Ringmanship

It’s a bad sign when the judge comes over to tell you the rules.

In the saddleseat ring, they like a rider in the center of the ring to go all the way out to the rail and make a gradual sweeping turn, lets say to set up for a pattern or for a victory pass. Two weekends ago, when the time came to line up, I was planning just such a maneuver in a vastly big ring only to hear the voice-of-god, aka my instructor, yelling “Turn, Turn now.” This got stored in my head as Don’t waste time – get to the line-up as fast as possible.

Last weekend, when the line-up was called, I was at the completely wrong end of the ring. The other rider was already in place. I would need to trot three-quarters of the way around the ring to pull in next to her. This seemed excessive. Remembering that I needed to get to the line-up as fast as possible, I cut across the ring. I was aiming for a diagonal but ended up with more of a serpentine. Saddlebreds perform in a set pattern. They aren’t big on spontaneous maneuvers. I knew I was in trouble when Trump pinned his ears and informed me that he had not signed up for a Handy Hunter Class, thank you very much.

As we stood in the center, the judge came over to explain that I should have stayed in the direction I was headed. There is even a rule to that effect. Apparently, there have been collisions when riders are let loose to freestyle into the line-up.

Show Report: ASHAA Summer Fun Show, Chelsea AL

Same Time, Next Year
One of my first posts from Stepping Stone Farm was their summer show last year [Showing in the Sun]. This weekend, I rode in the same show. How was it from the inside and a year on? Still hot, quick, & friendly. Helmets are still not an accessory of choice. Ironic, since the show took place on International Helmet Awareness Day.

My Life as a Ring Monkey
The girls were in the barn getting horses ready (including mine – thank you!). The trainers where getting riders organized and into the ring. That left no warm bodies to work the ring. Since chronic volunteers abhor a vacuum, I got sucked into the combined job of ringmaster, runner, and gatekeeper for the morning. It was a small fun show, so it was easy enough to line the horses up, pick up the judges card, and open the gate on my way out. I realized the flaw in this plan at the beginning of one class when I had to close the gate and cross back into the center of the ring while six trotting saddlebreds tried to occupy the same space.

My Classes
My first-second tradition continues, although in this case, first and last would be more appropriate. The good news is that I won all the classes in which I rode. The bad news is that I only rode in the second class. In the first class, I simply sat on the horse with devastating lack of effect.

Resident horses often do worse at home shows. ‘Who are all these strangers and what are they doing in my living room?’ For a youthful five-year-old, Trump was a star. He came out of the barn, thought, ‘Hmm. People. Interesting.’, and then stood like a champ waiting for our class.

When we got in the ring, he took a bit more of a look. Well, duh, we were trotting. Things looked different at speed. He wasn’t bad, not even a half a bubble off plumb. Instead of reacting to the horse I had on the day, I flipped frantically through my mental files trying to remember what I had done last weekend that had worked so well. Lacking any guidance from his rider, Trump rolled on down the highway. Lapping the competition is not a good sign in a pleasure class.

Nor was my equitation any better. When I think too much on horseback, I lean forward, round my shoulders, and look down at the horse. This gets blamed on my hunter/jumper background. In truth, riding like Ichabod Crane is no more correct in hunt seat equitation than it is in saddleseat equitation.

I am human. I accept – grudgingly – that I will make mistakes. Do I have to keep making the same one? Isn’t it time to move on to better, different, more interesting mistakes?

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Previous saddleseat posts

Spectators as Riders

In a recent post, Librarian_Meets_Horse discusses his fence judge debut. While Mr. H is a newly-minted rider, from what I have read, folks in the UK will fence judge as a hobby without any interest in climbing aboard a horse. Ditto spectators.

This matches with a conversation fragment I overheard at Rolex one year. I was walking back from some briefing or another behind two big-noise officials. British Official asked what percent of the spectators were riders. American Official said almost all, most of them eventers. I would have added a few non-riding Lexington locals, but otherwise yes. This appeared to come as astounding surprise to British Official.

Two questions for Brits or British residents:
Is Eventing more of spectator sport in the UK than in the US?
What was the little yellow timer for?

Liebster Award

Warm fuzzy digital hugs to Life at the Manor for nominating Rodney’s Saga.

The Liebster Blog Award is a way to recognize blogs who have less than 200 followers.  Liebster is a German word that means beloved and valued.

See RS About comment section for the nomination, LatM post for rules and other recommended equine blogs.

Unfortunately, I don’t read enough horse-related blogs to have 11 to nominate. I certainly cruise the equine section of the blogosphere.
I’ve found cool individual posts, see my post tomorrow. However, I don’t research the area sufficiently to speak with authority on the subject. (Ask me about science fiction/fantasy books, and I will authority your a$$ off. But I digress.) For routine maintenance, I read my friends, e.g. Writing From the Right Side of the Stall, and folks I have met thru blogging, e.g. Tails from Provence. After that I am more likely to turn to blogs that concern things about which I know nothing, e.g. life as a best-selling science fiction writer on Whatever.

The same holds true for books. I’ve read Dick Francis – who hasn’t? I have a huge collection of horse books [Retail] and a good intentions stack filled with information to help my horses &/or my riding. When it comes time to actually open a book, I’m more likely to read about wild mushrooms [quoted for Inspiration], or a graphic novel about primate research [excerpt here].

The same holds true for LEGO sets. I don’t feel compelled to buy the horse farms or firetrucks. If I want to fuss with either, I stick with the full-scale versions.

At least I’m consistent.

Do you read horse blogs/books more than other subjects?
What equine blogs am I missing out on?

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Other nominations:
One Lovely Blog Award: And the Winner Might Be
The Versatile Blogger: My Second Blog Award
Haynet Blog of the Day

Show Report: Chattanooga/Cleveland Charity, Cleveland TN. Part Two – Specific

Class 78. Academy Showmanship Walk and Trot – Adult

My mount, Trump, had shown in two walk/trot/canter classes earlier. Therefore, we sailed into the ring full of style and verve. A little too full. It felt as if a firehose had been left on. It took a few moments of wrestling with the nozzle to bounce him back to his nice soft trot.

Since saddlebreds always perform in the same order, he was convinced that trot was followed by canter. A reasonable assumption on his part. As an enthusiastic horse, Trump was ready to go, ‘We canter next, right? We canter?’ When I said, ‘No. We turn around and trot’ I could feel the question mark forming above his head. Fortunately, Trump is also an amenable horse, so he answered with, ‘Makes no sense, but sure, fine, let’s go.”

There was only one other person in my class. As far as I was concerted, there could have been ten. One of these days, I will have to start taking in the world around me. My eyes are up – usually – but my awareness is limited to the horse/rider bubble.

Class 79. Academy Equitation Walk and Trot – Adult

Still floating along from my victory pass in the previous class, I spent the first fragment of the second class congratulating myself on how well I was able to ride this horse. I finally remembered that I had to actually ride not just ponder my own wonderfulness.

Class 89. Academy Showmanship Walk and Trot Championship – Riders 11 and Over
Yes, you read that right. I was in the ring with any walk/trotter over the age of 10. It is very likely that the combined ages of everyone else in the ring was still less than my age. Someone jokingly accused me of beating up on the kids. Abso-bleeping-lutely. Outside of the ring, I can behave with reasonable amounts of politeness and grace. Once I go in the ring, It. Is. On. I will do everything I can – within legal and moral boundaries – to blow your doors off. I expect the same treatment from you.

In order to smoke said youthful competition, I tried to improve my position over what it had been for the previous classes. As I went into the ring, I heard, “Lean back.” I did and immediately fell behind the motion. Trump was not pleased. In the photos (see below), his ears are turned back at the beginning of the class (photos C13-089-002/3). He scooted down the long side wailing in anguish while my smile turned into a teeth-clenching grimace and I hung onto my position by brute force.

Unfortunately, Trump has a high reveb. When the time came to walk, I got myself reorganized but Trump was still agitated. I softened my seat. I asked him to walk. I tried to tell him the fire was out. No dice. I finally heard – from the other end of the arena – my instructor’s voice yelling, “Walk!” with an undertone of, ‘Will you please just walk the darn horse already.’ I gave a heave and downshifted Trump to a walk. I reversed, stirred in a bit of hunt seat to get my weight centered, and asked for a trot. No problem. He was as soft and as perky as a horse could be. He doesn’t hold a grudge.

In the past, Trump had all five gears installed. The rider needs to be clear about asking for trot or canter, otherwise he defaults to rack. If memory serves, the only time I had him racking was for the third victory trot. Trump was done. He wasn’t used to having multiple riders nor going in and out of the ring multiple times. He was tired of playing lesson horse. He was tired of being mistaken for Sam.

Sandra Hall Photography
Disclaimer – don’t download. Yes, I perseverate on the subject. People around the Internet are starting to notice that shows don’t have photographers anymore. Wonder why?

2013 Chattanooga > Saturday Morning > class numbers above. Chestnut horse, black pants, blue vest, helmet.

My Photos
… or absence thereof. After specifically getting my camera back from the repair shop for this show, I failed to pack a battery. I have two. You would have thought one of them would have been in the camera or the charger. Oh well. Same place as earlier TN show, different barn, way more horses [Show Report].

cov Diamond CDBooks on CD
The audio track for the drive was the middle third of The World Until Yesterday: What Can We Learn from Traditional Societies? by Jared Diamond [Viking 2012], read by Jay Snyder: childhood, old age, and danger. Since the content engaged a totally different part of the brain than used for horse showing, Mr. Snyder’s soothing voice made a great stress reliever as I drove back and forth from the hotel. Has anyone else noticed how much better narration has gotten on audio books?

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Show Report: Chattanooga/Cleveland Charity, Cleveland TN. Part One – General
Prior show reports and showing posts collected here.