First Show Jitters

March 11th was our very first show and I was super excited. Gryfon and I had been working on the Intro A test, along with the 6 Feet on the Ground Test 1. I felt really confident we would do a good job. I was not expecting any ribbons, but did expect to at least ride! That turned out to be wishful thinking...

My friend DLB came along with me for support and we left "dark and early" Saturday morning in order to make it to Donida in time for my first test at 9:18. We arrived shortly after 8 and had about an hour to get ready. DLB helped my unload all my gear and then parked the truck and trailer for me while I got Gryfon settled in.

The venue was super busy as there were 140 horses registered to compete! The weather was quite chilly and very windy. Most of the horses were quite "uppity." Gryfon settled in well and was eating and drinking in no time. Once we had everything all set up, I got my number and decided to take Gryfon for a walk to get him use to the area. That's when the drama began...

We walked around the barn area with no issues and started to explore further out. I wanted to find the arena we would be showing in first. As we approached the warm-up arena, a big gust of wind picked up the pop-up canopy just as we passed it. Well, let me tell you...Gryfon reared, spun, and ran off like his tail was on fire, dragging me behind him like a water skier! I felt there was no way I was going to get him calm enough in 40 minutes to do the 6 Feet test. I told DLB to go to the office and scratch us. Well, she wouldn't let me scratch. (Thank you DLB) It was an in hand test so she encouraged me to just walk into the arena and walk out, but I needed to do something!

I worked diligently over the next 30 minutes to calm him. We made it out to lunging area and I kept his feet moving, practiced all our usual things and tried to do a normal routine with him. He finally calmed down enough to at least pretend to listen to me so I made my way over to the arena and waited for my turn to enter.

He was still very "alert" but at least had 1 ear on me. Once we entered the arena, we had to wait several minutes for the judge to ring the bell. (Lesson learned: Wait at the back part of the arena and keep him moving rather than stand in the middle and wait to begin.) 

We did our best. Gryfon was still pretty high strung and was certain the a horse was being killed in the next arena over. We made it through the test and left the arena. 

I decided to scratch the Intro A test, as the ride time was less than an hour after this test. I did however keep working with Gryfon until he was super calm, and back to his old self. (an hour and a half after my Intro A ride time) DLB and I returned Gryfon to his stall and then ate lunch. After lunch, I tacked him up and we went to walk around some more. He was a champ the rest of the day. All in all it was a successful day. I didn't fall off, and no blood was shed. HAHA! We even ended up with a 4th place ribbon for our efforts! (out of 10 horses) 

The next show we go to will be a smaller local show. We are not ready for the big leagues yet...