1 Windshield. And I’m off. When we bought the house, the first thing we did is let the front area grown up so that you can’t see the house from the road.
2 Food. Bring on the horse show. Stopped at grocery store on the way out. Wrong drink brand by mistake.
3 Turtle. Tennessee says hello with a turtle. Tennessee Welcome Center. Also a brief drive through a corner of Georgia.
4 At hotel. Checking in before the evening session.
5 Sign. Slow Down You Are Now Entering A Horse Area.
6 At show.
7 SFF sign. Ringside seating on Friday evening.
8 Blank. Saturday morning. In no state to think about pix.
10 Hotel window. Because the window photo is a thing, apparently. Light because it is afternoon and I am at the hotel for the institutionalized nap break. [Hudson Valley Horses]
11 M&M Factory in Cleveland TN. No factory tour. Big smell. I wonder if one gets tired of smelling the chocolate or if it smells like money.
12 Boots. Still weird. “It messes with my head to see people in tall boots walking around saddle seat shows.” [The Red Queen Returns]
13 Travel bag. Gotta love a road trip. Take the bigger bag. Toss in the heavy book. I do apprecaite useful loot. [Achievement Unlocked]
16-17 Gas. Treats. Fuel for truck & driver. My first convenience store purchase of trip. Anything to keep me perky for the drive. The bag marked Chocolate is an insulated lunch bag.
18 Blank. Taking a break at the state border. Nothing I wanted to take pictures of. Do I have a bad attitude? Yes. Thank you for noticing. In my defense, the Alabama Welcome Center was a bouquet of red state tropes.
I lived them once, I have no desire to live them again. However, my nerves have been an ongoing issue, and I dislike it when blogs drop a story.
How did I do? Horse show. Away from home. New horses at the last minute.
I was a mess.
Day Zero
Friday morning I found out that the horse I was planning to ride & drive was unavailable. I was offered two nice horses. Did I think about bailing? Not seriously, but it did occur to me that I could say no and stay home. Husband said it would be a waste of an anxiety attack.
I believe one should move toward yes. If you are not going to do X, it should be to do Y instead. Saying no and sitting like a lump didn’t sound like a great plan. I could go have an adventure. I could always say no at any point in the process.
Plus, I knew the horses. This wasn’t a wild flyer on an unknown horse. I don’t think the change ended up flustering me that much. Or at least, I was so completely flustered that the horse switch got lost in the noise.
Part of my response to Coach Courtney, “Boogie & co sound fine. (eek) Not interested in practice ride [i.e. after the Friday night session]. It is what it is at this point. Would rather leave early & get a good nights sleep. Im leaning fairly heavily on show mode carrying the day.”
Saturday Classes
Given my ability to leap on unknown horses – not! – victory was going to be getting on and getting in the ring. I could tell I was being cut a lot of slack just by showing up.
It did not help.
Friday night to Saturday morning was bad. Maybe not meltdown at Nationals bad but definitely in the top three. Trouble sleeping. Trouble eating. Missing my emotional support husband.
Got to the barns way early. At least it was more interesting than looking at my hotel room.
Hours to go.
Crying jags in the bathroom. The restrooms were near our stalls so at least the constant visits were convenient.
I paced. I watched the clock. I got dressed. I did not want to get dressed. I paced more. I worried about pacing so much and tiring myself out for four classes in a row. I sat, or I tried to sit. I finally borrowed one of the horse show moms for a hug. It helped. A bit.
My stomach is knotting up as I type this. It was not fun.
Cart rolled out. Go time.
Pep talk on the way up.
Into the cart. I was tighter than usual but I don’t remember being particularly nervous in warm-up. All I had to do was trot a horse a few times around the ring. That’s it. If I wanted be quiet and conservative, that was fine. It was just a jogging a few laps. I try not to downplay life events. In this case, focusing on the core requirements helped.
In the saddle. I made Coach Courtney promise not to be mad if I wasn’t saddle seating. If she would do that, I promised to go in and have fun.
Sunday Classes
I’m good.
Seriously, by Saturday afternoon, I was fine. All I had to do is the same thing I just did on two nice horses. What I got to be worried about?
Fine all afternoon. Rested well. Stayed fine when I got back to the show Sunday morning. There was a brief flicker when the cart was rolled out. There are always going to be a few butterflies.
Overall, a great day at a horse show.
Breezes That Blow Thru My Brain
I have thoughts about this.
Bottom line, brains are weird. My brain in particular seems prone to technicolor displays.
Brains & bodies. A contributing factor may have been that my guts coincidentally decide to get over themselves. On Saturday afternoon, my innards finally processed whatever had been bothering them. My, um, digestive residue had been closer to bird than horse. Mornings had involved multiple visits to the smallest room. Hence all the trips to the restroom on Saturday morning that were so convenient for crying jags. Suddenly, back to normal.
Speaking of stomach matters, I was so chill on Saturday night that I ate a good dinner and was able to pack in extra supplies to carry me through if my system decided not to accept food in the morning.
A positive puff of wind – when I was able to have a positive moment – was that driving came first. I could focus on that and not think about riding. Several people have commented that I am braver about driving. Could be. Mostly, I don’t care. Not the way I care about riding. I drive. I have fun. If I never do anything more than trot school horses (and honorary school horses) around the ring in lessons and pleasure classes, I’m good with that. Riding, on the other hand, I want it so badly that I get in my own way. It’s the difference between being able to reel off an art post for Sunday and being completely stymied writing fiction for Saturday. Art is an amusement. Fiction is the brass ring.
And finally, why the difference between Saturday and Sunday? The task was the same each day, and yet I reacted in polar opposites. I think – and I’m guessing here – that Saturday itself helped. I showed. I hung out at a horse show. I got to jump up and down and cheer for folks. In short, I had a good day.
I can’t say that having a wonderful and busy day calmed my brain. My brain does not do calm. I think it gave my brain something to be occupied with. It’s not good if I’m alone too much and in my head too much. Analysis is a useful skill. It becomes a problem if you can’t turn it off. When my brain doesn’t have enough to work on, it turns in on itself. Unfortunately, my brain has a high bar for what it considers positive and interesting and engaging and energizing.
Or something else totally.
That’s enough of that. Wishing us all more day twos and fewer day ones.
There were overnight shows in 2019, but those were with husband and were as much about schooling Milton. Even at Nationals in 2018, husband drove up during the day to support. Yes, he is amazing.
The point is that it has been a while since I’ve been on my own for days on end at a horse show. Not my fav.
Getting ready. I can’t say I was particularly nostalgic for these grounds in particular. It was more a matter of remember all the things that one needs to do for a big show. Of finding all the bits and bobs. Of hoping my show clothes still fit. They did, or at least they buttoned.
At the show. It was fun to find out that I could still dress it up. It was fun to ride in a big facility arena rather than in the riding ring of a local barn. It was fun to watch the evening classes. The performance horses often sit out fun shows & winter tournaments.
Looking Forward
Will I jump back into the bigger ASB shows? Probably not. I am not interested in being away from home by myself. I prefer going to shows with husband & our horses. With the possible exception of this show again next year. Eight classes is hard to turn down.
OTOH, I have proven singularly unable to predict my show career. We shall see.
Awareness of the outside world. The Tri-State Exhibition Center is the home of the Tri-State Therapeutic Riding Center. TSCE: About
~~~
Be happy for me that I went to a horse show. Don’t be mislead by the ribbons. Solo & small classes. Will I take the bling and be thrilled? Absolutely. Do I need four hats? No, but they are mine! Cue dragon hoarding noises.
Southeast Academy Championship Tri-State Exhibition Center McDonald TN October 11-12, 2025 Inaugural Show
Saturday 3 Academy Driving – 1st of 1 4 Academy Driving Reinsmanship – 1st of 1 5 Academy WTC Showmanship Adult Amateur – 1st of 2 6 Academy WTC Equitation Adult Amateur – 1st of 2
Sunday 27 Academy Driving Regional Championship – 1st of 1 28 Academy Driving Reinsmanship Regional Championship – 1st of 1 29 Academy WTC Showmanship Adult Amateur Regional Championship – 2nd of 2 30 Academy WTC Equitation Adult Amateur Regional Championship – 1st of 2
Driving, thank you to the Huguly-Upton coalition for the rockstar Rocky. Riding, thank you to the Kasperian family for the beautiful Boogie. Both horses have official show names. These are their Academy names.
If you look at the list, you will see that my classes are consecutively numbered. We swapped with classes 1&2 (25&26) so that I had a small break. But I still relied heavily on Team Stepping Stone to get me into the ring.
Folks hitched driving horse. Coach Courtney or Coach James warmed up. Cart. Classes. After, someone else drove horse back to the barn while I scampered into the warmup ring. Riding horse was standing at mounting block ready to go. Hop on. Yet another person handed me food and drink. Classes. Trot back to warmup. Hop off. More folks swarmed to swap saddles for next rider. I stood around smiling at all and sundry.
At no point did I participant in getting either of my horses ready. Princess power!
Getting In The Ring II
The horse I had planned to ride & drive was unavailable. Two of the show horses were called back down to the minors to cover. Performance class horses work hard for one class. Academy horses work easier but longer. It is the difference between a short sprint and a long, leisurely stroll. Both horses were stars about the last minute substitution.
Rocky I had ridden once at the end of last year. We had never driven together. [Days With Diego]
Granted there is a noticeable absence of nail-biting drama in a one-entry class, but I still wanted to drive well. I felt a bit stiff throughout. I started with my reins too short and never really sat up and showed off. I did feel froggy enough to ask for a big trot. I’m not sure how much we got. At least I asked.
The pattern for the second class was a circle each way. Afterwards, Couch Courtney said she liked the second circle better, it had more flow. What? Flow? After way too many 20-meter circles in dressage rings, I was all about shape. Noted.
Rocky decided that two classes was over his limit. He never quit on me or made me uncomfortable but halfway thru the second class, he dropped it into chill mode. When I asked for the extended trot in the second direction of the second class, I got a strong vibe of, ‘I hear ya. Not happening.’
He was cute at the beginning.
Me (starting up to head into the ring): Go. Rocky: Go! Me: Maybe not so much. Rocky: Slow! Me: Somewhere in between, perhaps? Rocky: Okay!
We stayed in the ring and did one victory pass at the end of the second class.
Riding Day One
Stylin’ on a smoking hot horse. Yes please. More please.
While I still had to ride, if I lost, it wasn’t going to be the horse’s fault. (Yes, it’s never the horse’s fault.) I had all the gears I needed, all the horse I needed. The other adult has been beating me regularly over the years. I adore Optimus, but I will admit it was nice to have the increased horsepower.
In the photos, I wasn’t thrilled with the saddle seatiness of day one. I did stretch up and keep my chin up and all those other up things. My position just doesn’t scream saddle seat. Is balance seat saddle seat a thing? As of yesterday, I haven’t looked at day two.
Boogie was a star. Lively enough to be spiffy but professional enough to be tolerant of me in show mode. By the fourth class with the kid who rode after me, Boogie was starting to wonder why he kept coming in and out of the ring.
Driving Day Two
While I was once again the hot – and only – favorite, I still wanted to drive better. I decided to go in and have fun with the fancy horse. I sat up and drove more like I do at home and in other driving classes.
I remembered that saddle seat has generally smaller circles than dressage. So I aimed for tighter and thought about flow.
I felt Rocky and I reached a compromise. A little bit less in the first class to smooth out the effort into the second. I did get some ‘tude when I left the line up for the first class to head back to the rail for the second class. In fairness, I’ve gotten ‘tude from Optimus when we have stayed in the ring for a second class at a fun show. Saddlebreds, even Academy, start their classes by trotting into the ring.
When did our first circle on the second day, I got a wave of, ‘What fresh hell is this?’ He was absolutely amenable about it, but he was going to let me know his feelings.
He was all about the victory pass. That part he knew about.
Riding Day Two
First class, I rode about the same. My competition was on a different horse, one that seemed to suit them well. They beat me once again.
As I came out of the ring, I told Coach Courtney, ‘That’s all I got.’ Coach James tried to big me up. You can relax a little. Meh. You can sit up a little. Meh. He was not wrong. It’s just that I have been trying to do those things for years. I didn’t see them changing in the next two minutes. So he said something along the lines of, If you have nothing to lose, go for it. Now that I can work with. [Team Awesome, driving]
Into the ring I stormed. I went a little bit faster. I lifted my hands a little bit higher. I dialed everything up a tenth of a percent. Boogie continued to be his charming and professional self. It was enough.
Or it was the luck of the draw about which bits the judge saw.
I might have gotten a wee bit wild in the victory pass. In trying for a bold statement, one wants controlled exuberance. I sometimes lean into the exuberance and forget about the controlled.
Coda
Public shout out to Coach Courtney for giving academy students the same time and attention as she gives the suit riders. I’ve ridden under a two-tier system. This one is preferable.
Show last weekend, I plan to take all week to tell you about it. I did it for a fun show. Surely I can come up with a week’s worth of posts from my only big show this year. [Hoof Picks, Foot, Nerves, Other Horses, plus two show posts the week before.]
Writing this beforehand, I can’t wait!
I haven’t been going to the bigger shows. Travel. Higher costs. Dressing up. And so on. This one is new. Eight classes: four drive, four ride. Two of the driving are pattern classes. I couldn’t resist, especially when new faces showed up, all of whom can ride & drive.
The show had classes on Sunday, so there was no way I would be in any shape to have gotten a show report done for today.
Part One: watercolor, India Ink, acrylic, gouache.
My place at start.
My place at finish.
My results. Upper left & lower right were demoing the various products. The others were playing with various products. So many lovely products.
A second art class? I signed up for this one first. When the previous one came available, it was close to home and at a convenient time. I decided I didn’t want to miss that much doggy day care. [Beach Scene]
Update. 17 October. Added Art to the title. While I try not to go back, I also want to be consistent with off-topic titles.
Virtual Brush Box 