What an exciting day!
It started early with a 6:30am ride in the big indoor arena we that were going to be showing in. It was literally freezing cold, but Breezy seemed totally fine in there and didn't seem to have any worries. It was really crowded with other horses, but we had a good ride.
Several hours later I got back on him, after he had rested and had some breakfast, to warm-up to show. He felt great. However, as soon as I we walked in the big arena all by ourselves he got tense. It must have seemed a lot scarier to him without all the other horses. We under spun on our 1st spin for a 1/2 point penalty. Then we over spun on our 2nd spin for another 1/2 point penalty. Not the start I had hoped for, but Breezy just didn't seem dialed in on me. Started out with our left fast circle and we had no problem with speed. I felt like we were about 50% out of control and I thought he might drop a lead on several different occasions. When I asked him to come into a small slow circle I got nothing and had to resort to using my reins. The circles to the right were very similar. Every time we went past the far end he felt like he was going to leap put of his skin. I had to ride hard, but we managed to get thru our circles penalty free. Felt like his tail might be on fire, but penalty free. Just the stops were left. As soon as we rounded the corner to head to our 1st stop he was off to full speed with little I could do about it. But, when I asked him to stop he through himself into the ground and had a huge stop and rolled back clean. Then 2nd stop was the same story. By the time we got to the approach to the 3rd stop we had some serious momentum behind us, but again pulled off a huge stop. As we completed the pattern I had no idea what to expect from the scoring. I cringed for something low. At this point I knew we weren't going to get our 72, but was feeling good about just surviving. They announced 69 1/2. Not too bad, but definitely not what I had hoped for. Must admit I was disappointed. At that point I just assumed that that score would put us out of the $.
Put my horse away, had some lunch with Johnette and Wendy, and then headed over to the watch the video of our run with Johnette. When I watched the video it didn't look nearly as bad as it felt. The circles to the right actually looked really good and the ones to the left actually looked in control (fast, but in control).
Several hours (and about 40 horses) later I was checking the score board for a friend and noticed that my score was the 2nd highest for all my classes, but one. And in that one I was actually tied for 1st!!! Johnette told me to find out how many horses were left in that one class and if none beat our score then we would need to prepare for a ride off. I was thrilled! How fun would that be to have a ride off for a $1000 class and a bronze!
There were only 4 or 5 left to show so I jotted down their #s and watched them one by one fall short of my 69 1/2. Finally only 3 left. If the next horse in didn't beat the score I would have to go saddle up and start preparing for the ride off in case the last too fell short as well. The suspense was intense. I watched her ride and mentally kept my own score for each of her maneuvers in my head. As she completed her pattern I thought she would get a 70 or so. And sure enough, she got a 70 1/2. So no run off and no bronze. But, I did end up top 3 in all my classes out of a total of 55 horses. Not sure what my winnings will come out too yet, but pretty sure I made money on the day!
Results:
$1000 NRHA Non Pro - 3rd
$1000 NRHA Intermediate Non Pro - 2nd/3rd (tie)
$200 NRHA Limited Non Pro - 3rd
$1000 NRHA Novice Horse Non Pro - 3rd
DRHA Ladies Non Pro Jackpot - 3rd
We checked out my score card and it ended up that we did get a 1/2 point penalty for the over turn and the under turn and then -1/2 point for each turn as well (guess the judge was just not impressed with our turns). Got zeros for our circles and then a +1/2 for all 3 stops.
BTW... the high score of the day....72. If I had achieved the goal of a 72 we would have won or tied to win all our classes!
We are getting there. Tomorrow is another day.....showing in the AQHA Amateur for some more points hopefully. We will be back in the arena that Breezy is comfortable in so hopefully we will be back undercontrol, but still maintain the speed in our circles (ie a 'controlled' fast).
It started early with a 6:30am ride in the big indoor arena we that were going to be showing in. It was literally freezing cold, but Breezy seemed totally fine in there and didn't seem to have any worries. It was really crowded with other horses, but we had a good ride.
Several hours later I got back on him, after he had rested and had some breakfast, to warm-up to show. He felt great. However, as soon as I we walked in the big arena all by ourselves he got tense. It must have seemed a lot scarier to him without all the other horses. We under spun on our 1st spin for a 1/2 point penalty. Then we over spun on our 2nd spin for another 1/2 point penalty. Not the start I had hoped for, but Breezy just didn't seem dialed in on me. Started out with our left fast circle and we had no problem with speed. I felt like we were about 50% out of control and I thought he might drop a lead on several different occasions. When I asked him to come into a small slow circle I got nothing and had to resort to using my reins. The circles to the right were very similar. Every time we went past the far end he felt like he was going to leap put of his skin. I had to ride hard, but we managed to get thru our circles penalty free. Felt like his tail might be on fire, but penalty free. Just the stops were left. As soon as we rounded the corner to head to our 1st stop he was off to full speed with little I could do about it. But, when I asked him to stop he through himself into the ground and had a huge stop and rolled back clean. Then 2nd stop was the same story. By the time we got to the approach to the 3rd stop we had some serious momentum behind us, but again pulled off a huge stop. As we completed the pattern I had no idea what to expect from the scoring. I cringed for something low. At this point I knew we weren't going to get our 72, but was feeling good about just surviving. They announced 69 1/2. Not too bad, but definitely not what I had hoped for. Must admit I was disappointed. At that point I just assumed that that score would put us out of the $.
Put my horse away, had some lunch with Johnette and Wendy, and then headed over to the watch the video of our run with Johnette. When I watched the video it didn't look nearly as bad as it felt. The circles to the right actually looked really good and the ones to the left actually looked in control (fast, but in control).
Several hours (and about 40 horses) later I was checking the score board for a friend and noticed that my score was the 2nd highest for all my classes, but one. And in that one I was actually tied for 1st!!! Johnette told me to find out how many horses were left in that one class and if none beat our score then we would need to prepare for a ride off. I was thrilled! How fun would that be to have a ride off for a $1000 class and a bronze!
There were only 4 or 5 left to show so I jotted down their #s and watched them one by one fall short of my 69 1/2. Finally only 3 left. If the next horse in didn't beat the score I would have to go saddle up and start preparing for the ride off in case the last too fell short as well. The suspense was intense. I watched her ride and mentally kept my own score for each of her maneuvers in my head. As she completed her pattern I thought she would get a 70 or so. And sure enough, she got a 70 1/2. So no run off and no bronze. But, I did end up top 3 in all my classes out of a total of 55 horses. Not sure what my winnings will come out too yet, but pretty sure I made money on the day!
Results:
$1000 NRHA Non Pro - 3rd
$1000 NRHA Intermediate Non Pro - 2nd/3rd (tie)
$200 NRHA Limited Non Pro - 3rd
$1000 NRHA Novice Horse Non Pro - 3rd
DRHA Ladies Non Pro Jackpot - 3rd
We checked out my score card and it ended up that we did get a 1/2 point penalty for the over turn and the under turn and then -1/2 point for each turn as well (guess the judge was just not impressed with our turns). Got zeros for our circles and then a +1/2 for all 3 stops.
BTW... the high score of the day....72. If I had achieved the goal of a 72 we would have won or tied to win all our classes!
We are getting there. Tomorrow is another day.....showing in the AQHA Amateur for some more points hopefully. We will be back in the arena that Breezy is comfortable in so hopefully we will be back undercontrol, but still maintain the speed in our circles (ie a 'controlled' fast).
3 comments:
Cool beans, you did well!
Isn't it funny how sometimes watching your ride is so much better than feeling it? That's the reminder to keep riding, even if you made what felt like a monster mistake, eh?
Now you know that if you keep the control, you have the horse to plus things.... good job, better to come!
Suzi
Congrats on the good ride and strong placements! Even though it wasn't quite what you hoped for it's exciting to see you make progress. Keep it up!
2nd and 3rd are not to be laughed at, you did good! You are working things out. Breezy is still learning and sometimes acting out like a child. Even won some money in more than one class today, very cool. ma
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