Sunday, June 10
Jun. 11th, 2023 10:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gottawonderToday I am grateful for:
A pretty darn good day at the Liberty Show that R put on at the barn.
It was mostly people associated already with the barn, and at some time or another taking/took lessons or training for their horse.
I knew most of the competitors.
This made it a really supportive group, as in when things didn't go so well, we encouraged each other.
There were five classes in total, and we entered all of them. The girl who takes lessons with River also borrowed him for the day to do some classes (I feel much better about all of this since they bought her a horse of her own, though it will take some time before she is riding that horse as it needs to gain some weight).
It was VERY hot again today, and so dry. We put River back into the barn when there was a stretch of time before our next class etc, but over all his breathing wasn't too bad. I'm wondering if hot and dry is better for him than hot and high humidity.
I felt like I should have scored higher in the first class, as River and I did the pattern quite correctly. The judge (R) seemed to really come down on us hard for River doing his usual slow trot. We came in fourth in that class, but the ones who scored higher had things that I thought would have lost them more points, like the horse breaking gait, at some point just stopping, that kind of thing.
The next class also we did not have perfectly square halts, but our other elements were pretty good, and again we got fourth while others who seemed to have bigger faults in their pattern got placed higher.
The real surprise, was the third class. It was a Liberty pattern (meaning I directed him while I was on the ground with him, and he did not have any tack at all) where he did leave and go over to the gate, TWICE. We can practice all we want, but in a show there are huge distractions, like a row of his best friends all standing there waiting for their turn. I got his attention back and we did the rest of the pattern fairly well, but I didn't expect to do well.
I ended up getting first place in that class because we still did better than everyone else, who had the same issues with leaving to try to be with their friends.
The next class was bridle-less riding, and again he tried leaving, and again I got his attention back and finished the pattern, and still placed third, as it was a small class.
In the obstacle class, I decided NOT to do it at Liberty because of how the day was going with him leaving to be with his friends, who would all STILL be standing at the rail for this class too. He did well enough at that, and we placed fifth (out of about 15). So pretty good.
Here's another surprise; we didn't really do FANTASTIC, but we did place in every class, and in some cases we were not that far from the winners in terms of scores (we got scores for each class). At the end of the day, River and I won an overall high points medal (there was one for adults, one for the kids). I think it was a bit of a surprise for us, and everyone else, as we weren't really "winning" the classes.
This is easy for me to say as I was actually placing, but I did feel more relaxed this year, and not as nervous performing in front of a group of people. Maybe I would have felt differently if we weren't placing.
It helps a lot that everything we were doing in the classes were patterns I was familiar with now, as we've been doing this longer. I have more of an idea too, of what he will be like in a "show", at least at our own barn.
What made me happy is that he was calm and relaxed all day, that his breathing was pretty good considering how hot it was, and that I managed to stay in a good frame of mind (positive and problem-solving) even when he ran over to his friends.
It isn't the end of a Liberty class if the horse leaves, you do get the chance to get his attention back (at least at these levels, I'm sure that higher classes are not as forgiving). If you don't give up and stay in a good frame of mind you can often finish the class and still do okay.
I really enjoyed being social with everyone, and I am glad that I feel better now about the girl whose Mom wanted to buy River, since the bought their own horse. I feel more comfortable sharing him if they aren't trying to acquire him; I just wanted clarity and boundaries to be honored.
I stopped in at garage sale at a rural property on my way home, and MAN was that yard just jam-packed with stuff. A few nice things, but sadly, a lot of it was things that had they been in better condition might have been collectible antiques, but they were mostly very rusty and deteriorated and likely not valuable. Things like old wagon wheels, but rotted and falling apart, or antique hand tools but rusted and broken.
A lot of it looked more like what you would find in an old shed on a farm that had sat there for fifty years, and none of it was in good condition, but it was sort of interesting. If it were in good shape it would have been worth a fortune, but probably worth very little as is.
They seemed like nice people though, and I did find a nice necklace and two books at a very fair price, so it wasn't fruitless.
I came home and my Sweetie had spent the day working from home. He said he was able to get something done, at least. Tomorrow the company wants him to work at an office in town.
We let the animals out into their pastures for a while, walked around the horse pasture with Roxy, watered the garden (sigh), and picked up pony manure for a while.
Then we just sat in the pony/goat pasture and chatted and enjoyed the cooler evening air and listened to birds, watched a wood pecker, watched the animals.
I learned about the Tarsus çatalburun, or Turkish Pointer, a pretty rare breed of dog with a very different looking nose.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarsus_%C3%A7atalburun
A pretty darn good day at the Liberty Show that R put on at the barn.
It was mostly people associated already with the barn, and at some time or another taking/took lessons or training for their horse.
I knew most of the competitors.
This made it a really supportive group, as in when things didn't go so well, we encouraged each other.
There were five classes in total, and we entered all of them. The girl who takes lessons with River also borrowed him for the day to do some classes (I feel much better about all of this since they bought her a horse of her own, though it will take some time before she is riding that horse as it needs to gain some weight).
It was VERY hot again today, and so dry. We put River back into the barn when there was a stretch of time before our next class etc, but over all his breathing wasn't too bad. I'm wondering if hot and dry is better for him than hot and high humidity.
I felt like I should have scored higher in the first class, as River and I did the pattern quite correctly. The judge (R) seemed to really come down on us hard for River doing his usual slow trot. We came in fourth in that class, but the ones who scored higher had things that I thought would have lost them more points, like the horse breaking gait, at some point just stopping, that kind of thing.
The next class also we did not have perfectly square halts, but our other elements were pretty good, and again we got fourth while others who seemed to have bigger faults in their pattern got placed higher.
The real surprise, was the third class. It was a Liberty pattern (meaning I directed him while I was on the ground with him, and he did not have any tack at all) where he did leave and go over to the gate, TWICE. We can practice all we want, but in a show there are huge distractions, like a row of his best friends all standing there waiting for their turn. I got his attention back and we did the rest of the pattern fairly well, but I didn't expect to do well.
I ended up getting first place in that class because we still did better than everyone else, who had the same issues with leaving to try to be with their friends.
The next class was bridle-less riding, and again he tried leaving, and again I got his attention back and finished the pattern, and still placed third, as it was a small class.
In the obstacle class, I decided NOT to do it at Liberty because of how the day was going with him leaving to be with his friends, who would all STILL be standing at the rail for this class too. He did well enough at that, and we placed fifth (out of about 15). So pretty good.
Here's another surprise; we didn't really do FANTASTIC, but we did place in every class, and in some cases we were not that far from the winners in terms of scores (we got scores for each class). At the end of the day, River and I won an overall high points medal (there was one for adults, one for the kids). I think it was a bit of a surprise for us, and everyone else, as we weren't really "winning" the classes.
This is easy for me to say as I was actually placing, but I did feel more relaxed this year, and not as nervous performing in front of a group of people. Maybe I would have felt differently if we weren't placing.
It helps a lot that everything we were doing in the classes were patterns I was familiar with now, as we've been doing this longer. I have more of an idea too, of what he will be like in a "show", at least at our own barn.
What made me happy is that he was calm and relaxed all day, that his breathing was pretty good considering how hot it was, and that I managed to stay in a good frame of mind (positive and problem-solving) even when he ran over to his friends.
It isn't the end of a Liberty class if the horse leaves, you do get the chance to get his attention back (at least at these levels, I'm sure that higher classes are not as forgiving). If you don't give up and stay in a good frame of mind you can often finish the class and still do okay.
I really enjoyed being social with everyone, and I am glad that I feel better now about the girl whose Mom wanted to buy River, since the bought their own horse. I feel more comfortable sharing him if they aren't trying to acquire him; I just wanted clarity and boundaries to be honored.
I stopped in at garage sale at a rural property on my way home, and MAN was that yard just jam-packed with stuff. A few nice things, but sadly, a lot of it was things that had they been in better condition might have been collectible antiques, but they were mostly very rusty and deteriorated and likely not valuable. Things like old wagon wheels, but rotted and falling apart, or antique hand tools but rusted and broken.
A lot of it looked more like what you would find in an old shed on a farm that had sat there for fifty years, and none of it was in good condition, but it was sort of interesting. If it were in good shape it would have been worth a fortune, but probably worth very little as is.
They seemed like nice people though, and I did find a nice necklace and two books at a very fair price, so it wasn't fruitless.
I came home and my Sweetie had spent the day working from home. He said he was able to get something done, at least. Tomorrow the company wants him to work at an office in town.
We let the animals out into their pastures for a while, walked around the horse pasture with Roxy, watered the garden (sigh), and picked up pony manure for a while.
Then we just sat in the pony/goat pasture and chatted and enjoyed the cooler evening air and listened to birds, watched a wood pecker, watched the animals.
I learned about the Tarsus çatalburun, or Turkish Pointer, a pretty rare breed of dog with a very different looking nose.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarsus_%C3%A7atalburun
no subject
Date: 2023-06-28 12:58 pm (UTC)I add the humidity to the temperature to get the "heat index." So 90° and 50% humidity is 140 while 108 and 10% is 118, the 140 is much worse. High humidity prevents the evaporative cooling system (i.e. sweat) from working properly.
no subject
Date: 2023-06-29 09:25 am (UTC)With a live show, you (and everyone else) gets one shot. It shows you how good you really are, and what you need to work on.