Pre Dressage Show Jitters
| October 31, 2009 | Posted by Melinda under Uncategorized |
I have a secret.
A dark, deep secret.
You promise you won’t hate me?
I like to win. A lot.
This is not a cool thing to admit in endurance. In endurance, “to finish is to win”. Specifically, to finish with a sound, happy horse, ride after ride, is to win. I agree. But I still crave blue ribbons. But I’m not going to get them in endurance. I care too much about my horse and having her to sound and healthy year after year. It’s hard enough to keep a horse sound in this extreme sport without pushing for a top 10 – so I ride erring on the side of caution. I might end up in the top ten some days if we are having an exceptional ride, but for the most part, look for me in the middle.
My goals in endurance are long term – I’d like for Farley and I to qualify as a “decade team”, I’d like to get her to a 1000 miles, and then a 1000 miles after that and a 1000 miles after that and so forth. By confining my competitive desires to dressage, it will keep me content to stay mid-pack in endurance and I have a good chance of achieving these goals.
But it isn’t the same as a blue ribbon.
In dressage it’s perfectly acceptable to want to win. It’s expected. In endurance the trail is reward unto itself. Who in their right mind would ride a dressage test as a reward “unto itself”?????? No, the goal is to win (and self improvement, yada yada yada).
Here are my concerns going into the show on November 1st:
- Farley will behave like a complete maniac, showing the dressage world, that yes, arabs are crazy.
- I will look dingy and dirty because my tack is older and used, my clothes are old and used, and my horse is hairy.
This is how I’m trying to compensate
- This is a real possibility – the only functions I take her to where there are lots of other horses is endurance rides….. For the last month I’ve been trying to separate our endurance from our dressage. I changed her bit I use on the trail. I kept the french-link baucher for the ring and chose a copper inlay, myler type (but not myler) swivel mouth piece, on a D-ring for the trail. Actually, I think the company was TRYING to make a gag out of it, but failed miserably so I get a decent D ring out of it, even if the D’s are ridiculously huge. The trail bit is still dressage legal, but the mouth piece is different (but she still likes it) so hopefully, mentally she could start distinguishing what her job would be for the event. There’s other differences too – renegades are only used on the trail, cavesson is only used in the arena, breast collar is only used on the trail.
- My horse may be hairy, but she will be very well groomed. I say a braiding demo at the clinic last weekend so I’ll do a running braid in the mane and a french braid in the tale. Her forelock will be a cute button. She will have a bridle path, and the hair has been chopped from on top of her wither. I have baby oil for the hooves, and hair gel to stick down runaway hairs. She WILL look show ring ready and I will NOT have to compromise my horse for our winter endurance rides. My boots will be polished and my clothes will be clean. The saddle pad will be washed in a WASHER and not just sprayed with a hose. I will buy a hairnet, bun with a bow, and a black rain cover for my helmet.
My goal for the show? Do not go off course. I’ve decided not to use a reader.
My secret, lofty goal? Win blue ribbons. We have a good shot as long as we perform like we did
in this weeks lesson.
Wish me luck.
GOOD LUCK!!!! I loved when I showed and beat out people older than me, oppps! Did I just post that out loud?!
🙂
Just got my ride times
Walk/trot suitability group class: 9am
Intro A: 9:41
Intro B: 11:12
Good luck!
I wish you tons of luck and hope that you won’t need it because you are so well-prepared.
I know that horses can tell the difference between the “type” of riding we will do from the tack clues we provide as well as our own behavior. When I boarded at an endurance barn, all the endurance horses would go NUTS when they saw anybody getting a mane braided or getting preloaded electrolytes. The retired endurance horses got excited whenever they saw the truck + camper hitched to the trailer.
>g<
Where is your show?
Good luck! I know you’ll do great or your trainer would not of suggested it.
Remember to eat candy responsibly so you’re not hung over tomorrow.
Thanks everyone for your wellwishes.
Mom – the show is in Ceres, the same town as I board Farley, just down the street.
I’ll try to do a show North of Sac in the near future so you guys can come and watch. Even though watching lower level dressage is like watching paint dry…..at least you can actually WATCH me unlike endurance….
BTW Mom – can you work your velcro magic on my new endurance helmet? I finally broke down and got a new one. My other one is just too old and banged up for me to trust it – but I want my flying nun!
Hey sis – you make me sound like such a goon! 🙂
I’m going to work on getting copious amounts of pictures. I don’t think anyone I know is going, but if I can snag someone, I’d like to have a video of my tests. Probably won’t happen. The best I can hope for is that someone takes some half way decent shots.
I bought extra hold hair gel to make up for any shortcomings in my braiding technique. 🙂
Went by the tack store and bought a hairnet, black bow/bun thingy etc so I should look polished. Went ahead and picked up the training level tests while I was there since I have a feeling I’ll need them soon anyways.
Go kick butt!
Yeeehaw! This is great Mel…though you don’t have to tell mom and ME that you like to win. It’s no secret. Trust me on this. blue has ALways been your favo color. I hope you take copious pictures…and that you’ve practiced your braiding techniques before you need to use them for real 🙂
Good luck, we all will be waiting to hear all about it.
Good Luck!!! And it sounds like your are going for the best turnout award at the show! Even I don’t braid tails (I am too lazy and a lot of dressage riders shave off the tops…but my horses butt is so big I don’t have to do that). I can’t wait to hear how the show goes and there is nothing wrong with wanting to win! I always want to win, but it rarely happens, which makes the blues even more special!