Double Header – Part One.

Second semester means the second half of Becker’s IHSA season. After welcoming one new rider and one returning rider onto the team, BCET was ready to start practicing for our first weekend of showing. Not only would our first show of 2014 be at the end of spring break, therefore cutting our break in half, but it would a double-wammy. Two shows, two days, one weekend. Our first show of the weekend was hosted by three different teams; the College of Holy Cross, Assumption College, and Clark University.

After a week of sleeping in, my 4:30 alarm came very unwelcomely to my ears. From there, my body ran though the typical beginning motions of a horse show on autopilot. Get out of bed, wash my face, brush my teeth, get dressed (thank god for having my clothes set out in the right order), grab my bag, run to the bus, scarf down my coffee and bagel, sleep. Only this show was a short forty minutes away, the closest show in my three years at Becker, so going back to sleep was not the best idea. I woke up twenty minutes later feeling like someone poured sand in my eyes. Oh, did I mention I was sick as well? Add that to the list and it was a rough morning to say the least. Thankfully, I had some cold medicine and a boyfriend on his way with a coffee delivery.

 

I should probably mention that I was EXTREMELY nervous for this show, as it was my first IHSA show as an Intermediate Flat AND Fences rider. That means that I would be jumping larger fences on harder horses on harder courses. GAH! I ended up drawing an adorable 14.2 Arabian gelding named Kat. Although a pony is never really my preference for over fences classes, Kat seemed like a steady guy and the perfect horse for my first Intermediate Fences class. It turned out that I was completely right. He knew his job from the moment I entered the ring, even when I lost my stirrup three strides into the trot (the stirrup was slippery okay?!). This course was unlike the courses at the other shows because it had a test within the course. We were instructed to halt after fence three, trot to fence four, and continue on cantering our course as normal. Kat was perfect (even when I pulled a classic Terise move and jumped up his neck at the trot fence) and I left the ring feeling confident about my course. The judge must have agreed as I placed first out of six riders. YAY!

 

Next was flat, which I had no worries about. I drew Citrine, the funky colored mare that I rode last semester at UMass Dartmouth. This time I was much more comfortable on her, although she did not seem very comfortable at all. Walk and trot were fine, but each canter transition was choppy and she felt like she wanted to buck. We made it through the class and placed second out of seven. Lucky for me (though unlucky for her next rider), Citrine waited until the middle of her next class before deciding that she wanted to be done for the day, kicking the wall, and taking off bucking.

 

The rest of our riders did exceptionally well (we even had a rider in the high point ride off!) and the team ended up as Reserve High Point Team for the day! All that was left was to go to bed, wake up, and do it all over again…

-TC