Showing...a Baby Step at a Time

A few weekends ago, Clinton and I broke our maiden, as they say in the racing world.

We had our first show together.

My barn held a fun show this weekend, and I decided to swallow my fear of failure, and enter. Because it was a relaxed, fun show, I didn’t have to wear the traditional garb, nor braid and bathe Clinton. It was a great beginning point for us. I have been taking lessons for three years at my barn, and it was beyond time to put all of those lessons and rides to the test.

Since I was the oldest person at the show, Mary (my instructor) put me in three classes with a teenager who was just beginning in dressage. We competed in Walk/Trot/Sitting Trot, Walk/Trot/Canter, and a very simple dressage test….create a figure eight, halt at the end of the arena, break into a canter, and halt at the gate.

Clinton and I placed second in Walk/Trot, first in the canter class, and second in the dressage test. (Later, Mary told me I would have won that too, had I changed my diagonals in the figure eight. Argh!)

So at the end of this story, you might be thinking, well. This show didn’t prove anything. I basically lost twice. And I was only competing against another girl. So what’s the big deal?

The big deal is that this show was a huge confidence booster. Until now, I never felt confident enough to show. But we did great. Clinton was mostly on the bit during all three classes. Our canter was large and fluid (in fact, I overheard someone saying, “that Clinton doesn’t want to stop!”). And we actually cantered clockwise against the fence! We were so relaxed, too. At the beginning, I took a deep breath, forgot the crowd, and centered on Clinton. We were very relaxed, and to be honest, I forgot anyone was there!

In a few weeks, I am taking a huge leap of faith. I am entering my very first USEF/USDF recognized show in Gainesville, Florida. We will only be competing in Intro tests, but from being unsure I could show, to wanting to make my mark in the show ring, I’d say I’ve grown quite a bit.  Now to figure out how to make those fancy braids…..