Monday, May 19, 2008

We survived

We survived the show in one piece, one very sore piece. It was not all roses and sunshine but pretty good. My schooling Friday nite went into the wee hours, 1 am to be precise. Harley was full of himself and despite all my efforts I could not get him to settle or listen to me. I ended the evening with some good spins and called it done. Saturday arrived way to soon but the sun was shining and conformation classes were first. We placed right down the middle which was fine since there were some mighty fine horses there. At lunch break I saddled him and rode for 20 minutes and he was not as fresh. However, come my first class which was ranch riding (sort of like Western Pleasure) he found his second wind. They had moved a bright neon yellow food vendor trailer right on the rail of the ring and Harley gawked and was more concerned with it than paying attention to me. I think I lapped everyone in the ring three times! We managed four unnecessary lead changes in 12 feet! After that it was back to the schooling ring for more loping. Next class was Horsemanship which is a pattern class. He behaved well, I screwed up slightly but fixed it in time to not get a DQ we finished 4th out of 8. We finished the day with the ranch reining class and I did it. It wasn't all pretty but I didn't puke or fall off which basically was my plan, we placed 6th out of 10. I am trying to load a video but I admit I am technologically challenged at this. All in all a good weekend, saw some improvement but it is clear that Harley is more work than I am willing to do so alas he is being posted for sale this week. Hoping you all had good weekends. Happy trails.....

6 comments:

Victoria Cummings said...

I think it was great that you went through the show and did well with Harley. I know this is a tough decision for you to make, but it sounds like you both might be happier in the end. How is Tank doing?

Mrs. Mom said...

Remember TRC- where one door closes, another opens ;)

Keep on keeping on, and do your best with Harley while you have him. You are learning a lot from him, and when The Right Horse comes along, you are going to be SO ready to ride at the top of your game!

Rubs to both the boys from us!

Kathy C said...

Congratulations! You made it through your first show, and I bet there are many more where that one came from.

Pony Girl said...

The show sounded like a good learning experience, and you placed pretty darn well! Showing is a lot of work, I can't imagine doing it now. I have too much anxiety...I love that you said you made it through the reining class without puking, that would be me, only I'd be puking! lol! ;) I am sure you will find handsome Harley a rider that will be a good match for him.

Gecko said...

Good on you for going, you stayed on and got through it so that was the main thing! Well done!!

Rising Rainbow said...

Sounds like the show was a good learning experience. For me that's what matters most.