The Shows That Never Will Be

This weekend and on Oct 6th my Mom was registered to participate in some PVDA horse shows with Smash. Unfortunately there was a little bit of chaos this past weekend that have changed our plans.

Saturday my Mom went to Waredaca for her regular lesson while Nick took me for a trailer driving lesson.  It took me 5min to get the truck to stop pulling 2 millimeters forward every time I got the hitch lined up and let my foot off the brake! That was the beginning of the frustration! We drove the trailer to a nearby school parking lot and I practiced driving forward, backward, backing from the left, and backing from the right. I didn't think I was going to get it. I felt like I kept getting stuck with the trailer turning too far almost jack-knifing and not being able to straighten out and line the trailer into the parking spot I'd picked. Finally I was getting it. I felt great that I could finally back the trailer up on my own no matter how long it took!

I drove the trailer home and didn't kill any one (I did have a long parade of cars behind me since I refused to go anywhere above 45mph). I even backed the trailer back into our parking spot at Waredaca and as I was taking the last wire off the battery as part of my unhitching procedure I hear Nick say "Ummm is that Smash?"

I looked up thinking I'd see my Mom riding or walking her back to the field but instead I saw her still fully tacked and riderless running for the field she lives in. I was wearing shorts and sneakers, clearly not riding clothes, when I exclaimed to a woman who was there just for some cross country schooling "That's my horse!" (why I exclaimed this I have NO idea. I blame the adrenaline and pure shock of seeing Smash running around. Normally I would never shout at strangers random exclamations but there's a first for everything I guess)

She looked at me with the most confused expression imaginable and said "It is?!" Here I am in street clothes, fiddling with my empty trailer, and then claiming that the fully tacked horse running amok is mine. I guess that would confuse me, too. Instantly I take off after her. (Side note: I do know I won't ever catch up to her but I wanted to explain that when I run after Smash it's because I feel if I can keep her within my eye sight I at least know where she is! And yes, there have been times when I have not known where she was which scared the crap out of me! Not to mention if she gets hurt somehow *knock on wood it doesn't happen* I can maybe see what happened) Thankfully there were some girls ahead of me on the road and one had a bike and they were able to catch Smash before I could.

As I'm walking Smash back up to the ring I still notice there is no sight of my Mom. I finally encountered her riding instructor who said she had just come off and she had stayed to make sure she was ok before coming to find Smash. I finally see my Mom and get ready to help her finish her lesson when she says her wrist hurts and cannot get back on. She said she thinks she sprained it and should go to the hospital. She went off to the hospital to get checked out and I told her I'd meet her there since I decided to ride Smash for about 10 min just so she knew running to her field after her rider fell off didn't mean she got to be done.

After I untacked her and Nick helped me put her tack back into the trailer we headed to find my Mom in the hospital. I found out what happened was just Smash spooked at something (probably invisible horse eating monsters), stepped on and broke a dressage ring fence which spooked her again, my Mom fell off since she wasn't expecting it, and Smash decided to run home. I was glad it wasn't Smash being "up" or not focusing because she was bored and wanted an excuse to be silly and that her actions were just Smash being a normal unpredictable horse.

After the trip to the hospital and a few x-rays it turns out my Mom has 2 fractures in her wrist and will require at least a month of rest if not more. So unfortunately she had to scratch from both shows. :( And because I'm not a PVDA member I can't take her place in the show. There will be plenty more shows in the future for my Mom to ride in but it definitely stinks that she can't do these shows this year.

Heal up, Mom! Then you can sign up for more shows!!

Have you ever had to scratch from a show because of a horse related injury?

XC Schooling at Loch Moy

This weekend was quite a weekend! And it most definitely had it's highs and lows. Oddly enough the highs were not the normal highs and the lows were not the normal lows. Let me explain.

Sunday I was slated to meet my instructor and another rider at Loch Moy for 1 last XC schooling before this Saturday's show. The rated show. The one that costs a lot of money so I better not get eliminated show. So I got a text to meet at 3:30pm. Nick and I did a few things around the house and then headed to Waredaca in hopes of using our new lunge whip and chain rope to load Smash onto the trailer. I had the other rider's phone number as a back up in case we just couldn't get her on. We got to the barn and no joke, it took us 2 tries and she was on the trailer!!! We left the barn at like 3:15pm and I was worried we'd be super early and waiting for the other rider since the texts I was receiving were like "I'm already on and riding and have to ride another horse" which made no sense because why would you ride another horse at the barn when we're supposed to be leaving?? ...it was because we were supposed to meet at Loch Moy at 3:30pm...not leave then. *sigh* whoops. So by the time I got there and realized what I had misunderstood they were done riding while we were pulling in. Thankfully Steph was nice and stayed to give me a quick lesson.

Then more drama. Nick for whatever reason decided to start unloading Smash but didn't wait for me to help and next thing we know Smash has broken off the trailer and is running amok around the Loch Moy xc schooling area. I ran. A lot. Dumb horse was having a blast. Finally she stopped and was sweaty and tired. But guess what - I didn't care.

Once I got on we had a really good lesson! I practiced the crap outta the down bank and even did a few fences I was leery about (they looked big) before calling it a day. Thankfully Smash loaded right back onto the trailer without any issues! Our only problem was she did kick a fence and lost another shoe (she lost a shoe Saturday when she broke free and ran around the farm for 5 min...I don't want to talk about it) so now I need to call the farrier for sure so I can ride her at least on Wednesday and Thursday in preparation for Saturday. Here are a few videos from the day.

We ended up back at the farm just in time for the boarder picnic and I had a great time despite being the only person still in riding clothes and not showered. I'm fairly exhausted today, too, but at least I got in some xc before the show.

Highlights:
* Smash loaded on the trailer with minimal issues! And under 10min!
* We had a great schooling O/F
* We managed to get to Loch Moy only 30min after the meeting time that I misunderstood

All in all a good day - hoping that one day we'll have a drama free experience. I'm feeling very thankful right now that the rated show is a home show!