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Saturday, July 5
Jul. 5th, 2025 11:16 pmToday I am grateful for:
Managing to get through my day in spite of having pretty much zero sleep last night. I needed to get up about five hours earlier than my usual start time, but I am not one of those people who can just go to bed early and expect to go to sleep, so....no sleep really.
Today ended up being our show day, instead of a second day of the clinic (basically just a whole day of people getting lessons, which makes sense when a trainer goes somewhere else besides their own training facility...not so much in this case. I shrug.).
This was a last minute decision, because tomorrow it is supposed to be pouring rain, and it was more important to do the show than it was to do the clinics today, because we could still do the clinic appointments in the small indoor arena. We wouldn't have been able to do the show indoors.
So everyone had to pivot and make it work.
It started out being cool, but got quite hot later on.
The biggest thing for me, was that I did end up doing my freestyle outside, in front of people and other horses and loads of distractions around, and I did the standing up thing and tossing the umbrella and jacket, even though there was some wind. River stood perfectly still for me.
I was pretty much not even able to really even be present in my body, but somehow we made it.
I know the rest of our freestyle was only so good, because taking it from the indoor arena to the outdoor arena meant the distances and such were not the same, and I didn't even have time to try to work it all out again, so I let it go. My actions today were not perfectly timed to the music, and not nearly as polished as the indoor version you got to see here.
BUT, it was a lot harder because of having less control over the situation, and having different footing (grass), and not being nearly as familiar to us, plus all the distractions.
I think we did really well, considering.
What I was happy about, is that River listened really well today in every class we were in, and I did just use the neck rope and bareback pad all day today. He didn't run over to the gate to try to leave the arena, he wasn't distracted by all the people, the big shade shelters that were set up, the sound system, etc.
He was calm, focused, and listening all day long today.
We did place well today, which is nice too.
I'm so glad that he didn't seem at all sore today, either. It seems like that was just a passing muscle stiffness.
It is amazing to see the development in many of the riders since the last show. The control that many of them now have with just the neck rope, or on the ground at Liberty is impressive.
I'm seeing enough of these people that we are at least "barn friends", though I don't generally see many of them other than at special events like this. Often their lessons are just at different times and we don't overlap.
I've been at this barn for about five years now, so long enough to feel like I'm watching some of these kids grow up.
My Sweetie was able to be with me today, and it was nice to have him there. He also knows a lot of these people too, so it's not like he doesn't anyone to talk with.
One young woman in her teens stood out this year for how much improved her relationship with her lesson horse is now. This is a horse belonging to the barn, who had a show career that left him pretty anxious about showing. He is not a horse they have had much success with in showing even at the small barn shows anymore, because the moment he steps into the arena he gets hot and difficult to manage.
They suggested that this woman could maybe try showing a different horse, but she really wanted to keep working with Caesar to see if they could overcome this anxiety, and she was able to show him very successfully today with just the neck rope.
Another person is kind of an epitome of horsemanship in my books. She has a flighty young mare that will likely be great in a few years but is still very green, and an older, very traumatized gelding who was halterbroke (sort of) when she got him, and has a LOT of issues. To the point where I probably would have just left him to be a pasture ornament and called it a day.
She's not winning much for ribbons with these two yet, but she's very patient and dedicated, and today she did show this older gelding at Liberty (with her on the ground). He didn't place, BUT, he also wasn't anxious or aggressive in the arena, and was really trying to connect with her, which is a pretty big deal.
L also did her freestyle, though she is pretty anxious about competing, and though her horse did leave a little, he came right back and they were able to finish. I hope that gave her some confidence.
So, overall it was a good day. It got very hot, it felt like it was dragging on and on (it was about ten hours today, with a lot of standing around in the heat. Thankfully we have sunscreen.)
River's breathing was good, he seemed comfortable and relaxed in his body, and I felt like he gave it a good shot every time we went in there.
My Sweetie had gone home partway through the day to let Roxy out and to pick up his bike, so that when we were done he could bike back. He's struggling to find ways to put in the distances he needs to be fit for the MS ride coming up.
I got home first, let the animals out into their pastures, and started supper.
Our feeding schedules are all messed up, but we're doing our best. They'll even out again soon.
We watched "Argylle" to unwind, but what a generic, cheap looking movie that stole every good idea from some other, much better film. It was all CGI, and horrible writing, and in spite of an incredible cast, there was no chance for any of these actors to do any actual acting. They were wasted. It was just garbage from beginning to end.
Managing to get through my day in spite of having pretty much zero sleep last night. I needed to get up about five hours earlier than my usual start time, but I am not one of those people who can just go to bed early and expect to go to sleep, so....no sleep really.
Today ended up being our show day, instead of a second day of the clinic (basically just a whole day of people getting lessons, which makes sense when a trainer goes somewhere else besides their own training facility...not so much in this case. I shrug.).
This was a last minute decision, because tomorrow it is supposed to be pouring rain, and it was more important to do the show than it was to do the clinics today, because we could still do the clinic appointments in the small indoor arena. We wouldn't have been able to do the show indoors.
So everyone had to pivot and make it work.
It started out being cool, but got quite hot later on.
The biggest thing for me, was that I did end up doing my freestyle outside, in front of people and other horses and loads of distractions around, and I did the standing up thing and tossing the umbrella and jacket, even though there was some wind. River stood perfectly still for me.
I was pretty much not even able to really even be present in my body, but somehow we made it.
I know the rest of our freestyle was only so good, because taking it from the indoor arena to the outdoor arena meant the distances and such were not the same, and I didn't even have time to try to work it all out again, so I let it go. My actions today were not perfectly timed to the music, and not nearly as polished as the indoor version you got to see here.
BUT, it was a lot harder because of having less control over the situation, and having different footing (grass), and not being nearly as familiar to us, plus all the distractions.
I think we did really well, considering.
What I was happy about, is that River listened really well today in every class we were in, and I did just use the neck rope and bareback pad all day today. He didn't run over to the gate to try to leave the arena, he wasn't distracted by all the people, the big shade shelters that were set up, the sound system, etc.
He was calm, focused, and listening all day long today.
We did place well today, which is nice too.
I'm so glad that he didn't seem at all sore today, either. It seems like that was just a passing muscle stiffness.
It is amazing to see the development in many of the riders since the last show. The control that many of them now have with just the neck rope, or on the ground at Liberty is impressive.
I'm seeing enough of these people that we are at least "barn friends", though I don't generally see many of them other than at special events like this. Often their lessons are just at different times and we don't overlap.
I've been at this barn for about five years now, so long enough to feel like I'm watching some of these kids grow up.
My Sweetie was able to be with me today, and it was nice to have him there. He also knows a lot of these people too, so it's not like he doesn't anyone to talk with.
One young woman in her teens stood out this year for how much improved her relationship with her lesson horse is now. This is a horse belonging to the barn, who had a show career that left him pretty anxious about showing. He is not a horse they have had much success with in showing even at the small barn shows anymore, because the moment he steps into the arena he gets hot and difficult to manage.
They suggested that this woman could maybe try showing a different horse, but she really wanted to keep working with Caesar to see if they could overcome this anxiety, and she was able to show him very successfully today with just the neck rope.
Another person is kind of an epitome of horsemanship in my books. She has a flighty young mare that will likely be great in a few years but is still very green, and an older, very traumatized gelding who was halterbroke (sort of) when she got him, and has a LOT of issues. To the point where I probably would have just left him to be a pasture ornament and called it a day.
She's not winning much for ribbons with these two yet, but she's very patient and dedicated, and today she did show this older gelding at Liberty (with her on the ground). He didn't place, BUT, he also wasn't anxious or aggressive in the arena, and was really trying to connect with her, which is a pretty big deal.
L also did her freestyle, though she is pretty anxious about competing, and though her horse did leave a little, he came right back and they were able to finish. I hope that gave her some confidence.
So, overall it was a good day. It got very hot, it felt like it was dragging on and on (it was about ten hours today, with a lot of standing around in the heat. Thankfully we have sunscreen.)
River's breathing was good, he seemed comfortable and relaxed in his body, and I felt like he gave it a good shot every time we went in there.
My Sweetie had gone home partway through the day to let Roxy out and to pick up his bike, so that when we were done he could bike back. He's struggling to find ways to put in the distances he needs to be fit for the MS ride coming up.
I got home first, let the animals out into their pastures, and started supper.
Our feeding schedules are all messed up, but we're doing our best. They'll even out again soon.
We watched "Argylle" to unwind, but what a generic, cheap looking movie that stole every good idea from some other, much better film. It was all CGI, and horrible writing, and in spite of an incredible cast, there was no chance for any of these actors to do any actual acting. They were wasted. It was just garbage from beginning to end.
