and was hot, sweaty and tired already and hadn't even done my first ride yet, but we were having a great time regardless. We watched some tests, hand walked the horses up to the arena and to see the goats, chatted and window shopped for horse gear.
Finally it was time to get Axel ready, I wanted to try a different braid on him instead of the running/ french braid for long manes so set about doing plaiting. This braid requires you to plait about a finger length down the mane, band it off and then thread the remaining unplaited hair up through that braid where it gets swept across and plaited into the next braid. I thought I had given myself enough time but with it being a different and more complicated version I was merrily pottering around when we realised I had to get on pretty soon. It was a really fast change for me into my competition clothes and a fast walk up to the arena.
Finally, show time baby! I hopped on and walked Axel into the arena, well I say walked, at this point he got a little excited and kinda jogged into the arena. I was hoping to walk him for a while but as he was a little pumped I let him trot around trying to loosen up his body. We knew we didn't have long for warmup. Of course, right then the showground came out with the tractors to groom the arenas. They asked us to clear out both warmup areas and stand the horses in a small pen area, they actually all behaved really well and stood fine but I know some people found this really stressful. By the time we actually got out, they were almost ready for us. I had been given enough time though to give him a good canter but he still felt a little pumped! I loved the hot Axel though, he still feels super safe as is still trying hard to listen and he felt fantastic. Both tests we rode that first evening he put his all into and he was forward but listening still, we got some solid scores that counted towards our RMDS and USDF champs, as did Lynn on her horse Sheila. I had plenty of room for improvement on things like my geometry/ accuracy and improving Axels freewalk and stretchy trot circle.
My favorite part of the day had to be during bit check. After we came out of our first test we headed into bit check area. They asked me to remove the fly veil (bonnet) so they could check underneath it, I went to reach over to pull it off and they stopped me. The stewards said there had been too many incidents with horses freaking out during this time and that I had to dismount to take it off. I swear Axle understood this whole conversation as about five seconds later whilst they were checking his bit, he puts his head down, gives a huge shake and the whole bridle, including the aforementioned fly veil comes right off over his head, he is left standing there with just the bit in his mouth which he eventually spits out leaving me sitting up on him with just the reins and the bridle dangling on the floor by his feet, the volunteers were getting worried but I know Axel, so I giggled, calmly hopped off and we popped his bridle back on- no harm no foul!
Anyhow, on the Saturday evening we left the show at about 9:15pm and I had booked both Sara and I into a nice hotel just four minutes drive away. We were both exhausted so had a very chilled and quick evening of dinner from Sprouts (grocery store) and an early night (after a shower- it was a long hot day yuck)!
Sunday, we headed up early to feed and check the horses then went back to the hotel to demolish the breakfast and guzzle rather a lot of coffee! Lynn rode really well again and got her qualifying scores for second level on Nina. As we had plenty of time in the morning, we stopped by the goat show to check it out, we took the opportunity to get some photos with the baby goats and met a lovely lady called Ashton from 3KS Ranch. She let me bottle feed her beautiful baby goat Lacey and Sara fed another of the babies. I think this might have been the highlight of our weekend!
By the time the training level tests came around it was the end of the day again. The goat show was packing up, horses being loaded for the rides home and a general feeling of being done. The distractions for the training level horses were pretty high by now and it didn't make for the easiest rides for people. I warmed up Axel and he felt a little tricky. Quite tight and tense and absolutely exhausted. We went in and rode our test regardless, it felt pretty bad as he just wasn't off my aids but we struggled through and managed to complete the test, I didn't ride as well as I could in the test as was worrying he wasn't quite right. I came out and Sara gave me a good pep talk (aka a swift kick in the arse) and we chilled for a while before getting ready for our next test which was Training 3 and a qualifying test. Instead of a full warm up we just did a few minutes of trot, getting him through and forward. Off we went into our last ride for the weekend and dug deep. Axel was definitely tired but as I gave it what I could, as did my sweet boy and although the quality wasn't as good as the previous day we managed to pull off another qualifying score for the Championships! I was so incredibly proud of him, he gives me so much and I really feel he always tries his best for me.
Finally done, we packed and loaded up and set off for home, finally arriving back late at night. Overall we really improved on our previous performance, had no incorrect canter leads in the ring and really enjoyed the show!
Over the next few months before we go to the Championships we have some key areas we need to work on. This show was wonderful in really helping Sara and I to look at my biggest weaknesses and what we most need to focus on in this time.
As always, Axel behaved beautifully, he loads and travels brilliantly, hacks around the arenas, eats and drinks well and stands for braiding. He is starting to turn into a really fun competition horse and is understanding what his job is, instead of rocking up expecting to trail ride teehee! He waits for his turn so well, mugging the volunteers for treats and playing with empty cups and bottles. I love his huge character!
The initial plan was to head up on Friday afternoon so that we were ready for Saturday mornings competing. However mid week we got ride times, and I found out that Axels was competing Saturday evening, like 7.30 & 8.30pm! After I got over the initial shock of such late rides, I chatted with Sara and we decided we would head up Saturday morning instead, her first student wasn't riding until around 10:30am so we had plenty of time to get up there before she had to coach.
It was my first experience of Axel going in the trailer alone and he was as always, good as gold. We loaded the huge amounts of luggage: rolling tack box, chairs, boots, saddles, overnight bags, snacks, fans, hay, feed, water buckets and so forth and set off. Sara was driving and we had borrowed a friends trailer for the weekend which is gorgeous so he had good digs to travel in. The journey was fine, no traffic really and we arrived at the Boulder County Fairgrounds in good time. Sara left to coach and I settled Axel into his stall and setup my stuff in the tack stall. By this time it was already close on 90f (32c) and getting hotter, Axel had got quite sweaty on the ride there so I gave him time to dry off before setting up a fan for him in his stall area and wandered over to the arena to watch Lynn compete on her paint horse Nina.
I had to giggle when I got to the dressage arena as there was a goat show going on right next to it, some of the horses faces were hilarious as they stared at the shouting and bleating goats next to them! Lynn had a good warm up and ride on Nina (once she realized that the goat apocalypse wasn't going to hurt her). Next up was Emma with her gorgeous mare Ira, they were there to try to get their first level qualifying scores and she went in and rode a sound test. Ira was pretty pumped as between the goats and the rodeo stands and chutes the arena was really very spooky, but she rode brilliantly and got her qualifying scores, it was so hot by then- verging on 100f (38c) that Emma decided to pull Ira out of her second test, she had her scores now so didn't really need it anyway! By early afternoon I had sunburnt the back of my legs and was hot, sweaty and tired already and hadn't even done my first ride yet, but we were having a great time regardless. We watched some tests, hand walked the horses up to the arena and to see the goats, chatted and window shopped for horse gear.
Finally it was time to get Axel ready, I wanted to try a different braid on him instead of the running/ french braid for long manes so set about doing plaiting. This braid requires you to plait about a finger length down the mane, band it off and then thread the remaining unplaited hair up through that braid where it gets swept across and plaited into the next braid. I thought I had given myself enough time but with it being a different and more complicated version I was merrily pottering around when we realised I had to get on pretty soon. It was a really fast change for me into my competition clothes and a fast walk up to the arena.
Finally, show time baby! I hopped on and walked Axel into the arena, well I say walked, at this point he got a little excited and kinda jogged into the arena. I was hoping to walk him for a while but as he was a little pumped I let him trot around trying to loosen up his body. We knew we didn't have long for warmup. Of course, right then the showground came out with the tractors to groom the arenas. They asked us to clear out both warmup areas and stand the horses in a small pen area, they actually all behaved really well and stood fine but I know some people found this really stressful. By the time we actually got out, they were almost ready for us. I had been given enough time though to give him a good canter but he still felt a little pumped! I loved the hot Axel though, he still feels super safe as is still trying hard to listen and he felt fantastic. Both tests we rode that first evening he put his all into and he was forward but listening still, we got some solid scores that counted towards our RMDS and USDF champs, as did Lynn on her horse Sheila. I had plenty of room for improvement on things like my geometry/ accuracy and improving Axels freewalk and stretchy trot circle.
My favorite part of the day had to be during bit check. After we came out of our first test we headed into bit check area. They asked me to remove the fly veil (bonnet) so they could check underneath it, I went to reach over to pull it off and they stopped me. The stewards said there had been too many incidents with horses freaking out during this time and that I had to dismount to take it off. I swear Axle understood this whole conversation as about five seconds later whilst they were checking his bit, he puts his head down, gives a huge shake and the whole bridle, including the aforementioned fly veil comes right off over his head, he is left standing there with just the bit in his mouth which he eventually spits out leaving me sitting up on him with just the reins and the bridle dangling on the floor by his feet, the volunteers were getting worried but I know Axel, so I giggled, calmly hopped off and we popped his bridle back on- no harm no foul!
Anyhow, on the Saturday evening we left the show at about 9:15pm and I had booked both Sara and I into a nice hotel just four minutes drive away. We were both exhausted so had a very chilled and quick evening of dinner from Sprouts (grocery store) and an early night (after a shower- it was a long hot day yuck)!
Sunday, we headed up early to feed and check the horses then went back to the hotel to demolish the breakfast and guzzle rather a lot of coffee! Lynn rode really well again and got her qualifying scores for second level on Nina. As we had plenty of time in the morning, we stopped by the goat show to check it out, we took the opportunity to get some photos with the baby goats and met a lovely lady called Ashton from 3KS Ranch. She let me bottle feed her beautiful baby goat Lacey and Sara fed another of the babies. I think this might have been the highlight of our weekend!
By the time the training level tests came around it was the end of the day again. The goat show was packing up, horses being loaded for the rides home and a general feeling of being done. The distractions for the training level horses were pretty high by now and it didn't make for the easiest rides for people. I warmed up Axel and he felt a little tricky. Quite tight and tense and absolutely exhausted. We went in and rode our test regardless, it felt pretty bad as he just wasn't off my aids but we struggled through and managed to complete the test, I didn't ride as well as I could in the test as was worrying he wasn't quite right. I came out and Sara gave me a good pep talk (aka a swift kick in the arse) and we chilled for a while before getting ready for our next test which was Training 3 and a qualifying test. Instead of a full warm up we just did a few minutes of trot, getting him through and forward. Off we went into our last ride for the weekend and dug deep. Axel was definitely tired but as I gave it what I could, as did my sweet boy and although the quality wasn't as good as the previous day we managed to pull off another qualifying score for the Championships! I was so incredibly proud of him, he gives me so much and I really feel he always tries his best for me.
Finally done, we packed and loaded up and set off for home, finally arriving back late at night. Overall we really improved on our previous performance, had no incorrect canter leads in the ring and really enjoyed the show!
Over the next few months before we go to the Championships we have some key areas we need to work on. This show was wonderful in really helping Sara and I to look at my biggest weaknesses and what we most need to focus on in this time.
As always, Axel behaved beautifully, he loads and travels brilliantly, hacks around the arenas, eats and drinks well and stands for braiding. He is starting to turn into a really fun competition horse and is understanding what his job is, instead of rocking up expecting to trail ride teehee! He waits for his turn so well, mugging the volunteers for treats and playing with empty cups and bottles. I love his huge character!
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| Stunning photo from Kathleen Bryan @ Yourhorses.photography.com |
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