I have always loved horses and will never give them up. They are my life and one of my greatest enjoyments. Here's my journey through my first show season back in the hunter ring.
My next show with Ronin isn't until April 13, where I will be showing at the PG Equestrian Center (home of the Capital Challenge Horse Show). This facility is a lot like the Los Angeles Equestrian Center in that it hosts a large variety of shows, including 4H, Dressage, Western, local hunter/jumper shows and the big A hunter/jumper shows. As a child, I always wanted to show at the Capital Challenge show (especially the indoor) and now I have been able to ride in it a few times (not at the same level), but it is still very fun.
My next few weekends will be spent showing, not Ronin, but in the IHSA. The IHSA is the college level riding program (not NCAA), but usually club level teams. I showed throughout college on the Lafayette College Equestrian Team (LCET) and did quite well, able to go to Nationals as a Junior in Open Fences (3') placing 4th and with my team as a Senior (team placed 8th). After taking a few years off to work on my career, I decided to show in the IHSA as an Alumni. Most of the shows in the region that I live in are very close, so very easy to get to. Nationals is in Harrisburg, PA, only about 10 minutes from where my husband works, so it is also very easy to get too.
I am currently qualified for Regionals in the O/F class, but need 4 more points to qualify for flat. Our last show is this Saturday at Goucher College and Regionals is on Sunday at Tulip Pond Farm (GWU). If I am one of the top two riders at Regionals, I will advance to Zones, which are held at Hollins University in Roanoake, VA, the following weekend. Since this zone only has one region that holds alumni classes, if I make it through Regionals, I will be going to Nationals. I will still show at Zones (as it is required), but the pressure is off.
Nationals will be held the first weekend in May. I am really hoping that I will get to go all the way through as it will be fun to see my old team (LCET already has at least one rider going as they have the Cacchione Cup Open rider showing) and coaches. Plus it is just a fun event.
Here is one of my rounds from November at Goucher. For those who do not know about IHSA, you draw a random horse. This region is pretty nice because they do have limits on certain horses. I am 5'10" and look pretty ridiculous on a small horse. So usually, the smallest horse I will ride is 16hh. Everything is equitation, so it is judged on the rider, not the horse. It is judged on the rider's position and how they guide the horse around the ring and over the fences. Simple lead changes are not penalized as it is not our horse, but usually school horses. As long as the simple change is done right, no deductions occur (in contrast to a regular horse show where a simple change is counted as a break in gate and heavily deducted).
This little horse was awesome and really went well for me. I was very happy with my round and I ended up winning the class :)
Hopefully I will be successful in my last few shows and can make it to Nationals. Wish me luck!
The first show of the season is at McDonogh School located in Owings Mills, MD. This is a single day show, so it means we get to get up bright and early and trailer to the show in the morning. Most of our other shows we will trailer in on Friday and then show on Saturday and Sunday and stable at the showgrounds for the weekend. The show starts at 8am and my division goes pretty early. So here is how it went!
So after all of my hard work the night before to get him cleaned, he immediately rolled when I put him out (expected, but a girl with a grey horse can always hope). Which meant an extra early morning to spot clean his legs and make sure he looked ready to show.
5:30am...Alarm clock, coffee, get dressed, and head down to the barn. I feel that I am one of the luckiest people in the world to board where I do. I live 45 minutes from the barn, but the owner's daughter lives on the farm just up the hill and was the trainer going to the show today. She and her daughter were coming and the trainer was riding the other horse in a couple of classes since he is younger and green. She lets me sleep in their spare room so that my commute goes from 45 minute drive down to a 5 minute walk.
6:00am...After the much needed coffee, a quick stroll down to the barn in the dark to see what the damage was. Not too bad, just a couple of dirt spots on his knees and hocks and his head. So a quick spot clean with some shampoo and a quick rinse of his legs. Then back to his stall so he can dry. I fed my horse and the other one who was showing so that they would have time to eat breakfast before going on the trailer.
7:00am...Horses loaded and it's off to the show!
7:45am...Arrive at the show, my friend (my horse show mom for the day) goes to check me in while I get my horse ready to lunge. I like to always lunge him in his 'Fauxsoa' rig that I made myself (too cheap to buy the real, expensive one). I don't like to just chase him around; I like the lunging work to be actual work and I really just like him to trot on a big circle and canter occasionally. It's nice to see my horse move so I can see how he's feeling that day. He was so excited to see the new place. The location is composed of beautiful rolling hills, LARGE pastures, several rings to ride/school/lunge, and a beautiful indoor ring. While lunging, he was looking around and taking in everything. He also called to all of the horses on the property and we had a three ring call going. Every time he called, a horse over in the trailer area called, then a horse schooling in the ring called, then it would start all over again. He eventually went to work and started to focus and lunged well.
Indoor picture pilfered from the internet
My friend came back from the show office and updated me on the counts. The entry counts the day before were pretty low, but when my friend checked me in, the first division went from 3 to 10 and the second division from 2 to 5. So, I had plenty of time to get my horse used to the show grounds and ready to go. As always, shows are 'hurry up and wait'. Every time I thought we were going to be going soon (back gate would call for my class to be in x amount of time), I would plan accordingly, get ready, then hear that it would be longer til my class. Oh well, I flatted my horse to see what he would be, and he was good. Still a little bit up, but after a nice flat work session, he was used to the schooling ring and relaxed. I then hopped off and let him stand at the ring to see everything and give him time to settle.
Studying the course and ring
Some time later (actually, no idea what time, since I do not carry my phone on me - illegal to ride with one at the show), it was finally time for me to show. I flatted Ronin again and he felt great, nice and relaxed, forward, but not pulling. The warm up fences where a good size, a medium x-rail, a 2'6" vertical, a 2'6"-2'9" oxer. Jumped a few and came back to a walk in a straight line to get him a little backed off of the corners. My horse LOVES to jump and gets very excited to do so. So after a few jumps, we are ready to go.
Forgot to take a picture of the ring, but here is a still shot from video.
Make the quick walk up to the show ring (a beautiful indoor) and they are still doing the medal class before my division. There was a small break in the class and an empty ring, so I asked the back gate if I could do my warm up trip while there was an empty gate. She let me, and I walked in, let him walk around a little, then proceeded to my trip. I was a little worried at fence one, so was pretty deep, but he was great, and then I got relaxed and let him do his job. He was super. Jumped around a ring he has never been in, nor ever seen the jumps, and was overall excellent.
The medal class finished, then they happen to fill the next medal class, so that went too. I signed up early and signed up to go first in the division. There were only 2 Adult Amateurs (including me), so we were combined with the 9 other Children's Hunter riders. So a pretty big class. Here are my rounds:
I couldn't have been happier. Ronin did exactly as I asked and was great. It was a competitive class filled with the children's fancy warmbloods. After all 11 went (three rounds for each), I ended up 2nd in the first class and 4th in the third one. The rail in the second class basically knocked me out (my fault, I was trying to be quieter in the line and over did it, had to rush out a little and jumped flat). The lines rode well, just a little quiet, he landed all of his leads but one and did a beautiful lead change and jumped great all around. The fences were pretty low, so he wasn't too impressed. The fences were beautifully decorated with plenty of fill and flowers. I was so impressed by the quality of the show ring and the facility.
After my classes, the other horse who was showing was in the next division. My trainer was riding him in the first division, the Low Hunters, and the owner was riding him in the next, the Low-Children's. This horse had a stall for the show and the mother told me that I could put Ronin in while the horse was showing. Ronin was very happy to be in the stall and after cleaning him up, he comfortably ate and rested.
After all of the showing, loaded the boys up and head back home.
Long day, but well worth it. Ronin was fantastic and I couldn't have asked for a better first show :)
Thanks to my trainer for taking us to the show and to her daughter for video taping my rounds. Thanks to my substitute show mom for helping me get ready for my classes. I couldn't have done it without you! Can't wait for the rest of the show season :D
First show of the season is fast approaching...this weekend! Yikes, how did that come so quickly. Praying for decently warm weather as we have had several snow storms the past few weeks.
First order of business...shots and coggins...check.
The vet came out last weekend to administer some vaccines and pull the coggins blood test. We will then give the rest of the vaccines a little later so that we don't overload their system all at once.
Next order of business...show prep....part one
Well, since the weekend was so nice and I was at the barn for the vet, I decided to do some show prep early instead of at the last minute. I bathed Ronin's legs and tail (since those were both yellow/brown), clipped his muzzle, ears, bridle path, etc. Pulled the mane, organized my show box, did laundry...
Part two...okay, so the clean horse only lasted one day...but at least I got most of the stains out the first time and can do a smaller clean up job the day before the show...and most likely the morning of as well.
On Saturday, we head up to McDonogh in Owings Mills to show. There are a couple of girls from the barn going to the show as well, so this will be a small trip for the barn. Here goes nothing!
Hi all...This is my first blog and I thought to try and write down my experiences of showing my first full season of competition after not competitively showing since I was a junior (geez...last time I truly showed my own horse was when I was 15/16 yrs old). So it's been 11 years since I have had to plan a show season, deal with expenses, and all of the work it takes for a full competition calendar. Well...here goes nothing!
Now, this is not to say I haven't been showing at all nor riding at all; I have been regularly riding and showing other's horses occasionally, just not my own horse. I also competed in IHSA in college, but again, that does not involve my horse, but showing up and riding a random horse in one over fences class and one flat class. So I have not had to prep my own and get both myself and my horse to the ring in an organized and calm fashion.
When I was a junior, I showed at a very large barn in Southern California and when I was in top showing shape, I did a lot of my own prep and work, but we still had grooms and the like. It was a premier A show barn with all of the perks...and expenses. Now, I am supporting myself and my horse (well...with the help of my mom with boarding expenses - Thanks Mom!!!), but the rest is on me. I am very fortunate that my mom can still help me with board, but the goal of this is to get my horse some real show experience and hopefully lease him out so another can enjoy him too.
Gotham City 3'6" Medal Class in 2003
I have had my horse for almost 7 years now. I bought him as an unraced OTTB (Jockey Club name "This Roan Can Run") at 3 years old in 2007. Ronin is 17hh (only 16.1hh when I bought him!). He is 10 now and really does not have a ton of experience. I have taken him to a few shows (Baby Green at 4 yrs old, Pre-Green hunter at 5 - one show each, etc.) and he was quite good, but that was a long time ago (due to college and moving for work, he was turned out for a few years).
First time free jumping at 3 yrs old
His first time jumping under saddle at 4 yrs old
Home Show doing only under saddle classes
I am now at a smaller barn in Maryland (moved to the East Coast for work) where we are planning on showing at the MHSA Regional level. These are local shows that are not USEF rated. My goals for this year is to successfully show Ronin in the Adult Amateurs Hunters (3') and to qualify the Adult Amateur Medal Final (3' Equitation) in August. I hope to get around safely and to simply have fun. He absolutely loves to jump and is a blast to ride. My biggest problem is just keeping him clean! At this barn, we do all of our own work and prep, which I actually love to do. Knowing exactly what my horse is getting and doing all of my own work is very rewarding. So here's to having a fun show season!
