Las Cruces 2014

Six months after our fabulous elimination in Stadium at Watermelon, seven months after our elimination due to similar circumstances at St Johns, Naners and I made the eight hour drive to Las Cruces to see if we could actually get around a stadium course. It was cold! And guess what? Memory foam in the cold is like a brick. So, while I was able to put enough blankets on to be warm in the gooseneck that night, sleeping on a brick kept me awake more than I would have liked to have been.

Friday's stadium schooling went well, Naners didn't even think of refusing. We were scary fast, and it wasn't pretty, but we got around. The temperature warmed up and it wasn't windy, so almost pleasant. Then I finally got to go somewhere I've wanted to for years: White Sands.

Yes, the sand is white. The sun was behind a cloud, and it's hard to photograph anyway. We swear one of these years we'll ride there, as you can.

Saturday morning: dressage. Intro B again. I love that test, but I'm so sick of it and it isn't changing. We got all 6's and 7's and a 36.3, which is about what we usually get on that test.

Stadium: We jumped all the things! Our first double clear stadium round. I was thrilled.

Between dressage and SJ the wind had picked up and it was blowing dust. So I broke out my SSG goggles. They looked a little odd, but not having dust in my eyes? Totally worth it.

I was second shooter for the photographer for XC, so sat out for Prelim and Training. Storm clouds came in and before Novice started the rain came down. I headed for the barns, being wet and cold before I needed to ride would not have helped my day. When I dressed for XC I had to put my jacket on, hiding my fabulous loud pink shirt. It was drizzling when I mounted, by the time I went out on course the clouds were gone and the sun was out.

XC was a much more difficult ride. The third jump, a tiny log, sits between two bigger jumps. She tried very hard to not jump that one. She has a thing about her tiny jump being near big jumps. I had to really ride, and fortunately she wasn't going so fast that putting my leg on felt like the last thing I should be doing.

We still had several less than attractive jumps

But we got around, double clear for XC too. So, for the first time ever Naners and I finished an event on our dressage score, placing third, which was dead in the middle. Go us!

Not so great pics from Watermelon

Pro Shots from Las Cruces

Alas, the photographer's camera was malfunctioning when we jumped the biggest Pre-Comp jump, so  we have only the smallest.

November

Snow is on the ground and Banana's shoes have been pulled. And it looks like I'm going to have to buy her boots for winter jaunts down the road, if yesterday was any indication. Yes, it was below freezing and snowing but my neighbor and I rode down the road. It was actually really nice.

I know it has been awhile. Las Cruces and then I had one of those "50% of your grade" things to do.

So how was Las Cruces? Decent. My best eventing dressage score to date 34.5.

6's, 7's and an 8! Go us! However, our awesome score only had us in 6th. I wish it had been one of the BN tests instead of Intro.
 
We had a refusal in stadium (my fault, forgot to ride her) and then inevitable time faults. Which, if I'd been thinking at the time, I could have made up. We dropped to 7th.

XC was fine: no refusals, within time. Alas, no one else had refusals or time either. She definitely has an issue when her little jump is between, or next to, big jumps. She was pretty wiggly into a bunch of them too. She needs more milage.

We finished in 7th, which if I can't win, getting a pretty purple ribbon was awesome! I only have one other one, back from when I was a kid.

The driving was brutal. I went out on XC at 1:06. I pulled into my gate at 11:06 after the 8 hour drive. Thank goodness the Starbucks in Bernallio is open at 7:15. Southern New Mexico is actually quite pretty. And they grow cotton down there.

So, goals for next year? None. I think I'm going to stop trying to be "An eventer" and go back into my "let's have fun doing everything!" mode. So, we're going to try competitive trail and maybe go to some real dressage shows. If I can get the three saddles I want to get rid of sold I will be buying a side saddle. The nice thing about Naners is that she's really game for anything so I want to take advantage of this. I'm never going to be really good at any one thing, it's not my style, I like to be competent at many things. Naners is a fine mount to be doing this with.

Oliver the mini continues to amuse me and Aruba is gaining weight. Things are pretty happy here at Pam's Pony Place.

So that dressage show

I never did tell the tale of the dressage show.

As show secretary I schedule the ride times. This can be exasperating, but generally there will be one thing that will make it all work. This time it was starting the show at 9:30 instead of 9. That put a judge's break during a lunch appropriate time, instead of at 10:30 or 1:00. Since our venue was a further drive for most participants this was welcomed. I didn't have to load in the dark! As it was, Quirky and Naners had the air up their tails and were bucking and running around their corrals. The difficult part of the morning was catching them. Naners ran her hip into her stall door while trying to elude me. Horses.

Loaded up we headed down the driveway, Red chasing the trailer as he does (How dare I take his girlfriend away!) We headed south into the desert to the Taskmaster's, as that's where the show was being held. My tack room was doubling as show office, so I got a choice spot next to the arena.

Quirky and I were the first ride of the day. I would sum up the ride as just fine. Intro B: mostly 6's, two 5's, and two 7's on our center lines and halts. A 7 for Impulsion and a 7 for Geometry and Accuracy. I love that geometry score. Since I started doing dressage I would frequently get "accurate test" as a comment. I didn't realize until recently how good a comment that is. 59.325% We could have done better, but that's fine.

Then I tacked up Naners. We were the last rides before the judge's break and the switch to the standard arena. BN A was a mixture of 5's, 6's and 7's, the 7's on our canters (she does have a fabulous canter) and our final center line and halt. Also a 7 on gaits, which doesn't surprise me. Mare has nice gaits.

BNB was mostly the same, though with a quite notable 8 on our trot half circle right from B to X. 40 on BN A, 39 on BN B. I was quite happy with the mare.

Quirky was very unhappy that she had left him. He was carrying on at the trailer most of the time we were gone. I could see how his mom says he's "suicidal" when tied to a trailer. He did a lot of little rears. He wasn't quite suicidal though.

The two of them stood eating their hay at the trailer the rest of the day. I could tell near the end Quirky really wanted the day to be over. I don't blame him. When the last tests were added and trailers were pulling out I loaded the show office back into the tack room and then loaded Little Mini Man. The top of his butt was shorter than my dividers. I prayed he'd stay in his spot in the front of the slant and wouldn't infringe on Quirky's space in the next spot.

Everyone loaded we set off for home. First time I've had three beasties in my trailer. I kept a good part of my awareness on what was going on in back, but there was no evidence of unhappiness and everyone was good when we unloaded.

I really love my local shows. As I stood there I realized I've become friends with everyone who competed, so it really was like a show full of friends. Spending a day with horses and friends is always a good time.

Banana's First Event

Late Thursday morning my partner-in-crime and I loaded the horses, picked up her daughter at school and headed out to Flagstaff. We had our usual, "Thank freaking goodness we don't live on the Navajo Res" conversations and sang along to ABBA.

Yeah, sorta not the most pleasant place to call home.

Her daughter was in the back of the truck wishing she didn't know us. We got to Flagstaff in the correct number of hours (6) and were unloaded and set up before the sun set. Banana happily munched on the hay in her stall and wasn't pacing.

Friday morning we did a stadium schooling round. Banana did a lot of "What the heck?!" as we went around the course. Colored jumps! Oxers! I had to really ride. One we did end up circling, but otherwise all was well. After that we schooled XC. Thank goodness they have that option for pre-comp. It just sets a greenie up for a better chance of success.

We went to the water jump and she put one foot in and drank. And drank. And drank. I'm pretty sure she lowered the water level by a couple of inches. We did eventually get in. Then left, then went back in. Good first experience. Afterwards it was bath time and some quality stall hanging time.

Saturday we didn't have Dressage until 2:59. So, I braided! It only took me half an hour to get the first braid done as I had to ponder what style we were doing. She was tolerant and my speed increased after the first.

Ah, sewn in button braids how I love you.

So, dressage. We got to warmup and she some "What the heck?!" moments. She was listening to my aids, so I wasn't worried, but it's always nicer when she'll stand still on the buckle. The ring steward gave her some scritches and she relaxed and stood still.

I was quite pleased with our ride. It wasn't perfect of course, and we still have a lot to work on. We got a 7 on one of our trot circles. But, when I finish and have tears in my eyes because I love riding my horse so much there's just nothing awesomer.

We look like a real dressage pair in this pic

We got a 44.5 which put us in 2nd place! Unheard of for me and I was giddy. The Pre-Comp scores were really close. 1st had a 42, 6th had a 49. We all had a chance of winning.

Naners enjoys her post-dressage snack

Sunday morning: chilly as a cold front was moving into Flagstaff. Jump judge meeting at 7 am. But...

Best Volunteer Raffle Prize Ever! I won a free entry for next year. And, I got to sit in a meadow and watch people jump.

After jump judging prelim and training back to the barn I went and soon Stadium and XC.

Things were going well, then fence 6... no ground line, scary filler that had just been pushed to the sides of the jump. We pulled a rail. Then she jumped the next one really big

Then off to XC! Where we got around everything and within time. However...

You wouldn't think that jump would cause her to stop dead 20 feet out, but it did. She wanted nothing to do with it. I had to use my crop! She never stepped back though, so no refusal. I think her attention was on the other jump, not our little stick.

When the scores were posted we were in 2nd! Alas, they'd forgotten to put my rail in. So, I informed them of the mis-scoring and got pushed down to 3rd. Oh well. They were nice enough to give me a 2nd place saddle pad for good sportsmanship though. I really didn't want the 3rd place rope halter because I have zero use for one.

And that is the tale of Banana's first event. Where she got a banana yellow ribbon.

Banana's First Horse Show

Somehow, in the insanity that has been the last couple of weeks I forgot to recap Banana's first horse show. It was the same show that I got up close and personal with the dirt, but that was a bit later in the day.

Due to having been scared of her just the day before, I decided not to push it and did Walk-Trot flat and Pile Of Poles. She was mostly good. A bit fussy, but not too bad. We even actually cantered part of the Jumper course (yes, Pile Of Poles Jumper. Don't judge us.)

We didn't actually compete against anyone, so four blues. Go us :D