Well, my goodness. Where to begin? I guess from the beginning!!:)
Soooo ... I had PLANNED the week off for Tiki while we were in Orlando. Did NOT plan for him to have the entire past week off since I had planned for one of my kids to show him in his 3' debut. But, an entire week of rain and miserable weather prevented me from sitting on him at ALL prior to this Saturday. I knew my kid that was showing him was planning to lesson on him Saturday, and I KNEW he would take a bit to settle in, so I gave one of my other kids a lesson on him first, lol. I asked her if he felt like a powder keg, and she said, "Yes!". She was half halting with her outside rein so hard, he was literally trotting sideways. The canter got a *little* forward, but not too horrible. This kid also tends to light a horse up a little bit, so considering that little tidbit, it definitely wasn't bad. Had her trot into a cavaletti, and I could see a switch flip in his brain. He got much quieter. Focused on the jumps, the girl looked great, and they ended on a good note.
He had about 15 minutes to chill, and then his 'show child' showed up to ride. We were confined to the covered, sadly, so he wasn't even going to get to school the course due to the sopping footing. Janet was trying to let it dry as much as possible before Sunday. His flat work looked GOOD. His trot was pretty nice. His canter seemed a little bouncy, but not bad. She jumped him around a 2'6 course of cavs and verticals (just like at home). Bumped everything up to 3'. He was good. Bumped up 2 verticals to 3'3. The cavs were as high as they could get at 3'. He was steady and beautiful. Asked her if she wanted to try 3'6, and she said "YEAH", ha ha. So, put up a vertical to 3'6, and she cantered up to it from a long approach. He was absolutely freaking perfect. Looked AMAZING over it. Stopped there and put him back in the roundpen with hay and water.
Sunday dawned gray and chilly. BTW, don't even know if I've mentioned that this was a PWF schooling show. I had 11 kids showing in it, and Janet and her daughter had a bunch showing in it too. Joyce brought Nicole's young, green baby, Sparky, and also her own mare, Trumpet to debut in the crossrails. Since it was a 3 horse trailer, I also had her throw Audrey on the trailer to make HER show ring debut as well in a hunter under saddle class. I REALLY wanted to show Tiki myself, but since I had so many kids showing, I didn't want to be distracted by worrying about myself. I was going to show Audrey, but in the last class of the day.
All went well, the schoolies were GREAT, and Tiki and Audrey stayed in their stalls all day. Bypassed all the schooling opportunities because I thought we'd have a chance once the jumps went up, but noooo ... so! Tiki went in the ring cold. I had my kid 'warm up' in the 2'6 division, and he was good, but a little bit inconsistent. GOOD considering he hadn't schooled. He was a rockstar in the hack, but no ribbon since he was competing against Janet's fancy pants ponies and green horses.
Then the debut ... 3'! My kid was a titch nervous, but went in there. He. Was. Amazing. Jumped around like a superstar. I have this youtube video of one of the rounds. I *think* it was the one he got a 2nd in. Did I mention he was pretending to be a hunter for the day? He got a SECOND over fences ... against Janet's green fancy pants horses, the A circuit winning Children's Hunters, and the Pony Finals large ponies!!!! SO proud. There were like 10 horses in the division. He got a 4th in the other o/f class. Put him "to bed", and put my super painful tall boots on so I could hop on Audrey and warm her up.
Hmm, scratch that. The show was running VERY late, and people were scratching out like crazy, so it ended up that I had to get on Audrey and go STRAIGHT into the show ring. NO warmup, no schooling, no nothing. We walked away with a 3rd. I was expecting nothing, so I and Audrey's owner were ELATED. She was SO quiet and good. It was a GREAT day. I was SO proud. Loaded them up and took them home, gave them today off, and will ride every day this week because it is supposed to be SUNNY:)
BTW, the pic at the top is after Tiki's 3'6 jump. My iphone can't take pics as quickly as my camera;)
Great job! The video was great. Glad that your pony did so well in the show. Very nice young rider as well I might add, I would kill for heels that deep haha, my tendons are a little stiff lol
ReplyDeleteHe looks GREAT in that video! He looks a lot like my horse, except with a better developed topline!
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