Despite inhabiting a rather-desolate corner of the horse world, I occasionally venture out to places where other bloggers live and have awesome meet ups.
had to selfie the epic ribbon wall
This past weekend, I met Gingham and Windsor of the desperately-needing-a-renaming Pia's Parade. I've met Gingham before and we all know she's awesome, so let's get to the meat of this post:
WINDSOR.
I know you're all dying to know--is he as dreamy in real life as he appears on the internet?
YES
OMG YOU GUYS
So. Not only is he the drop-dead-gorgeous-with-a-sexy-accent horse he also has majorly-perfect-dapples, floats above the ground, and omg. Personality. Omg. I love an interactive horse who isn't rude and Windsor is +++ <3 <3 <3 LOVE. He's bright. He's busy. He's gregarious.
You doubt?
I made a fangirl video of him. I venture most of you know how I am about videos--I rarely take them and never watch them. Unless they're of Windsor. Then I learn how to use my editor so I can make multiple clips together and add different music.
If there was any way I could have sneaked him into my carryon and not had Gingham instantly murder me, this fellow would have come home.
That said, it's just as well he's not mine because OMG do not let Gingham undersell her riding. He was a very good boy the whole time and yeaaaaaaah my uncoordinated self would definitely NOT have stayed on. So. Much. Bounce.
If I had to say one bad thing about him, it would be that he really gives no shits about tiny jumps. Because he is so talented. And beautiful. So beautiful.
I don't really know how to wrap this post up. BLOGGING Y'ALL.
It has been a bit of a rocky road. I mean, I got him the end of July in 2013. He went to a show and did ground poles that fall, but that was it.
Then 2014, we did one show. And it was... ummmmm yeah I'll go with horrible. And then we didn't even bother to try again.
2015 saw a lot of show miles and our oh-so-memorable championship of ground poles.
I'll be real with you: there are parts of me that are not proud of winning the ground poles. We all know Courage can jump like this:
swoon-worthy
And dressage like this:
yup
And it's so, so easy to get down on myself for only having Courage as far along as I do. I always blame myself. I feel like if he just had a better rider, he'd be running Novice eventing by now or show jumping respectably or really, anything other than almost-first-level dressage and sketchy-ass ground poles.
It's not that I think he wants or needs to be farther along--obviously, he's a horse and he doesn't even know that "farther along" exists, much less that it's something he should want. It's that as a high-achieving adult ammy horse person, I feel inadequate. I feel like we scrape by doing the bare minimum and that most of our hold ups are my confidence issues and not him at all.
And yeah, that's hard. Those things are real. The amount of courage (ha!) that it took for me to get around an XC course, even at poles on the ground, was staggering. I can talk all day about the tactful ride that Courage requires, but the truth is, I don't want to kick him in the belly either because I don't want to get hurt. Not now. Not on this horse.
this still doesn't look fun
But then Alyssa ran across some old videos the other day and sent them to me. After our one really horrible show in 2014, I sent Courage to an xc schooling with Lindsey in the tack. I thought I was the problem. I thought I was screwing up my horse, and I knew Lindsey didn't have the emotional baggage with him that I did.
I've told the story a hundred times--Courage was so naughty that the trainer (pro who's gone advanced on multiple horses) had Lindsey get off and he got on. And then 15 minutes of the "group lesson" was the pro getting Courage to go through ground poles. And even after that, we ended up just getting off and lunging Courage because he Could.Not. that day and that was it.
But no matter how many times I've told the story, nothing quite compared with seeing the thing again. Here's part one:
Part Two, Three, and Four if you're deeply interested.
It was so therapeutic to watch those videos for me. I'd forgotten what it looked like. I mean, if you go through the videos, you can watch the trainer try several different approaches. He gets after C for leaping and pissing off, but that makes it worse. Then he tries pushing him forward when he runs off, and that makes it worse. He tries changing the topic with lots of little circles, and that sort of helps but sort of results in C trying to shut down.
And he ends by walking through the poles because that is all Courage could handle at that time.
It wasn't a rider problem. It wasn't a training problem.
It's just that Courage needs things explained to him at his speed. If you try to force things any other way, it gets ugly. You can watch him pop the trainer out of the tack, time after time. Courage isn't bucking or rearing (really) or doing anything "horrible", but he's putting the rider wherever he wants him because he CANNOT take the pressure.
not how ground poles are supposed to be negotiated
It wasn't pretty. Looking back, I feel kinda bad for the guy riding. Sorry dude. Not your fault. At the time, I thought Courage would just get over it. I thought if we kept trying, if we did SOMETHING, that it would get better.
I felt the pressure of all those magical "3 months from track to BN" success stories. I wanted Courage to be brilliant and high achieving. I wanted everyone to see how special he was, the same way I did.
So yeah. In 2015, my horse and I were the champions of ground poles. In 2014, even a pro couldn't get him through ground poles without completely losing his shit. Maybe ground poles don't matter to you and you're going to make mean, snitty comments to me about how I'm less of a rider (I will delete those comments and leave my snide replies. You have been warned.)
best ribbon
But maybe I don't care. Maybe I'm enjoying my horse at my speed and maybe the fact that he NAILED his leg yields last week was good enough for me.
Scratch that. Not maybe. It is.
Courage and I have made incredible progress together. Our first dressage test together looked like this:
I don't have recent video of a test, but last time I got riding video, it looked more like this:
Just because our progress doesn't look like your progress or a professional's progress or whatever, it's enough for me. Courage and I aren't going advanced or grand prix and we don't want to. I want him to be a fun horse for me to ride and chase my goals on, whether those goals are a bronze medal, a fun jump course, or going to a goofy trail competition (or all of those).
So yeah. My horse is sensitive, complicated, and (barely) proficient at ground poles. He's also a boatload of fun, a challenge every day, and damn good looking in all the outfits I put on him.
so attractive
2016 will be our third/fourth year showing together and I have absolutely no idea how it's going to go. We probably won't be the champions of anything. We probably won't blow anyone's mind. I'm hoping we make a respectable showing at first level. I'm doubtful that we can also make a run at the crossrails derbies.
But whatever happens, this is the face I see every day and that makes it all worthwhile.
Brace yourselves for a picture overload! Saturday was our local dressage/eventing GMO banquet. They released all the dressage/eventing award winner names in advance, but the derby competitors (me) were kept secret.
Naturally, I've spend the past month obsessing about whether my scores would get reported correctly and if my membership was in good standing and basically anything I could think of that could go wrong. It was pretty nerve-wracking.
ribbon at rest
But then, they called my name at the banquet and I was probably the most excited person there when I ran (literally) up to get my giant ribbon. And maybe squealed.
You guys.
This thing is HUGE. It is literally the biggest ribbon I have ever seen, and it's MINE. :-D
It was a really fun night for a lot of reasons (guess who also won TWO LESSONS in the raffle?! I never win stuff!!). It was really awesome to have my horsie besties and the trainers who have made a huge impact in my life be there for it.
YARDS OF SATIN
Our GMO is really a fun group of people and I'm excited about their plans for next year. League shows? More ribbons? Sign me up!
Honestly? The sheer glory of my enormous champion ribbon (of ground poles) is making me seriously consider a run at crossrails next year. I'd have to be really good at budgets for that to work though. Don't hold your breath.
Anyways.
Because I am a proper grown up, I scooted out to the barn on Sunday, ribbon in tow, to show my barn buddies and take some pictures.
I'm shameless. What can I say?
i love this
Here's the thing: it has always been a bucket-list level item for me to win a year and award. This year was a unique opportunity in terms of shows available, horse ready to go, and money available to show. I've never been able to be consistently "good" at something before, and since our goals for next year very likely involve a lot less satin and a lot more competing against fancy horses and solid riders, well, I'm going with it.
I know it's only ground poles and intro b. But you know what? I'm a working adult ammy with one horse. I am coming back from an XC wreck that completely ruined my confidence. I'm riding an older horse off the track that I made myself.
champion. yes.
Yeah, I may not be a Rolex contender or a national competitor and hell, I don't even have plans to do any real eventing, but you know what?
This was my Olympics. My thing. My competition and goals for the year.
AND MY RIBBON IS SO HUGE.
I am a total satin ho. Love it. Can't get enough.
the biggest ribbon
This ribbon is legitimately big enough that I don't know what I'm going to do with it. I mean, every ribbon Courage has ever won is hanging over my kitchen window AND THIS RIBBON PRACTICALLY HANGS INTO THE SINK.
It's glorious.
You doubt? Not to worry. It may have been fricking cold and gusting 30mph+ on Sunday, but I hustled Courage into the indoor and took SO MANY PICTURES.
What goes with a sparkle saddle? EVERYTHING
Why yes you do need perfect wraps to take ribbon pictures
ribbon clear down to his knees
ok this might be excessive, but his neck looks good
we are equally thrilled
Pardon my excitement--this is my first time with a tri-color ribbon ever. It's everything I ever wanted it to be--a tangible reminder of all the blood, sweat, tears, and luck that go into making a successful partnership.
A reason that all those hard days, crappy rides, long hours, personal struggles, and tedious times are worth working through.
I don't ride for the ribbons, because so much of horsemanship is developing character through rotten luck, crappy circumstances, and things going wrong. If I set my self worth on satin earned, I would have had to quit a long time ago.
But when I do get a satin forget-me-not, it makes the journey that much sweeter.
