The trouble with horses is that they are horses. They do not care about 20 meter canter circles, focusing when they would rather be cavorting with handsome stallions, or converting nervous energy into half halts. They cannot separate the frantic canter asked for when the poor adult amateur has to rush to a vendor to buy a stock tie because the trainer left it at the trailer from the quiet and disciplined canter asked for in the dressage court. Horses really can be quite unreasonable in this fashion.
I wouldn't say our first show experience was a good one, but I enjoyed it, and, I believe, so did Nic. La Resistance was on Orange Alert on Saturday, but I think it was by default. Nic was very interested in our surroundings, and the silly dressage test got in the way of her Magellanic inclinations. Such is the path to Enlightenment.
Our scores were lower than I would have liked them to be, but there were circumstances that contributed to the lower scores. In brief, we ended up only getting what amounted to a 20 minute warm up. Nic requires 45 minutes before she is able to focus.What became obvious was our canter and canter transitions need work. One can see this reflected in our scores. Because Nic was, shall we say, "energetic," she wasn't stretching through her topline and loosening her back, resulting in a Wild West show. Seeing as how I'm not Wild Bill Cody, but rather a meek dressage enthusiast, this display went unappreciated by our judges and we received "4" on each transition, which lowered our overall score.
The judges used the full spectrum of numbers available to use, and, dear reader, you can see that we did get lots of good scores, like an "8" on our 20 meter trot circle, and a "7" for gait quality. Her gait quality was hampered by yours truly, and by her desire to do anything except be in the dressage ring. This was our first show however, so I'm just happy we stayed in the ring. One can see that we went off course as well; this required us to perform the canter transition and the canter circle again. The first time she picked it up fine and the circle was fine; the 2nd time she picked up the wrong lead and bucked in the upward transition. I really believe we would have gotten a much better score overall had we not gone off course. The "circumstances" to which I have been alluding contributed to the error, although I can really only blame myself because I should have had my wits more about me.
So how did the trailering go? Perfectly fine. There wasn't an issue at all and I backed it up fine as well. Poor trainer white knuckled it a few times, but he tends to do that when I drive regardless.
Special K, a friend, came to watch with her two young 'uns in tow. Special K was tasked with videoing my rides, however, due to said circumstances was unable to do so. That's why there is no video to display with this post. The kids got a kick out of Nic, and I think she enjoyed them too. Little people amuse her, and Special K's younger son in particular is a fugitive from Oz.
I realize I'm being rather nebulous in my description of said "circumstances" but I need to consider the best way to discuss the set of unfortunate happenings before I stick the proverbial foot in my mouth. (Read: I need to cool down about them first.) She who fumes cannot be funny, so the path to hilarity first requires me to dampen my fiery nature.
Unbeknownst to this humble writer, I should have wrapped Nic's legs in standing wraps after unloading her from the trailer back at the barn. She came up yesterday with 2 very swollen back legs. As Trainer was MIA despite several attempts at contact, Mr. Sister became the purveyor of information about how to treat the edemas in Nic's fetlocks. They looked much better today, and she feels pretty bad ass in her wraps, since the cool geldings at the barn wear them all the time.
