After our adventure with the ratchet straps in packing for this weekend’s horse show, I was unhappy, although not altogether surprised, when, lumbering down the highway, I watch a bale of hay and four bags of shavings come a’tumbling off my trailer roof and into traffic.
This is going to be a hellofa day.
Somehow, by the grace of higher authorities, no one seemed to get hurt or otherwise encumbered by our equipment shedding at high speed. Working student Liz and I had the fun of pulling off the road and moving things around on the trailer roof, while semis whipped by at speed. Good times. And we managed to hold it all together until we arrived at Morven Park, shaken, but not stirred.
Note to self: get better ratchet straps and then learn how to OPERATE them. Oy vey.
Other than that, actually, Day 1 was quite uneventful. Liz, my mom and I set up camp in record speed and then quickly went through horses. Ella was good, up enough to make some good piaffe-passage, and I got my left canter half-halt on the first try, so her ride was short. Next was my mom on Indy, Mr. Perfect, who was, of course, perfect. Mom’s getting braver away from home.
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I haven’t ridden Tres, the Andalusian stallion I’m charged with selling, in many lessons, so I’ve mostly been going at it on my own. I’m pretty competent, if I may be so bold, but everyone needs help, and I especially like help on types of horse I’m not all that experienced on. Tres is my first Spanish ride, and so I’m VERY grateful to have Pati Pierucci in my life. Pati and I moved to Virginia around the same time (though she grew up around here), and we’re both jovial and loud, and get along swimmingly. I would adore her even if she didn’t know squat about Spanish horses, but it just so happens that she knows a whole lot about Spanish horses, and her help today was HUGE, as was my mom’s videoing of my ride.
The canter half-passes I’ve been sweating are not as ideal as I want them, but they actually look pretty good, and Pati had me carry my inside hand higher, to help stabilize the bend of the neck. The trot extensions look better than they feel, too. On the other hand, some of the stuff I thought was really slick—the tempo of the collected trot, the sequence changes—actually looks too quick, which was terrific to see. And then most of the other stuff—trot half-passes, walk pirouettes—look exactly as snazzy as I’d hoped. So hoorah!
Liz finished the day with a quick school on her mare Maggie, who said, “I LOVE horse shows! Lookit how perfect I am! Everyone look at MEEEEE!” And that was the day. Cleaned tack, fed critters, ate Mexican food (LOVE Morven Park—it’s the only time we get any good Mexican food!), did night check, and in bed at a civilized hour. Not such a hellofa day after all!
