Sweetpeacefuldream Jumps at the Saddle Club

This morning Sweetpeacefuldream and Dewey went with us to the Rockie Mountain Saddle Club.  Miss Pea was trying again to get the hang of horse shows consisting mainly of "hurry up and wait."  Dewey came along for moral support and to have a field trip off the ranch with his new owner, Rebecca.

Miss Pea did really well.  She is really starting to get the hang of the horse show routine.  It's a funny game that horses have to adjust to, somewhat different from track life.  Miss Pea realized that the show game is mostly about standing around and visiting with friends, interrupted by the occasional tour of the arena.  As soon as she had that figured out she thought it was pretty fun.

A summary of her day at the show:
1 - Wake up early, eat breakfast, load in the trailer, drive to the show.

2-  Wait in the trailer while your human gets you signed up and checked in, then unload and stand at the trailer eating out of a hay bag during grooming.

3 - Get dressed, warm up in the arena and look at everything.
4 - Graciously accept compliments from the spectators, fellow competitors, and show organizers about what a gorgeous mare you are.

5 - Fall asleep standing near the bleachers with your Bit of Honey Training crew while you wait for your turn to ride in your classes.

6 - Ride in your division, accept ribbons for being spectacular, go back to the trailer and snack on hay.
7 - Do a little jumping and show the kids how it's done.  Miss Pea got to do the little hunter hack course a few times so she could get the hang of it.  A video of her three goes can be seen here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HINJCb7aE5w

Jumping is a tricky thing, because a horse has her eyes on the sides of her head.  This creates a blind spot immediately in front of her, and thus the fence actually disappears out of her field of vision right as she needs to take off to jump it.  It's quite a gift that horses are willing to jump at all for us when some of the things we ask them to leap over are quite monstrous.  Then the monster disappears just before the horse presents her belly to the beast by jumping over it.

Her first time through was a chance for Miss Pea to take a good hard look at the little jumps.  Because Miss Pea is careful and wanted to do it right, she weaved and dipped her head, and sucked back just in front of the jump so that she could see exactly where it was as she approached.  She was also checking to see how big she ought to take it.  She would rather overestimate the size than hit a pole by accident, so she leaped big during round one.

Her second time through she was a little straighter to the fences, and while she still took a good look and was cautious, she was growing more confident.  By the third time through she conservatively hopped over the first fence, cantered her four steady strides in between, and then hopped over the second fence.  Great success for a youngster thinking her way through a simple line. 

The last item of the day was to load back into the trailer and go home to eat some more. She and Dewey did this part really well.

We had friends from other barns there at the show with us as well.  The miniature pinto is Cher, who is fabulous at showmanship with her owner, Sandy.  Sandy is a really fun individual, she is a great admirer and supporter of the Thoroughbreds I bring along.  Sandy was one of the very first female jockeys, and has been in the Jockeys' Hall of Fame.  She is now retired from racing, as well as a retired doctor and professor from CSU here in Fort Collins.  She now shows her horses at the saddle club shows and shares really fun stories with us from when she raced in the 60s.

My friend Trisha was there as well, with her twenty five year old Lipizzaner.  He came from Florida a couple years ago through another friend, never having done anything other than dressage in an arena.  He now also enjoys his retirement at the saddle club, as well as teaching Trisha's students, including  an eleven year old girl who will piaffe and passage with him.