SSF Home Show Costume Class, one of the most hotly contested classes on our show calendar.
Photo by MegMcKinneyPhoto by Meg McKinney
~~~ Low Key Photo Challenge
Process Notes
None. Top, not my photos. Bottom, phone snap.
Procedure for Low Key Photo Challenge
1) I post photo(s) on a given theme.
2) You comment below with a link to your photo(s) on that theme.
3) We all click over to see what you have.
That’s it. No prizes. No rules. No submissions. For more explanation, see [Inaugural Edition].
Classes 2&3. Open Pleasure, Open Pleasure Championship. 3&4/5
Thank you to Lily Cofield & the Cofield family for Bel Cheval’s I’m Joanie
The weekend before Nationals, we had our annual in-house show. Joanie was not pleased at the commotion. Unlike Dottie last year [Show Report], Joanie did not recognize this as a show and saw no reason to rise to the occasion. I figured her attitude would improve at a real show. (It did.)
Our canter transitions were better but I had trouble holding the canter. I was staying off the rail to a) show the horse & b) stay out of the muddy bits. This narrowed our flight path, and I needed to support her more on the turns. I figured we would improve in the wider ring at Murfreesboro. (We did.)
The classes were held back-to-back, so I’m not sure which ribbon I got in which class.
Milton’s Meanderings
Milton came along for more non-compete experience. He did great. As soon as Joanie was done and put away, I tacked up and got on. We walked and stood for the rest of the show: up the driveway, around the barn, up and down the aisle. I combined directing him with letting him wander at will. One time, I swear he walked behind the barn to see why all the cars were parked in a place where they usually weren’t.
Milton came along for more non-compete experience. He’s not over it yet. He’d stand for a while and then move off. Even if someone was admiring him, he’d amble away. None of it was fast or anxious, but he will usually stand forever to bask in adoration.
Since an barn open house was being held in conjunction with the show, all of the horses got new stall signs. Milton got his.
First class. Way nervous beforehand. Would this be my year? No. Rode reasonably well. Problem with one canter trying to pass someone. One judge saw. Two others didn't. 4/13 means I get to ride again. pic.twitter.com/QVYB63FNxv
Second class. Pressure's off. Rode hard, even remembered to equitate from time to time. Better trip. Oh well. 8/13. Got a little nervous during the announcing. Well, I did say I wanted a missing color. pic.twitter.com/2zAx9KJPp0
Changed horses in midstream. One major error in first class plus many minor adjustments required. Pulled socks up for second class. 9/13 & 3/13. pic.twitter.com/7fRlYwdchz
I never got the full story on this. I’m missing a mid-length, Saturday 3rd. However, I have a full-length, Sunday 1st, so I’m not stressing it. Also some thing about a trophy that wasn’t ready. They mentioned this during the ribbon presentation. Tigger didn’t want to stand, I couldn’t hear, & wasn’t taking a lot in. So, once again, I don’t have the full story. Either a trophy will show up or it won’t. I have the ribbon & the title. I’m good.
The Overall Twitter Experience
As a tweeter, I started well but fizzled out. 3+8+8+6+8+4 = 37. Most of the later tweets are results, judges’ cards or schedule information. As I said in one the tweets, numerical posts were easy. Why no content tweets? Not sure. Did I have nothing to say? That can’t be possible, although I was stressed before my classes and tired after.
Part of the problem was mechanics. My Twitter app got stuck on my feed or some other page that still does not display all of my tweets. Other tweets went off into the ether and never reappeared.
Many of the tweets had photos in place of clever wordage. Maybe next time I’ll try Instagram.
Friday Morning
2. Academy WTC Equitation–Adult, 4th of 13
7. Academy WTC Pleasure–Adult, 8th of 13
Thank you to Lily Cofield & the Cofield family for Bel Cheval’s I’m Joanie
Saturday Morning
31. Academy WTC Equitation–Adult Championship, 9th of 13
36. Academy WTC Pleasure–Adult Championship, 3rd of 13
Sunday Morning 63. Academy WTC Pleasure National Finals–Adult, Top Ten, 1st of 12/13
71. Academy WTC Equitation National Finals–Adult, Top Ten, no ribbon (10th) of 12
Thank you to Veronica Tenerowicz for Tigger by Tiger
Overview
I won the first final (!!!). I squeaked into 10th in the next one. Judges placed me first. Judges placed me 10th, or worse. Often in the same class. It was that kind of weekend. Sometimes a judge just doesn’t like the smell of your perfume. That’s fine. I’ve surfed the upside on enough occasions. If you don’t want your results influenced by personal opinion, take up jumpers. Or barrel racing.
The Classes, Minus One
First class. Joannie and I had one outright error on our shake-down cruise. I went to maneuver around another rider and we broke at the canter. My bad. 4th.
Second class. Much better ride, as voted by both self and observers. 8th. Huh?
Third class. With no obvious adjustments to make, we tried a different horse rider match-up. Tigger had always been in reserve for the pattern class on Sunday. We moved up the switch. I badly mauled the canter transition in front of two of the three judges. Also unsure of horse. This was my third ride on Tigger. 9th.
Fourth class. Cleaned up the canter transition. More sure of my ride. 3rd.
Fifth class. See below. 1st.
Sixth class. The brio that stood us in good stead for the first final bubbled over in the second one. The judges did not like me stampeding around their nice, pretty ring. Ah me. Win some; lose some, but usually not that quickly. That’s horses for you. 10th.
The Class
All of the above was by way of setting the stage. In the ring, I had excellent moments mixing with constantly fixing little errors. I had some traffic management incidents, that would either earn me points for getting out of them or lose me points for getting into them in the first place. I pulled into the line-up feeling that the class had gone well but not perfectly.
Headers invited into the ring. Waiting. I make top ten. Nice. Not guaranteed but not unexpected. Third place. Not me. Second place. Not me. Oh well. I put in good rides. It wasn’t my weekend. Since they only award to third place, no ribbon. Probably fourth.
First place. 427. Say WHAT?
The shock I saw on Coach Courtney’s face was undoubtedly mirrored on my own. We had done it! It was most definitely a “we” situation.
My pole-axed look was quickly replaced with the quiet, gracious dignity for which I am so well known. HA! One is supposed to hoot and holler for riders in the ring, not for one’s self while riding. Too bad.
After all these years [Showtime 2012, Red Queen 2017 retrospective], you’d think I would have more to say. I’m sure I will, eventually. Ditto media. Right now, I’m gobsmacked. And tired. And thrilled. Mostly, gobsmacked.
This was an experiment. I created & scheduled a short post as a placeholder. The goal was to snap and upload a ribbon photo on Sunday afternoon/evening as a way to let you know how Nationals went. If there is no picture here, I forgot or couldn’t get it done or am too happy/sad/tired to bother.
Virtual Brush Box 