Thursday, September 9, 2010

what an end to the season!

Two weeks of horse shows...wonderful, yet exhausting! Northwest Spectacular was absolutely fabulous. It was the perfect way to end a wonderful show season. I am so proud of Keenan and very pleased with the progress we've made this year.
We started off the show by winning the OHJA Mini Medal on Thursday afternoon, thus qualifying us for Medal Finals. I knew going into the class that we had to get a fourth place or better in order to have accumulated ten points - but Tamara was having none of that kind of talk, haha. As I was mounting up, she laughed and said "Don't come back without the blue ribbon!" I smiled back and promised her I wouldn't. And it turns out...we didn't! I felt so great after that, like the Mini Medal curse had finally been lifted! I think part of why I did so well was because I wasn't heaping pressure upon myself. Sarah asked me before I went in the ring if, for some reason, I didn't qualify for Finals, could Jessie ride Keenan in the Children's Medal? See, she had qualified earlier in the season, but with Cody a little foot-sore, she didn't have a horse. I told Sarah of course, and so felt like if I didn't qualify, something good would still come of it. As it happened, she rode him in the Children's Medal anyway - but I'm getting ahead of myself.
Classes were a little turned around at this show for me, so Friday was equitation day. We won our first class and got a fifth in the next (ugh, I hate it when I do that...inconsistency is my number one enemy!). We pulled off a third in the flat class, which got us Reserve Champion for the division! Turns out, we had enough points to be Circuit Reserve Grand Champion - I didn't even know that was a thing until Jessie came bounding up to the barn with a giant red, white and yellow ribbon.
Friday evening was Medal Finals for everyone (well, it was supposed to be - they ended up having to push the Children's Medal to 7:30 the next morning because our daylight was waning). Jordan had designed what I thought was a heck of a course - tough, but not impossible, just as it should be. I was super nervous, but for once, I was able to breathe deeply enough to ride through it. After we finished our round, the announcer called out our score to the spectators - a 78. That was the highest score so far, and stayed so for awhile. At the end of phase one, when those points had been combined with our written test scores, I was in second place with a total of 87.
Saturday morning started with Jessie and Keenan blowing everyone else out of the water and getting a score of 84 in phase one of the Children's Medal. Keenan and I kept up the good work by getting a first and a second in our two Pre Adult Hunter rounds. Then, before I knew it, it was time for the second phase of Medal Finals. For us in the Mini Medal, that meant a flat class for the competitors with the top ten scores from phase one/written test. Well, after an ETERNITY of trotting and cantering (and an awesome part where the judge called for a halt and a reverse - I know that you're always supposed to reverse and continue at the same gait, so while a lot of the riders did a tiny circle and started walking, I turned Keenan on the haunches and continued to halt - Sarah smiled and winked at me from the rail) we lined up in the middle of the arena. Keenan and I wound up fifth out of the original 28 competitors! Not half bad for our first-ever Medal Finals! Jessie and Keenan got a third in the Children's Medal - that was such a proud moment for me, cheering on my boy. He worked so hard for Jessie and I over the weekend.
Just like the week before, Sunday was the quiet day. Keenan was so tired that instead of going for a gallop, Nathan and I took him for a walk around to stretch his legs. That seemed to agree with him - in fact, he really liked strutting around the show grounds, all braided up and spiffy. We finished up our hunter division by getting another first and second over fences, just like the day before. Our Under Saddle class that day was one of the best flat rides I've ever had on Keenan. We ended up in fifth, but with every step, I could tell that Keenan was trying his heart out for me. He was exhausted and wanted nothing more than to go back to the barn, but he stuck with me and was almost flawless. He couldn't help that other horses were more well-rested or "fancier" than him, he just gave me everything he had. Our points were enough for Pre Adult Hunter Champion and, as it turned out, Circuit Grand Champion as well! I honestly can't think of a better end to the year than that.

No comments:

Post a Comment