Queeny Park Mini-Event - Full Recap

The long-overdue play-by-play begins now.  There are professional photos available in the world but I am too broke to justify buying them.  They can be viewed here if you care to see them.

Imposter OTTB bonnet - photo credit to Barn Friend EC's daughter

It was a grey and mildly chilly day.  Barn BFF E and I arrived at the barn around 5:30 am to help feed the horses (we have around 50 head right now) and load the second round of trailers - my barn had 14 people doing the mini event.  Our plan was to hit the road by 7, and we magically pulled out of the driveway by 7:15; the only hiccup was one mare deciding that trailers are ABSOLUTELY EVIL and refusing to load for about 20 minutes before we finally convinced her that she wasn't going to die upon entering the scary metal death contraption.  

We arrived at the venue - Queeny Park - pretty much exactly on time, around 9.  Several of our riders had left earlier and were finishing up their dressage rides as we were pulling in.  We unloaded the trailers without incident, and I had about an hour to get my grey horse looking grey and get changed into my dressage gear.

Can you see the manure stains?

Trainer K had provided each of us with incredibly detailed spreadsheets showing what times we needed to tack, relocate, and school before our dressage and stadium ride times; from stadium, I think that just about everyone was scheduled to immediately head to the start box for cross country.

Dressage

I went into dressage hoping to get a score of 38.  I don't know why, it's just a random number that I decided on because I thought that I should have a goal.  Sherlock and I were doing BN Test A.  I had the test memorized, but I was a little nervous going in because my horse was a little...anxious.  Our warm-up had me wanting to yell at every passerby "He's not usually like this ever, I swear!" because he seemed to think that he really needed  to just run around and spook at things.  Once we entered the dressage [court? ring? what is the technical term here?], he calmed down.  We got a 'tense' comment on our track down the centerline, but that was the only time it appeared.

The test went really smoothly up until our second canter circle, where my lunk of a steed tripped on the uneven ground, broke to the trot, and then picked up the wrong lead because my brain froze and I forgot how to set him up properly.  Major. Panic. Moment.  However, Trainer K told me that with dressage, the footing is always a questionable factor when it's in the grass, and that we did a really good job - that I used my space really well and that I kept him very straight.  We ended up with a 41.1, which I was more than okay with, and tied for 4th place.  Judge's comments mostly consisted of 'needs more contact.' Which is totally fair, but also Sherlock doesn't really do contact and holding his face leads to dramatic head flinging.  End comment: 'Good luck!' -_-

Stadium

I had roughly an hour between Dressage and Stadium.  That hour was spent making sure Sherlock got plenty of grass and water, and that I got changed, and that I knew my course.

Also trying to keep his bonnet on...

Notice - because this is important later - that I was learning my Stadium course.  Not my cross country course.

OM NOM GRASS

We headed up the trails to Stadium almost exactly on time.  The warm-up was similar to the one for dressage - very fast, slightly out of control, and mildly panicked.  I was expecting it more this time, though, so it wasn't as startling, and I rode it a lot better.  He jumped all of the things quite well, and the course wasn't terribly difficult, so I rode into the ring feeling pretty confident that we'd come out fine.  

photo credit: Sherlock's owner

This Titanic proved all us doubters wrong with lots of easy tight turns.  We didn't pull any rails, but we did have one refusal - I got totally lost for .5 seconds, found my next jump, aimed to slice it, and sliced the second jump in the line right out.  Oops.  Turned around and we popped right back over it, no questions asked.  I came off the course still feeling great about where we were at.  And slightly idiotic for getting lost on such an easy course!

Cross Country

We immediately headed to the cross country startbox.  I literally knew maybe the first 3 jumps of my course and was basically counting on luck and possibly magic to help me navigate it.  By some quirk of time, Barn BFF E and her mare Emma were there waiting to go.  We chatted for about 30 seconds, she tried to fill me in on the order of the jumps, we wished each other luck, and then they took off.  And my horse's brain promptly exploded.

This horse is a solid 2' packer that carries his little girl quietly around hunter courses all day at his 'usual' shows.  But when E and Emma left us standing near the startbox alone, he completely lost his shit.  There was bolting.  There was spinning.  There was a moment where I am 95% sure that his front feet left the ground.  I was freaked out because while we all expected ~some~ sort of reaction to occur when Sherlock was by himself in a field, no one had really predicted this level of meltdown.  I was talking to him, cajoling him, walking in tiny circles, in my head thinking 'I can't do this.  I can't do this.  I need to scratch.  He's going to hurt himself or me.' And then, in the back of my mind, I heard Trainer K's oft-repeated phrase for those of us that show horses belonging to other people - "You're not just riding this horse for you.  You're training him for [owner]."

I took deep breaths.  The countdown started.  The two startbox officials had been encouraging me the whole time, and they didn't stop.  I made my decision.  Fuck the time. Fuck the course.  If Sherlock's little girl ever wants to try out eventing (which she does), she needs her horse to be ready.  And that means that he has to be able to do cross country.  And that he cannot, under any circumstances, learn that it is okay for him to gallop out of the start box like a maniac and tear around a cross country course with no concern for anyone's safety.  So we walked through the start box, officials cheering us on and wishing us luck as we went. And we trotted to the first jump.  And to the next jump, and so on.  He tried to bolt after every fence, and I brought him back every time.  I talked constantly.  I made myself relax.  I praised him for being brave for each and every 'scary' starter fence that he cleared, then chided him for not slowing down each time he ran after the jumps.  

And then, I got completely and utterly lost.  The course was designed so that you could either go through the water (jump 6) straight to jump 7, or jump a log (also jump 6) and circle back around to find jump 7.  I completely forgot this.  We trotted in about 50 different directions trying to find jump 7 after jumping the jump that was jump 6.  An official offered to tell me where it was, if I didn't mind being eliminated.  Me: Hell no, I'll find it eventually.  And I did.  And somehow during that period of trot-searching, Sherlock's brain got reset.  He broke into a canter after jump 7, and didn't try to recklessly gallop off.  We cantered the rest of the course perfectly, speeding up and slowing down as needed, and he didn't look at or pause at a single jump.  It was beautiful - the ride I'd wanted all along.  I was so, so proud of him.  And also, proud of myself.

Conclusions

Obviously the trotting/getting lost combo led to some major time penalties.  Um.  106?  BUT.  We finished 8th out of 9, and got a pretty brown ribbon, and I felt AMAZING about how the entire day went.  Recapping with Trainer K made me feel even better about my decision to trot cross country.  I think that she was proud of me - both for not chickening out, and for not letting Sherlock learn to be a psychopath when alone on an xc course.  Just about everyone from the barn ended up ribboning, and Barn BFF E even won her (actually our) division on her dressage score! 

Overall, this was an amazing experience.  Despite the mishaps, I feel incredible about everything that happened, and I absolutely CANNOT wait until next show season, when I can start going to horse trials (hopefully, if I can save up enough money to afford them).  Even if Leo is ready, I think that I would like to take Sherlock to one.  

10/10 would show again.