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Wentworth Hunter Pace - June 6, 2021

After Margaret and I had such a fun time at the fall hunter pace, we opted to go again this spring! This time, while I rode Rejoice again, Margaret rode her horse Jester and had a friend ride Ladyhawke. All Kennebec Morgans!! Jester and Rejoice have the same dam and Jester and Lady share the same sire. Unfortunately instead of a lovely late spring day, we had one of the first intensely hot and humid days of the year. It was definitely a bummer, but the ride was mostly in the shade of the woods and we had a great time!  most of the fences were 3' coops but we found a small log and this hay to jump haha Until we didn't. 😑 We brought along a third friend who rode Margaret's older mare, Ladyhawke. She's a good rider but hasn't known Ladyhawke for very long and didn't realize how much of a cranky boss mare she could be at times. She kicked Jester right in the front leg just about halfway through the ride, and while the cut itself ended up not being a big deal in the

ME Morgan Benefit Show - August 10, 2019

I had not been planning to bring Ellie to this show, but an email had gone out to members a few days prior that entries were a bit low.  So in order to support the club, we headed out to Pineland Farm the morning of August 10, for what promised to be a gorgeous summer day!  All photos that I am in were purchased from the show photographer!
dis iz dum, where iz fun jumps? why you do dis, mom
Ellie, probably definitely
I always think these types of shows are going to be fine, but at the end of every single one of them, I always remember why I should stick with dressage and eventing haha.  That is not to say there is anything wrong with open shows or the club that runs them; this is just not the type of showing we do well at because she's not a "show horse".
but she likes to pose!
The show was held at a gorgeous facility that boasts both large indoor and outdoor arenas.  They chose to have the show indoors with warm-up outside, which is fine, but Ellie was not a fan of the indoor.  One corner was open to the large and echo-y storage area where they had set up the secretary's booth (read: a lot of traffic and movement in a cement echo chamber haha), the next corner had metal bleachers full of moving humans (remember her feelings about metal bleachers from Vermont Morgan Heritage Days??), the third corner had more humans, bleachers, and the ribbon table, and the last corner was open into the barn aisle where most of the horses were showing out of (there were only four trailers being shown out of in the field, mine included).  And of course, there was a large door open at one end of the long side for the in/out gate.  So lots of things to look and spook at LOL!


Sport Horse In Hand
don't get too excited; we were alone in this class hahaha
So Ellie was wired.  It didn't help that I did Morgan In Hand to help fill the Morgan classes (4th place out of 4, go figure) and the other three Morgans were being shown saddleseat, which means lots of "excitement" and whipping noise to get the horses "animated".  Or you know, what I would call ridiculously wound up and the exact opposite of the calm mindset I strive for.  Ugh.  Nothing like a horse entering the ring behind yours and it's so wound up it continuously does the forceful snort/blow through its nostrils.  That is not a fear response I have ever considered encouraging.  I thought Ellie was going to jump into my lap.  Her eyes were bugged out of her head as she tried so hard to behave, but she wanted OUT of there.


Open In Hand Championship
I had not planned to enter, but we were called back
because of our first place in sport horse in hand
*shrug*
It's fine, I get we as riders are all different, I just need to remember not to bother showing my sport Morgan outside of dressage and eventing.  It just doesn't make sense and ends up with me feeling annoyed and frustrated.  With Morgan In Hand as our first class of the day, it set the tone for sure.
staring at things, probably "excitement" in the warm-up
she's cute even when I am in the up phase of posting haha

gotta buy the typical sideways long side trot pic ;-)

Anyway, we did our best to hang in there and I felt at least this was a good mental experience for Ellie to deal with the "excitement" and distractions.  We bombed our hunt seat pleasure eq class with a 4th because we got a wrong canter lead.  Otherwise, she was pretty darn good about her leads and not bolting off into the next town. 😂  
at least I got some super cute photos!
though she only sold them as prints
so these are scans I took of the actual prints
that didn't come out great
Saying we had fun in the same sense of the word I use when describing a fun horse trial would be a lie, but overall it wasn't a horrible day and we racked up a few points for the club's year-end awards. 
Ellie's favorite part of the day
4th - Morgan In Hand (out of 4)

1st - Sport Horse In Hand (by ourselves haha)

2nd - Hunter Pleasure Horse, Open (out of five)

4th - Hunter Seat Pleasure Equitation (out of four - blew the canter lead)

2nd - Adult Equitation (out of five)

1st - Morgan Hunter Pleasure, Open (We were alone in the class, but it was the last one of the day and she was pretty relaxed at this point at least, so we ended the day on a better note than it started!)
still cute

about the best pic I could manage

her true feelings about open shows

yup 😑

Comments

  1. I feel you but look at all those fabulous ribbons earned in a few hours :P

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  2. This is giving me flashbacks to a book I read when I was a kid about a lady who had a morgan and she bred it and had another morgan that she raised and broke to ride/drive and showed in various events... wtf was that book called? It's driving me nuts! Had to have been from the 60's maybe, give or take a decade. I wish I could remember anything specific about it.

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  3. She looks beautiful in all the photos, even if her eyes betray her nerves. That is a LOT of "excitement" for anybody, but especially for a horse who you are specifically encouraging a CALM performance out of. Poor girl. Good for you for supporting a local club, but I agree the whole things sounds stressful. Nice work, as always :)

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