SHN 2009 - Saturday

Saturday at the horse show was going to be interesting. Albert was supposed to do First Level Amateur to ride at 10:22 and my trainer was supposed to ride Skyy in Training Level Open at 11:38. That meant that she would have to school me and then get right on Skyy to get him ready for his class. It would be close but I'd be able to ride Albert and then get back in time to watch her ride. It would hopefully all work out.

So we got Bert ready and headed down to the warm-up. I checked in with the gate keeper, and she said, "Number 197? I don't have you riding at 10:22. In fact, I don't have you in the class at all." I said "I'm sure he's in this class. The ride time sheets that are posted on the dressage office wall have him in the 10:22 slot." So she radioed up to the dressage office and they said that he was pulled from the class that morning because he was not qualified.

Here is what happened. When we got to the show to check in on Monday, they had Albert qualified for his Open classes but not his Amateur classes. They missed the fact that I am an Amateur, so they said he wasn't qualified. They looked up my Amatuer card, and cleared him for the Amateur classes. I rode in the Training Level Amatuer class without an issue. Evidently they didn't communicate to the dressage office that First level Amatuer was okay too.

They said I could ride in the last slot of the class at 11:38, but it would be a provisional ride until they could verify that he was qualified with the show office. This was the exact same time as Skyy's ride. Ugh. That would mean that my trainer and I would be warming up and riding at the same time. Not the best scenario but at least they has a slot for me in the class.

Since I wanted to make sure that everyone was on the same page, I handed Albert to Susan and asked her to take him back to the barn while I went to the horse show office. I was none too pleased at this point because the horse was all tacked and ready to warm up and then had to get taken back to the barn. I was also completely dressed and it was raining lightly so I was wet. The show office had heard that I was coming and assured me that he was qualified. I asked the office worker if she could radio the dressage office while I was there to make sure that they knew that he was okay for the class. She made a face and said she would be sure that they knew about it, giving me the vibe that she didn't want to do it right now and I didn't need to be telling her what to do. So I thanked her and I marched right over to the dressage show office.

I got to the dressage show office and told them who I was. They said they had just gotten off of the radio with the show office and that it was all worked out. They assured me that it would be an official ride and not a provisional ride. I thanked them and went back to the barn to wait.

When I got there Susan said that her horse was none too happy. He was all ready to work and then was taken back to the barn, so he was pissed. I gave him an apple and some pats and we had a conversation about the test later. He didn't get it but he didn't seem upset either.

So my trainer and I got ready together and walked up to the warm up ring together. We rode together and she helped me out. Albert had a few issues in the last test, but I was so rattled from the sound bucking off that Skyy had given me that I wasn't riding effectively. So in the warm up I decided that I was going to get it together and make Albert work to his full potential. I tightened up his halts, got more jump in the canter, and got on his case when he got distracted. By the time we were ready to go in he was on the ball. I had seen my trainer with Skyy and he looked fantastic too.

Skyy was called up to the arena first, so my trainer went up. I stayed down in the warm up for a few minutes, and then I went up to watch her test. They weren't quite ready for me in my arena, but I would be going up soon. We were showing in the arenas right next to each other.

My trainer had a fabulous test! There was no bucking or fooling around. Skyy redeemed himself!

Just was she finished her test they were ready for me in my arena. We went around the outside of the arena and Albert saw the photographer. Now the day before he had spooked at the photographer and I thought it was a fluke, but today he also was spooking at him. I tried to refocus him but he really didn't like the look or sound of the camera, even though it was very quiet. I almost asked the photographer not to take photos, but I thought it would be okay and just went on with my ride.

We had one little mess up, because he was scared of the photographer again, but other than that it was a fantastic test.

The results? Skyy got a 63.6% and went Top Ten! He was 7th out of 40. Also Albert got a 68.6% and also went Top Ten! He was 5th (I think) out of 20.

After the awards ceremony my trainer and I got some photos taken together. Skyy's owner took some of us together too. We also went around the arena side by side and the photographer got some fantastic shots of the two horses trotting together. It was so much fun!

I'm having issues with posting the videos, so I'll get those up after I work out the bugs. Also I have other pictures to post of both horses.

In the end the show was a lot of fun. There were two horses, two riders, six classes, three Top Ten awards, and one bucking off. Plus a whole lot of work, and a lot more fun.



Look for us in 2011. We'll be there.