Unexpected Outcomes

It’s always those times that you don’t have “create content” on your list of priorities only to you wish you had. Although, things may have ended up differently if it was.

The whole weekend was quite busy especially in prep for the show. I had my session with Katie bright and early because I needed to be on the road during our usual time to get Dylan to his recheck (an update post is in the works).

I’ll say it over and over and over again. Finding a therapist who gets “the horse thing” is an absolute game-changer. Being able to discuss and be open about what happens inside and outside of the arena with someone who just gets it is a relief. Ultimately, it all comes full circle when you have a passion like we do and being seen, heard, and understood is an incredible privilege.

My phone was put on silent right away Saturday morning knowing the influx of alerts and “Happy Birthday” messages would come in. I just wanted to get out for our pre-competition ride with Wendy and Elijah and not worry about anything else.

We unloaded at a local spot and didn’t waste any time. I felt grounded and connected, didn’t even bat an eye hopping on off a rock. Why I find mounting blocks so terrifying I will never know.

I wish I got him on video coming out to the straight away. He knew why we were there and I had to serpentine a few times to say “not yet”. When we finally got a little trot under our belt, I checked in with Wendy then gave him the okay. I expected a little bit of chaos but what I got was a quiet transition into a soft forward, cross-country canter. I asked for a little more, got it, and then I sat back for downward transition and back to a walk we went. The confidence and communication I had hoped for was there and Sunday was looking even better.

We did some exploring then ended up back at the pond and played in the water a bit before loading up and heading home. It’s so nice to have a place like this so close to us and we’re hoping to utilize it more often in the upcoming months. Especially if we have another event in the works, more on that later though.

A nice lunch with Jeff and Jacks was followed by a mad dash to get everything cleaned, packed, and ready to go. Four hours of sleep and I was back at the barn, horses fed, trailer loaded, and ready an hour ahead of schedule.

In the past I have always ended up arriving at a venue with no time to spare. It was unload, tack up, warm up (sometimes), then down the centerline. I talked about this with Natalie a lot during our last lesson and although Brantley handles the rush well, I wanted to give us a both a better start.

Showing up a couple hours early gave me the opportunity to actually walk my lines for both stadium and cross-country which is something I’ve never really done. It wasn’t that I had never bothered, more that the time wasn’t there when I tried to walk both of them right after dressage. This time I made sure I took every step and visualized leaving the ground at every distance. Spoiler Alert : it paid off.

I was getting more anxious with every piece of show outfit I put on. Please know that it’s never Brantley that makes me nervous. My nerves always and will forever come from giving this horse a bad ride or a bad experience. I knew B was a little worried too even though to the naked eye he looked “fine”. I hand-walked up to the arena to give him an opportunity to breathe and while we had it to ourselves for a bit, I did a little in-hand work just to get the conversation started.

We worked through some things and handled our first busy warm-up arena in two years as best we could but it got to the point I had to go down to the white boards with the horse that I had. Not our best and certainly not our worst, but all I could think was how horribly I was riding and communicating with him. He was doing everything I asked, I was just asking badly. 47.7, I’ll take it.

A little break and we were tacked up and ready to go jump all the things. We were both in a different headspace than before and I think the language barrier came down a bit more after he decided that trotting fences in the warm-up was a waste of time.

“Let’s do this.” he seemed to say.

We had some really nice moments (not pictured above) and some really messy moments, but our stadium round went way better than expected. I was prepared for a stop because usually we have one but after getting over the planks and almost losing my breakfast over the third jump, I put more leg on than I ever have before. We got around clear and you could tell we both had a little fire going ready for the next phase.

I spent the next few minutes holding onto this horse’s mane playing point and shoot over the cross-country warm-up fences. We trotted up to the start box and had a little happy cry with the judge up top because that’s certainly my MO. We left with his ears forward, my knuckles resting his in neck, and my left leg on.

He. Jumped. Everything. Not even a second look or a wiggle to the left. We even took the option of a bench over a little log like we didn’t have a choice.

We had our first ever clear cross-country round and I cried like a an absolute baby.

“Cue the water works” was what I was met with at the finish line and boy did those tears fall. I had a few friends that came along who cheered us on in every moment and celebrated with me at the end. For someone who likes to go it alone out of not wanting to inconvenience another, I was so thankful to have them there and share that moment.

A few other riders had some unlucky rounds and we were pushed up to second place which was the last thing I had expected. We finished on our dressage score at 47.7 and all I have to say is… Boy is it good to back.

Until next time… XO