We both survived Nina's first show. It went well, I am happy with her even though it was not a stellar performance. Nina wound her self up to the edge of a total meltdown and managed to back away from it and behave well.
This was a FUN show at the barn where Nina lives. There were a few extra horses and there was some hubbub and a lot of activity, but it was not like the electric atmosphere at some shows.
I lunged Nina, she was fine and just cantered around, no wildness. I tacked her up fine. When we went into the ring to warmup she just lost it. Trotting in tiny circles around me, head straight up in the air, she could not/would not stand still for a second. She was jerking away from a couple of people who tried to hold her. I couldn't tighten my girth enough to get on or get her reins over her head. And she got worse by the second. I finally got her girth tightened, got the reins where they belonged, dragged a mounting block near her, told a couple of people not to touch her head (one of them was a friend that I had asked to hold her while I got on - changed my mind). As soon as I was on her she calmed down. If that is not typical TB I don't know what is.
One spooky scoot at the people standing by the rail and then she was fine. We didn't get much forward movement, she was kind of inching along, but she did nice transitions and was listening to me. We got cut off once while reversing and she just walked, picked up the trot again and carried on.
She was too tense to ask for better movement, I didn't get her into a rhythm until the class was about over.
What I was pleased about is that she was able to calm herself down from near hysteria, listen to me and do what I asked.... even though all those other horses were obviously just trying to annoy her.
When she winds herself up like that and is just a big ball of adrenaline, I have wondered how far she would go, how bad - how out of control would she get? Now I know. I am feeling much more confident that she can go places and perform and not have to stay in her own safe environment.
Pictures of the day. There will be others that will go up on the barn page, I will show you them too.
Oh - we placed 2nd out of 5.
This was a FUN show at the barn where Nina lives. There were a few extra horses and there was some hubbub and a lot of activity, but it was not like the electric atmosphere at some shows.
I lunged Nina, she was fine and just cantered around, no wildness. I tacked her up fine. When we went into the ring to warmup she just lost it. Trotting in tiny circles around me, head straight up in the air, she could not/would not stand still for a second. She was jerking away from a couple of people who tried to hold her. I couldn't tighten my girth enough to get on or get her reins over her head. And she got worse by the second. I finally got her girth tightened, got the reins where they belonged, dragged a mounting block near her, told a couple of people not to touch her head (one of them was a friend that I had asked to hold her while I got on - changed my mind). As soon as I was on her she calmed down. If that is not typical TB I don't know what is.
One spooky scoot at the people standing by the rail and then she was fine. We didn't get much forward movement, she was kind of inching along, but she did nice transitions and was listening to me. We got cut off once while reversing and she just walked, picked up the trot again and carried on.
She was too tense to ask for better movement, I didn't get her into a rhythm until the class was about over.
What I was pleased about is that she was able to calm herself down from near hysteria, listen to me and do what I asked.... even though all those other horses were obviously just trying to annoy her.
When she winds herself up like that and is just a big ball of adrenaline, I have wondered how far she would go, how bad - how out of control would she get? Now I know. I am feeling much more confident that she can go places and perform and not have to stay in her own safe environment.
Pictures of the day. There will be others that will go up on the barn page, I will show you them too.
Oh - we placed 2nd out of 5.
Congrats, that's great! She looks wonderful in the pictures.
ReplyDeleteWow! That's super! For Nina to calm herself down like that, you must have been a little bit surprised, too. And second place!! Nice! Love seeing the pictures, too. :):)
ReplyDeleteCongratulations! You fearless types with changeable horses like Nina impress me. She's very lucky to have someone who can see through her and find her place of relative calm.
ReplyDeleteThat is a HUGE success! Congratulations...and man, is she drop dead gorgeous:)
ReplyDeletethanks :-)
ReplyDeleteI do feel that it was a big deal for her.