The Red Queen Returns, Show Report, Alabama Charity Championship Horse Show 2023

Awareness of the outside world. “The 33rd Annual Alabama Charity Championship Horse Show benefits SPECIAL EQUESTRIANS.” AACHS: Home.

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Alabama Charity Championship Horse Show
The Northeast Alabama Agri-Business Center
Rainesville AL, USA
Sunday 22 October 2023

Transformer (Optimus)
93. Academy Pleasure Driving, 1st of 1
94. Academy Showmanship WTC-Adult, 2nd of 3
95. Academy Equitation WTC-Adult, 2nd of 3
98. Academy WTC Championship, 4th of 6, (second highest placed adult)

Thank you to the Gray family for the terrific, talented, two-division Transformer.

Thank you to Stepping Stone Farm for the show in general and extra thanks for the logistics it takes to get a driving horse into the ring.

Overall

The plan was to ride in three shows. [Lesson Thoughts]

If I had come up with this plan earlier, I could have done a smaller fun show rather than one of the big shows. Still, it’s not a bad thing to break out the fancy duds once a year. Plus, I enjoyed the chance to run around the large ring.

Driving Class

Optimus is definitely a three-coffee individual. He was still on his first cup during the driving class. I’d ask him to hustle up. He’d swish his tail at me. Hustle. Swish. Hustle. Swish. He finally got with the program during the victory pass. We ended up zipping out of the ring in fine style. We passed through the ring exit and the arena doorway as if we were doing marathon gates.

Riding Classes

Style. Good moments. When I slipped, I remembered to adjust. Maybe 80% to 90% of what I was doing in lessons. That’s good stats. [Lesson Notes]

In the first two classes, I tried hard. Pretty much the best the old man & I were going to do. The third riding class, the Championship class, was Adults & Juniors. Adults rarely score well in combined classes. So I gave up. I’m just gonna go in and have fun with my horse. Ride came out about the same. There is a lesson there.

Lines. Did well here. Had some nice passes. Some good turns. Good use of the ring. I see places to improve but pleased that it was on my radar.

Horse Form. Not even a little bit. Thought about it once and then forgot. On the other hand, Optimus was showing a bit of sparkle. Maybe he doesn’t see the need to rise to the occasion at the fun shows.

Trot. Mostly good. Had a beast of a time getting the correct diagonal after the reverse. Even when I went to change, I still came up wrong. I think Opt hadn’t shifted his weight to the new direction & that was throwing me up on the incorrect diagonal.

Canter. Mostly good. One canter depart, I wasn’t clear and we sputtered a bit. The rest were clean and we had no trouble holding the canter. The first canter, Opt was either in a mood or trying to catch the horse in front of him. He picked up the canter and ever so slightly ran off. We gallumphed partway down the long side until I sat up.

Me: Teacup canter, please.
Opt: Oh, alright.

Dude was feeling good.

Storm Clouds

Still? I rode in this class almost a decade ago. The rut has worn deep.

I am not comfortable with the growing popularity of the ASB hunter classes. It messes with my head to see people in tall boots walking around saddle seat shows.

Silver Linings

I was offered a fancier horse, which brought the possibility of better ribbons. This shouldn’t be the case, but Optimus does not pull the judge’s eye. I passed on the fancy horse. This is the last chance to practice on the big stage before the National Academy show. So I took one for the team, let the kids practice their National rides, and went into the ring with a horse I was comfortable on. [Emotional Support Horse]

Speaking of Nationals. A red bouquet makes it easy to say no. I have zero intention of going to Nationals, maybe ever, certainly not this year. If I had swept the board, I still would have said no, but it would have been harder.

Four classes. That’s always fun.

Am now qualified in driving for the year-end awards. Bring on the fluffies! Given the lack of competition, driving is likely to be a fancy fluffy.

Speaking of awards, placings at this show are unlikely to affect my year-end slot for riding, making the color of the ribbons irrelevant from that point of view.

To paraphrase Benny from the LEGO Movie, Horse Show! Horse Show!

Announcement, To Whom It May Concern

Next year, I want to be bringing my eventing Saddlebred to this show to do country pleasure for giggles. [Finding A Horse To Match The Hat] & [Wondering If What I Want Is Really What I Want]

I even have a plan.

We will go places for serious dressage & jump lessons. Then I will bring him – odds favor a gelding – over to SSF, hang a show bridle on his head, and figure out how to get through two country pleasure classes without unduly traumatizing, or reprogramming, the horse.

Onwards!
Katherine