Another Great Show

This weekend was the CRHA Winter Madness Reining Show at the LA Equestrian Center.

I got there Thursday to help Johnette get the tack rooms set up and to get another ride in on my horse. We had some problems in our run downs, but otherwise he was good.

Friday was the 1st day of the show and Johnette showed Breezy to get him all schooled up for me. Breezy wasn't very good for her so we figured she probably got a pretty good school in.

Saturday he was fantastic for me. We scored a 71 plusing all our stops and getting a -1/2 on one of your spins. And there were a couple scratches before us so we only had about 10 minutes to get warmed up before having to show. We were all very happy with the go, but one problem....I forgot to put my number on. Opps. That meant disqualification in the AQHA classes (so no points toward getting qualified for the World Show). Got a 1st and several 2nds in other classes though.

Sunday Breezy was not as cooperative. It was raining and the there was mud everywhere so there wasn't much space to ride and get Breezy tired (a problem especially since he didn't get much work the day before). I loped dozens of tiny circles in the little bit of space I could find, but once I got in there and started my circles I knew I was going to be in trouble. His head went up and he was off to the races in the big-fast. I tugged on the reins as my back was to the judge and got him to back off a bit. But, just when he would feel like he was relaxing and I would start to relax he would tense up and bolt again. Surprisingly he did come back to the small slow well. But, steering was an issue. But, I managed to get him around. Felt like I just 'surviving' rather then 'showing' the whole time. As I walked out of the show area I braced myself for a low score, but they announced a 71 1/2!!! I'll be interested to see how it look on video since the judge obviously didn't think it looked as bad as it felt to me. When I later looked at how the judge scored us we got plus 1/2's on 3 stops and 0's on everything else (including our turns!). It felt really good. Even though my horse wasn't doing his best I was still able to pull together a good pattern. Johnette said I did well showing what I had and that I rode really well both days of the show. Ended up winning all my classes, but the AQHA class (was tied with barn mates Maria & Harry, but the judge decided to give the win to her for whatever reason). So that's another 1/2 point toward the 16 total that I need.

Feels good to start seeing some consistancy. That's 71 or better the last 3 time's I've showed!!! If I'm not careful I might start gaining some confience at this rate.

Detailed results from the show are on my myspace blog .

BTW...a big thanks to Nick, Vera & Dave for driving all the way out there to cheer us on!