Yesterday was my first horse show. I am going to cut to the chase right now and tell you that I totally chickened out. I have not ridden this horse since last fall when we went on trail ride. I know nothing about horse shows. My friend, I'll call her Terry entered me in 16 events, from dunk the chicken to barrel racing. OK. Since she is a member of the saddle club, she wanted us to be flag carriers for the opening ceremonies. OK...We had about five minutes to practice riding around with the flags before the ceremony began. I had no idea what I was doing, but was not real nervous. So I am trying to trot this horse around holding a flag, but I have no idea what a trot is because all this horse has ever done with me on him is walk, at my insistence...or dead run! It went pretty well, I did not drop the flag, and we headed back to the trailer to drop off the flags and get ready for the first event, in which I was the first contestant. As it was, my horse could have cared less about having a flag waving around him, but Terry's horse was not too happy about it, when she went to hand the flag to someone she started bucking and rearing and trying to charge. When my horse saw this behavior, he decided that looked like fun and he followed suit. So here I am holding this stupid flag while this horse is bucking and rearing and trying to take off. Terry ended up getting thrown into the side of a truck. I somehow managed to calm my horse down enough to get off. I was shaking like a leaf. I mean I have never shook like I was shacking right then. That was my light bulb moment. This sport was not for me. Terry came over and started yelling at me. "What are you doing off that horse? Did you drop that flag?" "Get back on that horse now!" I said "No. I am done. I am a nervous wreck, he knows it, and I am done, sorry, this is not for me. I am scared to death." Terry told me that you have get thrown at least ten times before you can be considered a cowgirl. Well, I guess I will never be a cowgirl. Terry ended up riding both horses in all of the events. By the end of the day she could hardly walk, let alone stand. She's pretty sure she cracked a rib. I don't know why she insisted on riding both horses, I could have cared less about being out the twenty-six dollar entry fee at that point, but I think she wanted the points for the competition, and that's where I let her down. The rest of the day both horses gave her a hard time every time she took them out. They were the most mis-behaved, stubborn horses at the show. All day she kept telling everyone that I chickened out and would not ride Wyatt. I would just smile and say, "YEP." Funny none of the other "horse people" that was there blamed me one bit. In fact at one point I did say, "I think I am being smart, not chicken." And at that two older gentleman who are members of the club,that know the horse I was to ride, and have been horse owners for years, turned around and said, "You are, don't worry about it." There were a couple of her friends there that did not bring their horses, that were experienced riders too. Neither one of them wanted to ride him either.
I did stay for for the day and helped her as much as I could. I also learned allot of things about the horse that I was supposed to be riding.(from the other people at the show) For one thing he has a reputation for not behaving and pretty much doing whatever he wants. I also found out that he is not broke all the way. No kidding? These are things that I have never been told. I think my friend has been "sugar-coating" things a little to get me to ride him. He definitely needs to be ridden, by an experienced rider who knows what they are doing and has confidence. That person is not me! I also noticed that when the other people showed up the first thing they did was unload their horses and brush them and get them saddled up and started working with them. I would have loved to have taken Wyatt down to the practice arena and rode him around for a while while Theresa was setting up the show. She told me he won't let you without Belle. Our horses stayed in the trailer for over an hour. We barely had enough time to brush and saddle them before the show started. also, these horses have been in the barn all winter, and have not been ridden at all. They also do not like to be separated.
I worked in the paddock where the riders get ready to compete for part of the day and met some really gentle, sweet horses, so I am not totally turned off from horses. All the way home she kept making excuses for what happened, the thing is, something like this has happened every single time I have ridden this horse. She also told me that under no certain terms is her husband to find out what really happened. She was going to tell him that she fell in the bleachers, whatever. By the time we got home, she could not even lift the saddles out of the trailer. I unloaded everything and she fed while I watered the horses, because she could not even bend over at this point. We got the horses in their stalls,they were eating and we were standing there talking, Wyatt's stall was open, but we were standing in front of it, suddenly he charged out of the barn and almost ran Terry right over, luckliy she fell into a stack of hay bales. She went to try and get him back in the barn and told me to block the doorway out, I said here's I block the door, I am shutting it, and standing on the other side! We got him back in his stall with the lure of grain, and called it a day!
Her husband called my husband and he met us at the house and we had dinner together. The whole time Terry was hobbling around hiding an ice pack under her shirt. She also kept telling me that I would get back on Wyatt. And I kept telling her I don't think so. You know, it's funny, yesterday when I was watching those young girls, riding, some even bareback. They were having fun, even the ones that did not do great were having fun. They were not full of fear like I was that's for sure! I can remember a time when I was that age and I had no fear. I would jump on a horse and try to ride without a thought. Ahh, youth. Now, hospital bills and wheelchairs run through my mind. When Terry would come into the ring, when she could finally get the horse into the ring, I saw a bunch of frustration every time, it did not look like fun. I may take lessons someday, if I can afford it. I would really love to have the confidence takes to ride. But I think I need to start slow, on a real mellow horse, and build up slowly. I did have some apprehension about being in that show, I was scared all week. I prayed for God to please take my fear away, and you know what? He did. I was not scared when we got there, I was excited about it all. I think the fear returning was a healthy fear. There was no way I was getting back on that horse. I have walked through so much fear in the last year, but nothing was as scary as this. I had no trust in that animal what so ever, and he none in me, for good reason! So for now I will remain, chicken shit!
Apple Blossoms
