This quote sums up Highboy's weekend at the horse trial in Laramie, WY pretty well. My intent for the weekend, what I really wanted out of it, was to have Highboy experience all three phases of a horse trial. Dressage, cross-country jumping, and showjumping. We did accomplish that, we just didn't do so well with the actual competition portion. It doesn't matter too much, because we are at the very beginnings of his career and Highboy doesn't know or care if he's being judged or timed, and he still was able to try out all three phases.
The Windy Wyoming Horse Trials are relatively small in attendance numbers for a rated show, but this made it a very personable and friendly environment. The stalling was metal panels in the same field as trailer parking. The show jumping ring was delineated with a heavy yellow rope, and the two dressage courts were set up with the classic low white pvc arena walls and the grass mowed short. Warm up areas were nearby, also in the same field. The cross country course was across the street, below the I-80 freeway nearby.
Friday we arrived at the show grounds in the late morning. They were allowing paid show jumping rounds in the arena, which meant that for $10 I got three minutes in the ring to let Highboy look at everything and jump some of the fences. Naturally I took advantage of this, because should we make it to the showjumping portion of the competition I wanted him to at least have had a good look at the decor beforehand.
When Highboy and I went in the ring he became very animated. He was spooking and leaping in the air sideways, honking and snorting at jumps he'd never seen the likes of before. One of these was a rolltop jump, which looks sort of like a wooden barrel cut in half longways and laid on its side with a pole over the top. Highboy said that it looked imposing. This, from the horse who regularly picks up barrels, tarps, and feed tubs in his mouth, then chases his friends with them. I let him walk around it several times to assess its relative safety from all angles, then I asked him to go over it. The first time he stopped and had to take another look. I backed him up a little ways and asked him again. He almost did it, but at the last second had to have yet another look. The third time I asked him to go over it, he got right to the base of the fence and absolutely LAUNCHED into the air, easily clearing the 5' standards on either side of the rolltop. The folks watching at the gate began to cheer and holler, as Highboy proceeded to jump over multiple other fences with the same panache', occasionally landing and bucking a few times with his heels over his head for good measure. When I exited the arena at the end of my three minutes, the ring steward looked up at us and said in an awed voice, "You jumped the hell out of that!" I said thanks, and that it was pretty rough but Highboy's never been to a show like this before. She then exclaimed, "Not the horse, YOU! That was an amazing ride!" It sure made me feel good to have someone impressed with my riding when my horse had been so melodramatic.
The next morning was dressage. Keep in mind that I was comparing Highboy's behavior in dressage warmup as well as in the test with his nonsensical performance in Estes Park at the show about two months ago. Comparing to where we started the season, I was very pleased with Highboy's performance. He was mostly sensible (Highboy! Mostly sensible!) in the warmup, and even though he got pretty excited in the actual show arena once he was away from the other horses and the wind kicked on, I was still pleased with how it went. He got both leads at the canter, he only hopped around a little bit, and no one felt the need to petition onlookers for prayers as we began.
After dressage we adjourned to the trailer to get untacked so I could walk the cross country course one more time. Forrest the border collie went with me to this show and he really enjoyed the course walks. The distance of one circuit of the course was 1.2 miles, and I walked it with Forrest four times, totaling 4.8 miles. I need this much repetition because of a head injury I experienced eight years ago. It affected my short term memory, so whenever I go to a show I have to make sure that the course is firmly lodged in my mind, even if it is not a complicated round. Forrest was happy to oblige in the hiking required to get the course into long term memory.
In the afternoon I got Highboy all dressed for cross country, yellow attire and all. He did fine in the warmup, just the usual shenanigans as he felt the tense energy of the other horses.
However, cross country warmup was the same field as the show jumping warmup, which I'd done the day before. That meant Highboy wasn't able to warm up over any actual cross country jumps, and he didn't get to watch any other horses go before him. I had been hoping he would get to see this, since he learns a lot by observing. When it was finally our turn we were dismissed from the warmup to walk to the start. We had time to walk closely around the start box about three times, then we were sent out on course. Highboy had no idea what we were doing, and the first fence was too imposing for him. We had three stops at that very first fence for him to look more closely at it, and three stops eliminates you from competition.
Disappointed, I rode him back to the horse trailer to get him untacked before he had even gotten sweaty. Highboy was very put out that we were going back to the trailer before he had gotten to DO anything. He had a temper tantrum on the way back, which included bucking, stomping his feet, and leaping about insisting that we return to the course. I got him undressed and put him away in his stall, then Forrest, my friend Sara, and I consoled ourselves with cheetos in lawn chairs by the trailer.
Fortunately, the show management allowed us to stay and school the cross country course after the whole show had ended Sunday. Highboy and I got dressed again, then headed out to school. I let him have a good thorough look at many of the fences, and if he jumped one nicely I let him gallop as a reward. I suspect we scared the daylights out of the other folks who had stayed to school, as Highboy did everything with his trademark intensity. But I have to ride the horse I have that day, and this is how Highboy learns best.
While competitively speaking the weekend was a wash, I still enjoyed myself tremendously. Forrest made a terrific debut as a show dog. Highboy got to experience all three phases of a horse trial, and he doesn't know or care if he was judged or timed. So again I refer to Hamlet, "There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so".
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