Going In Cold, Show Report, Alabama Fun Show, Stepping Stone Farm, 2019

ASHAA Fun Show
Stepping Stone Farm
Chelsea AL, USA
Sunday, August 11, 2019

30 Academy Showmanship WTC Adult, 1 of 3
31 Academy Equitation WTC Adult, 3 of 3
With Transformer
Thank you to Lizzy Plia & Sharon Gray for the wonderful Optimus.

Before
The plan [Scheduling, ha!] was to take at least one saddle seat lesson before the show. My most recent lesson was back in July; before that, April. That hardly seems right. That’s what my notes say.

Anyway.

Between hauling the home team about, yay! and massive heat, boo!, we ran out of calendar. Instead of squeezing in a lesson at the last minute, I decided to make a ~~virtual~~ virtue out of necessity. I’d see how well I could show without any prep. Result, good saddle seating, at least on a tolerant and willing school horse, bad attention to detail.

This was only my second time on Optimus. I didn’t indulge in my usual hemming and hewing with a new horse, which says more about him than it does about me.

During
First class. Went in. Zipped around. Remembered where to put my pinkies and my feet [Switching Gears]. Felt like a hero. In reality, credit goes to an understanding horse who went in and did his job with minimal input from me. First.

Really, I can’t say enough nice things about Optimus. He’s such a good guy. Every lesson program should have one. Or two. Or six. And yet, my heart remains with Sam, in all his curmudgeonly glory. No accounting for taste.

Second class. Wrong diagonal. Seriously? Last.

No media. It was a home show, which meant all hands on deck, which meant any free time was spent running about, which meant I completely forgot to take photos or have photos taken of me. Bad blogger.

After
Most importantly, I have now done the minimum of three classes at two shows [Saddlebros] to qualify me for the ASHAA year-end awards in the two Academy Adult divisions. Currently two big fluffy 4ths.