AARC Results

Well it was really bad and then good. (I blame the really bad on not getting enough well wishing comments on the last post) J/K

The 1st go-round for the derby was on Thursday. I was totally stressed out. My stomach was in knots and I was crazy nervous. I didn't eat the entire day. This is totally not how I was 10 years ago when i was showing all the time. I never used to get nervious! We had had to get up at 1:30am to ride because there was hardly any warm-up space and tons of horses (we saw license plates on the horse trailers in the parking lot from Tennessee, New York, Montana, Canada, and even Florida). And they were having problems with the PA system so it could not be heard from the barn area or the warm-up area. So I got on Mr. Breezy thinking that I had 5 horses before me. WRONG! I made one trot lap and one lope lap and then everyone was shouting my name at the back gate. I yelled to Rick across the warm-up pen that I was in and headed toward the in-gate. I still had my noseband on so I had to look toward a group of people standing there to ask them to take it off. Nonother than Pete Kyle ended up taking it off for me(he was really nice by the way). And in I went. No deep breath, no warm-up, and no time to get my head right. I walked to the center giving myself a speech about how much "fun" this is. I got to the center and Breezy's head immediately shot in the air. I lifted my hand and he dropped it back down where it belonged. Not wanting to start a yo-yo head demonstration I asked for the left turn right away. Instead of rocking back into the turn Breezy rocked forward, a minor issue. But, instead of just rocking myself back and pushing harder with the spur I panicked and just jabbed him with the right spur. He did a little pitch back and forth and then went down into the turn. It was like that for the rest of the run. Every time I should have just given him a reminder I totally over did it. I even got him to kick out at my leg in the lead change. When I watched the video it was like it wasn't even me riding. I was so quick with my hand and really heavy with my leg. Rick and I had discussed in detail what I should do while I was in there showing and I did everything! I just did it 10 times harder then I should have!!! I ended up walking out of the pen with a 189 (5 judges, with the high and low tossed out). Not good. It took a 210 to qualify for the Limited Non-Pro Derby. I was really mad at myself and wasn't sure if this was the new Kristin or if I was just too freaked out with the never showing the horse before, not showing at all for over 5 years, starting off with one of the biggest shows of the year, and not having any warm-up time. I was hoping it was the later, but feeling very unsure. In the show pen is where I used to shine most. I used to ride better in the show pen!!! What was happening?!?!?!?

I went to bed Thursday night at 8:00pm. At 10:17pm I woke up and couldn't think of anything, but lead changes. I tried to change the topic in my mind and go back to sleep, I thought...puppies, PJ, ice cream, even about work, and just kept coming back to lead changes. So at 1:30am it was time to meet Rick and ride Breezy. The ride went super well and I was feeling a little better. Rick let me change leads in the center, something we are never allowed to practice and I did it perfectly. Breezy did the rock forward in the turn thing again and I just balanced him with my hand and push with my leg and he went right into the turn no problem. So back to bed at 4:30am and back up at 6:30am.

Friday I was 7th in the draw of 109 horses in the non-pro ancillary classes, but there were 7 adds so I was really 14th. I was only entered in the Limited Non-Pro and just wanted a smooth ride to build back some confidence. I decided to change my top since I really didn't want the judges to be reminded of the prior day’s disaster. I got on with plenty of time to warm-up. Half way thru the warm-up time I felt fine. The knotted stomach was gone and I was having fun. The warm-up went perfectly and I loped into the pen with mind in the right spot. It was pattern 7 so I ran him in, pushed him up on the end and got a big stop. I didn't jerk him once as I had done so many times the day before, but I didn't exactly trust him and he hung his month on the amply tight reins; so I missed out on any bonus points. The next two stops I just didn't ride him hard enough and really only pony loped him into the stops not really giving him enough momentum to stop well. He tried though. I just really wanted a smooth easy ride and that is exactly what I was getting. I was being soft and easy and so was Breezy. After the 3rd stop I backed him to center and started my right turn. It was solid. Not dazzling, but solid. Then to the left. This one was much faster and bordering on dazzling until I asked him to stop at 4 and had to just kind of walk the last 2 steps to make it 4 and 1/4. Opps. Got some big penalties there. Circles were smooth and easy. Didn't push him real hard, but he came back well to the small slow both directions. Still not giving any slack in the reins, but not being too quick with my hand either. And I even got the lead changes perfectly both times. I ran him around the end and drove him up well into the last stop and even got plused by 2 of the 3 judges for the stop. YEAH. I had ridden smart and Breezy had done exactly what I told him to. We had accomplished exactly what we had set out to do and it was FUN! We ended up scoring a 204 and tieing (with my good friend Wendy) for 18th place out of 61 horses! Not bad. And there is still tons of room for improvement. I know that I could have easily pushed him up more in the run downs and got plused on the stops and of course not forgotten the extra 1/4 turn.

So we are going to go to Del Mar the weekend after Easter to school. I am going to show one of the days and try to really trust him. Using the loose rein I use at home and running down into the stops. If he makes a mistake I will just fix it and not worry about it, but be able to find my limits. Then the next weekend is the Hollywood Charity show and I will enter the non-pro derby there and try to go for the gold.

Well, believe it or not that is actually the short version of the story. But, bottom line I had a great time and feel really good about future shows. A definite learning experience.

Below are a couple pics, but the pics from the derby day (Thursday) are on my father-in-laws camera so I probably won't get any of those until next week.

Following Mom & Wendy on the way to Las Vegas


Doing large-fast circles to the right on Friday in the Limited Non-Pro



Last stop that we got bonus points for from 2 or the 3 judges


All done...walking out the gate


Back at Breezy's stall in the barn area


Pic from Thursday's disaster

Rick & I before showing on Thursday

Me with the Fam after showing on Thursday