Thus, for Christmas, I asked for a horse show that would let us go back to our roots and see how showing indoors worked for him without all the other new and weird things that I do to him. The Raleigh Winter Classic might not be Harrisburg, but I got to arrive the day before the show started and stay through the end, have a stall, and be stabled with a barn with a setup, so it might as well have been Palm Beach for me. Of course I was the first person on the grounds in the morning, and spent the day body clipping, setting my beautiful stall up, putting new fuses in the trailer, etc. Finally, Mr. Trainer shows up, and we had a teary reunion since he really taught me to post the trot properly and I haven't shown with him in ages and ages. By tearful reunion, I of course mean that the ridiculed me for missing a spot on the inside fetlock and showing up too early. Whatever, I know he loves me at least a little bit. We decided to go school in the indoor to see how he reacted to a more standard indoor ring. If he had been concerned about the actual indoor, Mr. Trainer would have ridden him in the 3'3 Performance Hunters, and if he seemed more or less fine but just needing a refresher, I would ride him. Thankfully, Chico was OK with the ring itself, since it was large and of a coliseum style as opposed to the usual indoor ring that a boarding facility would have.
The next two days, I showed Chico myself in the 3'3 Performance Working Hunters, which is now an A rated division. I didn't really get myself too worked up about the implications, but I did enjoy getting to go into the ring with some good competition and jump something a little bigger than what I have been seeing. The first day was good but not great- I had one very good trip and one with a minor mistake, so I was second and fourth with those two. After watching the trip that beat me for my good trip, I couldn't really find a specific point that would differentiate, so I think that it was the judge's personal preference. As an amateur, if I lose because the judge liked the other horse better, that means I had a damn good day. The second day, I had two good trips, though I got deep to the second part of the (really awkward) bending line, and had a good trip in my final hunter round. Much to my surprise, I won the handy round and was second in the other hunter trip. He still had plenty of energy in the hack class, and I went in still on cloud nine from my handy win, so we managed a blue ribbon in that class also. Champion in a rated professional division! You could not have found anyone more shocked than myself that day, being a college student on a shoestring with a 17 year old veteran who is coming back from five years in a field. Here come your videos!
Unfortunately, no videos or pictures are available from the final two days in the adults, which is supposed to be my real division. There was no handy for the adults (thank god), and while I only made one big mistake, I rode well and Chico was a good boy for all four rounds. The first day, we had the same judge as the first day of the performance hunters, who did not favor chico for one reason or another. Looking at the videos, I know that he was not jumping as well as he is capable, which must have been the reason, even though he was doing around looking very smooth and pleasant. We were in the middle of the pack for both over fences classes and also the under saddle. The other judge; however, loved my dear Chico. The last day we had him again, and won one under saddle class and...well.... *sigh* The thing is, I knew I had won the class before. And that second class was even better, seriously. So I was coming home to that last 2 stride, and all I could have in my mind was "Grace don't you dare fuck this up". So....what do you think I did? I slowed down too much in the corner thereby setting myself up for a deep and slow jump into the two stride, and then three strides out from the first jump tried to gun it to somehow compensate for everything that I had done since landing from the prior jump. Chip. Chip. Chip. Ugh I could have hit myself. Thankfully I am an amateur and therefore if I only do that once over the course of the week, it's not too bad.
Overall, however, I really learned a lot in this show. I don't miss having a big barn and a big setup and a bunch of people around as much as I thought. I don't miss doing two divisions AT ALL, and I really don't miss being in a hotel for the better part of a week (that is, unless, it involves cute towel boys on the beach in a carribbean location). This hunter princess is very glad she got the confidence boost to jump a little bigger and win against some professionals, but overall, she is very happy with braiding her horse in her trailer, showing close to home, and sleeping in her own bed. I highly suggest my readers try it sometime! You might be shocked how much you like skipping all the extra layers and getting back down to how it started. You, your horse, and trying like hell to put in the trip that you know you can.
