Our first ridden class for the show was Arwen with a tiny little kiddo. This kiddo rides Faith at home, but she's a bit small for her and Faith can be a handful at competitions, so I gave her the option to ride Arwen instead. Madam Dragon is kind of a legend at the stableyard so the little one was positively starry-eyed at the prospect.
I was desperate for this particular kid - who's had a hard run of it lately - to have a good show. I'd been stressing for weeks about whether Arwen would be good for the tiny tot and my stress levels did not decrease when I saw that she was all alone in her class, so she'd have to go off to the spooky end of the Bob Charter on the dragon right away.
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| my lil sister came over to watch which I loved 💜 |
With this in mind, I'd sacrificed prepping Wynnie to perfection in favour of warming Arwen up before the chaos of the in-hand classes began. I needn't have bothered. The second I got on Arwen that morning, she was ready for anything. She was absolutely relaxed, focused, obedient, soft, and willing, but with that little bit of sparkle that makes her special.
After Wynnie's group class, I saddled Arwen up and popped the kiddo on, and they had a relaxed and easy warmup. She was only doing the best walk and best trot classes, so we stuck with that, and Arwen was perfect.
Finally, with my heart in my hands, I sent them in. I knew Arwen would never hurt the little one or chuck her off or do any of her usual dragonishness with a little kid on her, but this kid's confidence needed a boost and I was desperate for her to have a really good class. And Arwen performed like a total pro. They walked around, they completely ignored the stallion who arrived for the best trot class, and Arwen even went in a cute little frame like a proper kid's show pony.
They were alone in their age group and obviously won both, but no kid is ever mad about a bit of satin. The little one was floating in the clouds when they came out. My whole heart unclenched and it was time to relax and enjoy the show.
Things had settled down significantly by this point. I let Arwen have a short rest in the stables while I got my stuff together and did haynets and water for everyone. Wynnie was chilling and eating her hay, happy as a clam; K was getting Faith ready for her class. K and Faith disappeared for their class while I was tacking Arwen up, and I barely saw them to wave to in the warmup before they went inside.
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| my turn! |
I didn't have a ton of time for Arwen's warmup, but it was long enough to establish that we didn't have time to prepare her flying change. So we abandoned that idea and headed in for our class---congratulating K and Faith as they came out with a lovely second place ribbon---with the plan to do simple changes through walk instead.
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| classy girls 💜 photo by Denford Studios |
All I can say about our show riding class is that I rode the best I've ever ridden and my horse went the best she's ever gone. It was one of those rare moments that both of us were totally focused, totally delighted by our work and each other, and in total harmony. Those are the rides we all live for, and I'm always honored when they happen at home. For the first time in ten years of competing, that ride happened for us at the show this time. Arwen was absolutely effortless. I don't remember a single flaw in her rail or in the individual test.
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| my dragon 💜 photo by Denford Studios |
We'd been placed second after the rail - our competition being a gorgeous half-Spanish stallion with incredible movement - but after the individual test, the judge pulled us out and pinned us first against this extremely beautiful horse with a professional showing rider. We earned that ribbon. The judge mentioned to the other ride that Arwen's superior conformation also nudged her into first, so that was cool to hear as a breeder.
The championship class followed and it was a little weird. She stopped to poo as we went in and that's the only reason I can think of that we ended up in the placing were we did. The stunning stallion who came second in our class won the championship and the pony rider came second. We got the gate. I wasn't super mad because qualifying for ridden supremes would have given us a really long day on Sunday, but I'd have loved to know why the placings shook out the way they did; we literally trotted and cantered large for five minutes before we were placed and both horses went about the same as they'd done in the open class ten minutes before.
I was still beaming as we came out. We've never won the show riding at HOY before, but this time, we did it---and we earned it.
There was time to grab a snack and shout some words of support to K as she rushed between arenas, and then I hacked over to the working riding with Arwen. She was feeling fabulous by then, and I was on cloud nine; it was a perfect thing to have my husband riding alongside on his bike as my Arwen strolled merrily on a loose rein.
K and Faith were in the working riding warmup, ready to go in the novice class right before ours. I kept Arwen's warmup short. We popped over a jump or two, did a little work with one hand, and then stood in the shade for a while to reinforce the fact that we can stand still nicely with a rider on. K got a ribbon for being the only novice working riding adult and wrangled Faith admirably; Faith was squiggly but not bad, and boldly tackled all the obstacles, but K had to work for it.
Then it was time for the open working riding---Arwen and I versus a pair of little kiddos on excellent ponies. Both kiddos have given me a run for my money in the working riding before. One in particular was a formidable competitor despite being, like, 10 years old. (You know how it is).
Arwen and I went first. The course started with trotting through a lane and over some trotting poles, no big deal. It continued with cantering through bending poles on a curve, a challenging feat unless you're a Medium dressage horse who has done a lot of counter canter, so she popped through that with no trouble at all. Next we had to halt between two drums and move a basket from one to the other. Arwen was good for this, but I had a complete hand-eye coordination failure, parked her too far from one drum, couldn't figure out which hand to use, and almost bonked her in the head with the basket. She wiggled in protest but we got it done.
Next we cantered over a little jump, which went fine, and then we had to trot around and halt on a green mat. Arwen halted like a stone pillar and got a lot of big pats for that.
It wasn't a particularly tricky test but I thought that the canter bending poles would help us out - she does better the more spooky and the more technical a test is. The kiddo and pony also did a super nice test but didn't halt quite steady between the drums, so we squeaked ahead and got to win the working riding by a nose.
The championship class followed immediately thereafter. K and Faith as well as the novice child rider winner joined us in the arena and we repeated exactly the same test. This time, I not only rode well but actually behaved like a functioning human and moved the basket easily, so our test was pretty much perfect. I was super happy with it.
K and Faith went well too, barring a wrong lead into the jump, and Faith was happy to relax in the lineup next to Arwen. We watched the child riders go with some trepidation---they had nice ponies and they all could ride---and then the results were called. K and Faith were reserve champion. K was so flabbergasted by this that the judge had to call her several times before she actually went forward to get her rosette, and then Arwen and I were the champions. As far as show moments go as a breeder, having a sash on both of my mares was a pretty good one.
K was grinning all over her face as we headed back to the stables. It was her first sash, and I was really chuffed for her.
Arwen's win qualified her for supremes the next day. We packed up and I sent Wynnie, Faith, and Erin's mare home for the night. All three loaded with no further ado. Arwen settled admirably into a stable next to Erin's riding horse, and Erin and I hung out for a while until it was time for her to go home, and then I just chilled in Arwen's stable with her while waiting for hubby to get back with the two-berth and our overnight stuff.
Supremes would follow---more on that later. God is good.
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