Fixed the Falls, Lesson learned

It's been a little bit since I've blogged last (I'm not always very good at keeping up but hey I'm trying!) and honestly not very much has gone on since I've last talked.

MM (the owner of our barn) decided to leave the jumps out for us in the show ring, after CK begged on my behalf and possibly some of the other show riders at the barn. All I knew is that once he had a few days off it was back to work for us! So that week really consisted of giving Cash Monday and Tuesday off and then, doing flat work Wednesday to Saturday, Sunday off, and hacking Monday to get ready to tackle the show ring that caused me such trouble on Tuesday!

I have to say, when Tuesday rolled around I was kinda nervous... I knew I could not screw this up again, and I was hoping to not have problems with the ring again since I had problems with it not only on Sunday but that Friday as well. 

It was Judgment time... here goes nothing...

I started to flat in the ring before CK got there, I was still a little apprehensive and Cash was loving being back on the grass (I have to say I think it is his favorite place to preform) so needless to say he was forward, even after being worked pretty good the day before.

CK got down to the grass and I pulled Cash up to a walk and made our way over to her

"This is no big deal, alright? How many hundreds of times have we jumped jumps that look just like this, in a course just like this, on days just like this?

They haven't changed since the show, not a flower moved not a rail lower or higher."

She knew just how to break things down for me. Honest. Not mean, but not condescending. Honest. She knew me, she knew what I could do and she knew that this was no big deal, and I had to trust her.

annnnnd IT WORKED!

I could not have been happier! Honestly! but the conversation after my ride was what really made the difference for me that day. Friday, schooling day before the show CK and one of our other trainers KF (who i have trained with before and really do love as much as I love CK) School my best friend Jor and I for the show, they usually run the schooling ring together, especially when it's a home show. 

Only thing different this time is that KF took over for CK, Jor and I both train under CK and not KF (again not that we don't love KF) Now! This would be fine! On a normal day KF is a pretty chill lay back person (I always refer to her as Momma K) but on show days she flips on her crazy competitive switch and it can either be really fun or really painful....

my experience was the latter of the two...

long story short, in talking to CK about the whole experience she had to ask 

"even though it didn't turn out quite as planned, did you still have fun?"

To me, that was a no brainer, Yea!! I had tons of fun! I think the only problem is that I just need more time under my belt to get used to all of it! and thats what I ended up telling her and she agreed, it's a lot to get used to! But she all in all wanted to make sure that my falling into the jumps didn't scare me away from the show scene.

I think the other thing that I'll try to plan too is to ask CK if she will school me before a show.

Like I said, it's not that i don't love KF and I love training under her as well! But when it comes to show time I'm the rider that needs to chill out not get pumped up and pushed like crazy. 

CK understood that, and this was a huge busy show! At least 10 on our show team this show when there are normally like 4 or 5 that CK needs to take care of on the road (KF doesn't got to those shows) 

I think we'll be just fine, hopefully more pictures of me and the big man this winter though! (i'll make that my goal) keep updated on progress!

Until then, my show season is over for this year! :) it was a lot of fun! I cannot wait for next year! 

Ok sooooo

Well it's been some time since I've updated!
So what day is it now? Ah yes it's labor day! So September 3rd!
The horse show was yesterday and Saturday! And well let's just say saturday was our better day...
Well I'll start from the beginning shall I?

Ok so Friday, schooling day, pretty good:) he refused the first jump we tried to take, horribly unlike him! Freaked me out! Last time I showed out in this field I couldn't get over a single fence without the horse refusing the jump! But I finally got him to focus and just do it! Then we moved to the big ring which he LOVED! He hated the the other ring but he loved this one! Maybe cause the jumps were bigger an more sturdy looking and colorful in this one the other one they weren't? I don't really know.... But yes schooling day ended up being a success! Even though my left ankle kept acting up very badly:/ I would have done better had that not happened but hey what are you gonna do now:/
Coming up to the barn that night though he was limping and bleeding, turns out he threw a shoe refusing that first jump! So thank goodness he was on grass because that really could have hurt his feet if he was running without one on harder sand (he's kind of a sissy about it) he was just kinda scratched up from over reaching and not wearing his bell boots :/ my fault. But he was supposed to get the shoe back on that night but the farrier never got out there, and Saturday morning she was supposed to be out there at 8:00 and she didn't get there until almost 9:45 and I got lucky that one of the moms who is helping coordinating the show helped by holding my class for me so I didn't have to scratch.
Saturday we were I the big ring which Cash loves! So thank the lord! But m ankle was still acting up so I was loose on my left side the whole time, it was hunters so they really weren't judging me thank the lord! And big man looked awesome flying over these jumps! Talk about seriously over jumping! Not that the jumps surprised him but he just does that:) so Saturday was fun:)
Now Sunday was a different story, trainer told me to get there by 9:30 and I should be safe, class should start but the class didn't end up starting until 2:30 that afternoon! So crazy! And it was in the first smaller ring where he refused on schooling day, we got in there and it was my fault because I looked down at the first jump and he refused it, I fell, second round I got in and rode it like I know how, didn't look at it and legged him on but he refused again and I fell off again. The third time I got him over the first and second jump and he refused the third jump :/ so Sunday was a really really tough day for me:/
But you know what, I am NOT done! I am NOT giving up on horse shows! I am going to keep at this! This is really only the second horse show for us and you know what shit happens! Pick yourself up and keep going! We WILL get this! He loves this! He loves to show and he is good at this! :) it's just we need to hit our stride and I need to feel better about myself and I'll be a better partner for a horse who is such a wonderful partner for me:)

So what did we learn this weekend? That one show isn't the end, but you need to be confident and tough to get through the day, cause they aren't all easy. :)
I'll keep you updated in the days and weeks to come:) because we will be in boot camp until next show and it won't be pretty