During one of my radio chats with Samantha and Laine, at a time when I was struggling with Maggie, Samantha asked me what motivates me to keep going. I responded that it was the thought of my first successful show. When I said this it was cold and dreary out, but I pictured myself on a lovely spring day, proudly clutching a blue ribbon. I knew that if I could get Maggie to the point where I could show her, it would be so much more satisfying, knowing that I had done all the work to get her there. It seemed like a very distant possibility.
With Maggie's first successful off-the-farm trip and her improved performance at home, we decided that it was time for her to get out there and show off. Carolina Horse Park is hosting a series of schooling horse trials (along with combined tests and dressage only) from May through November this year. Since CHP is my "home base" it seemed like the perfect opportunity to introduce Maggie to a show environment. I signed up to ride Intro A and B.
With about 2 weeks to go until the show, it was time to prepare. Unfortunately, it was also time for lots of rain. My barn has a dressage arena, but when it's wet, the footing gets a little yucky. I had actually only ridden Maggie in the dressage arena a couple of times, and it never seemed to go well. One of my biggest concerns was whether Maggie had the steerability to make the turns within the dressage arena (Caution - wide turns!) When I talked about this with my trainer, she reminded me that the primary concern with Maggie's first show would be to give her a positive experience. So, she said, if you have a great, calm test and she happens to step out of the ring and you get eliminated, we can consider that a success. It would be worse to be so concerned about accuracy that Maggie gets tense and has a melt-down. With the ring finally dried out, I was able to get a couple of practices in during the days right before the show.
My plan for the day of the show was to arrive a few hours early and hop on Maggie to hack her around and see how she felt. I was concerned about how she would handle a crowded warm-up (Who isn't terrified of a crazy warm-up ring?!?) Luckily when I took her out to school, there was only one other rider in the very large arena, so I essentially had the place to myself. Maggie started out quick and tense, but well-behaved and trying hard. I trotted her around until she was stretchy and snorty. Despite it being a schooling show, it was definitely a true competitive eventing atmosphere - lots of people and activity, blowing tents, loudspeakers. Maggie took it all in stride, even things that would have scared her at home. There is a great benefit to having a young horse who has already spent time at the track - they've learned how to deal with a lot more than they'll encounter at the typical show.
I took her back to the trailer until our ride times and discovered that she had reopened an old wound on her hind leg that was now bleeding. I was lucky that there were 2 vet students at the trailer next to ours, and they cleaned out the wound really well and watched Maggie jog. She was 100% sound, so they felt it was OK for me to go ahead and ride.
The warm-up ring had filled up a lot, so I ended up just walking Maggie around the outside of the schooling/showing area, with a little trot thrown in. Because of Maggie's perfect behavior, by the time I was ready to go into the ring, my biggest fear was forgetting the tests! But I didn't and Maggie performed beautifully. Our first test was very calm and quiet with some accuracy issues - a wiggly center line (no surprise there), not riding all the way into the corners, and unequal circles. Accuracy is something I know I can fix later, so I was incredibly happy with how it went. I was able to improve the accuracy of our second test, and Maggie really relaxed and showed off her trot (an 8 on gaits? at our first show? I'll take it!) Team Maggie was very happy with her first show experience! And the judges were too, because we got a 36.8 and a 33.1!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28kLcpTgiXs&feature=player_detailpage
(Intro Test A - Maggie's show-ring debut)
http://www.hightimephotos.com/CarolinaHorsePark/5-12-13-May-Starter-Horse/406-Unknown-Rider/29411893_fMmzZm#!i=2511212849&k=CHzrgB5
(check out the photos from the show - and please support High Time Photos - they sponsor my trainer!)
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