So I woke up at 4:30 to get to the barn by 7. I'd considered bringing my show clothes the day before, but it was raining, so I set them on the hooks on my bed so I wouldn't forget. Of course, come yesterday at 5, I was frantically rummaging through my closet. After three or four times I remembered that I had put them on the hook, and it wasn't Ian's fault this time.
We get to the barn and Robert went off to get diesel and clean up. So Gillian spent a while fixing the snap on my helmet ("I was right! You DO have to emasculate it!!") and I spent the time being ridiculously nervous. The plan was to ride Luca for a solid hour, trailer him over half an hour before the class, warm up for ten or fifteen minutes, do the test, put him back in the trailer and wait for the scores. He loooooves being in the trailer, he'll actually pull you towards it if the door is open, so this isn't exactly punishment or cruelty. Probably because he was a stallion, we were first so there weren't nearly as many horses around as there would be later.
In actuality! I rode him for maybe five minutes at the barn, decided he was listening, went back and changed, vacuumed the horse, loaded everything, and went off. I went and checked in and got my number. I walked back to see Gillian and Robert trying to tack up Luca while he was being an absolute idiot. Got on, went in the ring to trot around, he took off bucking, no one was harmed and he stopped. I had to dismount to fix his saddle pad and to get my jacket, got back on, trotted again and did transitions, and it was time for our test. I had maybe two minutes to work on him.
I felt we did okay. Luca just wanted to go go go, and he made that clear. On the other hand, it was a show, so he made an effort to contain himself. As soon as we got out of the arena and asked him to stop, he got a little silly with sidestepping and whirling. He was untacked and put back in the trailer with some hay. Robert walked around like a gleeful little boy (which, admittedly, he does most of the time). We placed second in our division, tied for first with points (60.5%). In the comments, it included "horse will be great when he pays more attention."
Good things to come out of this show:
1) my first show in 7 years, first one I trailered too also
2) Robert has finally realized Luca needs major ground manner work
3) hopefully Luca will realize that we're doing this for shows, and his work ethic will improve
We got back after Robert treating us to breakfast, I changed back into my usual persona of barn rat. Robert's given Gillian his blessing to start working with Lady, and he wants to take either her or Papillon to the next dressage show for Gillian.
I rode Papillon, she was sound hooray! but pretty pushy and annoyed when I asked her to collect her walk. Every time we went near the door she started trotting, she was so excited to go outside.
We were talking to Robert, and I mentioned showing Keno, since he'd be fine and his owner would get a major kick out of it. This happened to trigger a thought in Robert's brain, and he said "no, you know who we should get riding? Reno." Reno's a palomino paint, Keno's full brother, and he's the other major driving horse. There's a benefit show coming up June 6th that Robert is taking Reno and Luca to. Luca is doing halter, riding, and driving, and Reno was just driving. BUT, now Robert wants him to do western pleasure. He's been ridden, but not extensively and not for several years. This, however, has given me the excuse I needed to buy cowboy boots, and Gillian found a marvelously tacky shirt to go along with them. I am pleased, I suspect Ian will be mildly outraged.
to introduce Ian- he is my boyfriend. He showed for several years on the A-circuit, hunter-jumpers, and is an excellent rider. He's also a tad snobby, a little opinionated, and basically thinks that anything we do to have fun with our horses means we aren't serious riders. He used to ride Lady, but seeing as he's come out a maximum of four times this last semester, he's forfeited his right to her. You'll probably be hearing more about him next month when he comes back to Oregon.
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I really should not have spent so much time on that helmet. I should have helped you tack up Luca so you could ride while Robert was out getting fuel. On the other hand, who knew that those snaps would be so hard to figure out? We came so very very close to having that saddle dumped in the mud, by the way, its a miracle we managed to catch it every time. Reno will make a nice western pleasure horse if he manages to ignore all the stuff going on around him, which he gawks at like an idiot. Less than 11 days to get him going though, its gonna be great!
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