March Show on Oliver
This was from our show a few weeks ago. Oliver was WILD. I know he doesn't really look it in the video, but trust me he was so insane. There was a cold snap right before this show and then it got really windy and he just became like a wild stallion for the weekend. The lines at these shows already ride shorter than just about any other show and Oliver's stride is bigger than average, so on a good day, I'm whoa-ing every stride to make the numbers. So when you add in the insane energy and wildness that he had, I was basically ripping on his face every stride of every line trying not to chip out. But we were still deep quite a bit. At least we didn't pop chip anything though! So obviously we didn't do well in our Hunter classes (though we did manage a second in one o/f round somehow).
But because he was being so insane, he forced me to ride tall and tight so I won both of my equitation classes and was champion of the division!
I also showed Carter in the jumpers as well. But my mom got to the show late and didn't get video. We were 4th and 5th because we were slow. I did that as a practice for our IHSA show/regionals which were the following weekend, so we focused on being safe and effective which we were!
I had IHSA regionals two weeks ago. I went for advanced w/t/c. I rode better than I probably have in a long time. I got called back in the top 6 out of 22 riders. During the test, I rode really well, and in the lineup I thought I had qualified for Zones, which is the next big show after regionals. To qualify you need a first or second but I really was feeling like I rocked that class. I ended up getting 5th. Which was rough but I figured that I just wasn't good enough. As I went back over to my team I was already in tears because that marked the end of an absolutely INCREDIBLE IHSA experience for me. I'm graduating college this summer so my time on the college team had come to an end. When I got back over to my team they were all super supportive and told me that they thought I actually deserved better than what I got. They all told me they had me 2nd out of everyone in my class. My trainer couldn't tell me why I did well and neither could the Judge. But hey, subjectivity can kill this sport sometimes. It absolutely sucks but it comes with the territory. That was a pretty devastating moment for me, but I rode so well, and I had such an incredible year and a half with that team. My only regret is that I didn't join the team sooner.
Anyway, I'm in the middle of figuring out some stuff with my riding. We're trying to figure out how to get me to move into the Adult division but that may involve leasing another horse. We're working on it, for now though, I'll keep it going in the pre-adult's with Oliver! We don't have another show til May but I'll try to get a lesson filmed soon!