Ok, so after I locked my keys in my truck, broke my watch, broke my necklace, and nearly melted, I probably should have seen the signs to just put Snoops back in the trailer and leave KY Classique before I ever went down center line. Something told me for days before that this wasn't going to be a good outing. No reason really, as Snoops was doing fine and his last jump school leading up was phenomenal. I just didn't feel right about it. First of all it was ridiculously hot-100 degrees Fri and Sat. Couple that with 3 events in the last six weeks and I just don't think either one of us wanted to play.
Our dressage lacked anything desirable for a good test. Not forward, heavy in the bridle, and just plain flat. He was also very unfocused and didn't like warming up in the small ring with 20 other horses. We got the crappy score we deserved. He probably could've used more warm-up, but I didn't want to take too much out of him before jumping a very big xc in the heat of the day. What am I talking about-the "heat of the day" was pretty much all day!
Several of us in the xc warm-up were trying to convince each other that this was indeed a good idea and that we needed to improve our attitudes really quick if we were gonna give our green horses a good ride! I felt very heat sick before I left the box and I had to kick Snoop up the hill to the first which is very unlike him. He also decided after fence 2 that the bit I thought we had agreed on was suddenly way too much. Every time I touched his mouth he went crazy which made it really difficult to balance in front of the fences. It was clean, but ugly with a few time penalties since we spent so much time arguing. He felt like he could be jumping the Prelim course at his first 2 trainings, but not this day. The jumps weren't the problem, but the communication was a huge problem. He has to remind me every once in awhile that he is indeed still very difficult to manage at times. I still love him though, and don't worry, I've made oodles of excuses for his behavior during the show! My all-time favorite quote from Jimmy Wofford's book: "If you purchase a horse that you didn't like when you first saw him, you will never be happy with the horse. You will never make excuses for him, and you will never enjoy yourself as much as you would riding a horse that you fell in love with at first sight." I have always taken this to heart, having experienced both sides of it.
Snoop show jumped clean, which says something because I think something like 50-60% of horses over ALL divisions had at least a rail. The course was very small, with nothing about the jumps to hold the horses at all. He was very unimpressed which made him very hard to ride. I think he was still a little mad about Sat. as well and I've been schooling prelim SJ fences at home. We managed to claw our way up to a 9th place ribbon-5 spots from where we started. He came home quite sound and happy with the cooler temps. He almost killed me when I turned him out on Mon. night! We can both now enjoy several weeks at home until Jumpstart, where I anticipate a much better showing!
See you soon and GO EVENTING!
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