After a winter of schooling, baby care and work on the newly purchased farm, March finally arrived. With Spring on its way in, I thought I'd better try a horse show.
Horse shows make me nervous even though they usually go pretty well for me, so I shouldn't be overly nervous. Heck, even the thought of scheduling a horse show sometimes makes me nervous. Furthermore, I had been taking care of my baby, Liam, on the weekends solo while my husband, Will, worked on the farmhouse, making it difficult to show since most shows are on Saturday or Sunday.
I was going through all of the logistics in my head and realized that I was over-analyzing everything and I had better stop thinking about whether or not I could manage to show and just schedule a show!
I picked a local farm show because it's a shorter day, an easier trailer trip and a small friendly show. I told Julie (my trainer) that I needed to "just do something" to break the ice. After all, with being pregnant and then having a newborn, I hadn't showed since April of the previous year.
Horse shows make me nervous even though they usually go pretty well for me, so I shouldn't be overly nervous. Heck, even the thought of scheduling a horse show sometimes makes me nervous. Furthermore, I had been taking care of my baby, Liam, on the weekends solo while my husband, Will, worked on the farmhouse, making it difficult to show since most shows are on Saturday or Sunday.
I was going through all of the logistics in my head and realized that I was over-analyzing everything and I had better stop thinking about whether or not I could manage to show and just schedule a show!
I picked a local farm show because it's a shorter day, an easier trailer trip and a small friendly show. I told Julie (my trainer) that I needed to "just do something" to break the ice. After all, with being pregnant and then having a newborn, I hadn't showed since April of the previous year.
The farm show was everything I had hoped it would be; a good ice breaker! I went over with my friend, Mary Ann, and her horse Lincoln and Julie met us there with her horse, Cat. Another friend from the barn babysat Liam at her house while I showed.
Liam is a very good, easy going baby, but horse show prep with a baby is definitely harder than horse show prep without one. In spite of that, I made it to the show where Patrick and I kind of picked up where we left off. The only thing I wasn't used to was the pace for jumping down show lines. I felt like I was going mach10 but as you will see in the video I will post, we weren't moving fast at all. We went in an open equitation and an open hunter division. My eq test could have been better. Of my three jump courses, two were decent and one I thought was quite good. The good one was my handy hunter course which I will post here. We were Champion for both divisions.
So I think it's fair to say we are back and it mostly feels like we never left the show ring. I have survived pregnancy, birth, being the mom of a newborn and I'm still riding and showing. I give myself little credit for this feat. It is more a testament to the awesomeness of my support system, especially my husband and my friends who are willing to babysit long enough for me to ride my horse.
Liam is a very good, easy going baby, but horse show prep with a baby is definitely harder than horse show prep without one. In spite of that, I made it to the show where Patrick and I kind of picked up where we left off. The only thing I wasn't used to was the pace for jumping down show lines. I felt like I was going mach10 but as you will see in the video I will post, we weren't moving fast at all. We went in an open equitation and an open hunter division. My eq test could have been better. Of my three jump courses, two were decent and one I thought was quite good. The good one was my handy hunter course which I will post here. We were Champion for both divisions.
So I think it's fair to say we are back and it mostly feels like we never left the show ring. I have survived pregnancy, birth, being the mom of a newborn and I'm still riding and showing. I give myself little credit for this feat. It is more a testament to the awesomeness of my support system, especially my husband and my friends who are willing to babysit long enough for me to ride my horse.
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