The show must go on!

So March 15th came. I made sure we had the trailer arrive earlier incase of mechanical issues.

None. It was a nice morning, clear, soothing.

We got everything ready and away we went. We arrived with ample time to get tacked up, warmed up and warm up over the jumps. Symbah didn't blink at any of them, and went through each line politely.

Again, I was feeling confident!

Flat class went well, and we ended up placing with a 4th. My coach seemed aggitated as one of the horses who placed above me had balked at the canter, and had even thrown a fit. But I wasn't worried, we had redeemed ourselves from last show. Atleast for the flat class.

Then came our first course. Our beginning circle wasn't too smooth (he has an anticipation issue and likes to..er, git 'er done) and I still have the bad habit of leaning forward too much. But we went through that course very smoothly. And received a 2nd place ribbon.

Our second course went nearly the same way. He got a bit stronger since some of the jumps were heading home, but the moment I asked him to come back.. he listened. So I definately couldn't complain. Main issue was our finishing circle, caught the wrong lead as well as became disunited between two jumps at one point. However, we placed 3rd.

Our final course was the Stakes class again. Overall our communication was good however, Symbah decided that if he landed on the wrong lead he'd simply break to a trot briefly then canter again. He caught me off guard twice, but I caught on and correct him afterwards. We did catch the rest of the leads but that breaking really hurt us. We placed 4th in that.

So overall we received a 4th, 2nd, 3rd and another 4th. One placing shy of Reserve champion again. That's okay though, we redeemed ourselves!

We have a show this weekend (dun dun duuuun!) at a different facility with scarier jumps. I work at this show series at the Blacks Equine Centre location so I'm familiar with their jump set-up and how they run the shows. However, they run it as a schooling show for Trillium/A circuit riders, so it'll be stiff competition.

Neither of us have been to this particular facility (they host them at two different ones, I only work at the Blacks one) so it'll be a new experience. And that's all I'm going there for!

So, stay tuned..

and fingers crossed I don't slack on updating this time!

Could we redeem ourselves?

So at the February 15th show, we only came home with a feeble 4th place out of 4 classes. At the previous show we went home with reserve champion. So it was not acceptable.

Our main issue seemed to be the communication between the fences with caused most of the problem, so that's what we needed to fix the most. So I decided for the next 4 weeks, it'll only be flatwork.

For the first week it seemed to go very well. Starting having him stretch and come down onto the bit, then collect himself up. Carrying himself proved difficult but atleast he was trying, so I did not get upset. Happy, happy.

But the second week proved that I had my hopes up. We become increasingly fustrated with each other. Constantly waging wars, fighting and I was just not able to deal with it like I should have been able to. He would "lock up" on me (grabbing the bit) and run through my hands, circles proved to be ridiculous ovals that drifted too close up against the arena walls. I was losing my "fun" of riding, I began to dread going to the barn because it was always a fight when riding. Then, on the last ride when I took off the saddle, I noticed hairs twisted and the saddle pinching. So from then on I took away the saddle.

So week three of our supposed flatwork training, became bareback riding because I refused to ride in the ill-fitting saddle and didn't have funds for a new one at the time. That being said, two and a half weeks until it was the March 15th show.

OH JOY!

So I continued flatwork with him bareback. Now, I absolutely love bareback and ride better without a saddle (per the opinion of my coach) so there wasn't an issue. However, during the second ride he was being incredibly spooky/jumpy. I managed to sit all of them but as we were rounding one corner of the arena at a simple walk, a monster from outside shut a car door.
Now, when my horse spooks.. it's the kind that jumps a little or sidesteps. But that night Symbah pulled the infamous teleportation spook. I was sent into the dirt while my horse had disappeared beneath it and re-appeared near the other end of the arena! At that point I was in tears.
Everything I had been working for and doing was all unravelling, falling apart. I couldn't even read my horse anymore, we were so disconnected. I spent the next few days sulking. I didn't want to go to the barn, I didn't want to fight with him anymore.

I then made the decision that I would give it one more ride, a final ride, to decide if I should continue or if it was best to lease him off to someone who had the patience I obviously lacked.
Again, I rode bareback and put him through his paces like normal. Soft, supple, willing. It was like he knew. I even broke my "only flatwork for a month!" rule and popped him over a few crossrails bareback. I finally "connected" again, and let me tell you.. it's a feeling I don't want to lose ever again!

So on week 3, my mother and I went to a local tackshop. I brought in my old saddle and sold it to them in exchange for one of their new saddles. We paid the difference, received new stirrups and irons.. and went home.
The next day I tried the saddle on him. We had an issue with the girth size but I found one that fit him (since mine no longer did!) and tacked him up. However, I agreed to go on a trail ride with a boarder.

Note to anyone: It isn't the wisest to start breaking in a brand spankin' new saddle on a trail ride, which is the first since last fall. Somehow all went fine and we returned back. The saddle fits him like a glove and during flatwork he moved out so much nicer. Our transitions were better and I had a much happier horse!
So onto the final week. I had only a week to prepare for the March 15th show, making sure our communication was strong. I also finally had a fantastic lesson with my coach (it had been a long time) and I felt confident.

So then came show day..

Boy.. oh boy.

Update much?
Apologizes, again. I try to set some time aside to keep this updated but it seems my mind wanders and does not return!

Anyways!

I left off with the suspense-filled "I have a show next weekend.." and I did on January 29th.
The day went fantastically and we received Reserve Champion!
Symbah behaved wonderfully throughout the day and had that extra "oomph" needed to pick himself up a bit, and made a nice overall picture.
I was very proud of him and we seemed to be doing great afterwards.
We even competed in one 2'6" course and received a 6th place (out of 14th!). Very proud of him.

We did end up working on getting him to pick up his legs over fences, however it didn't seem to go over well. Most horses will go "Hmm, I knocked the pole with my leg.. it hurt a bit so I'll raise my legs higher next time". But apparently not my horse. No sir, his mind seemed to go "Hmm, I knocked the pole with my leg.. it hurt a bit so I don't want to do that again.".
So on that note, he started becoming more cautious to the jumps because I had to let him figure it out for himself. I'm a very controlling person and had "chosen" which spots for him to take over jumps so now that I had to let him figure it out.. he was lost.

So of course with that, we took two massive steps backwards in our training and things became increasingly fustrating. I resorted back to some old defensive riding but I thought we had found a happy medium to the work.
We had yet another show on February 15th. Perhaps I was too cocky from our previous placings, perhaps I had only managed to 'mask' our training issue and perhaps I had become so fustrated with him that our last few rides leading up to this show had not been too good.. but whatever it was, the show did not go well.
I should say the warning was when the guy who trailers us was late due to some issues with the actual trailer. We did make it to the show but missed our actual warm up so our two outside lines were mere 8" crossrails instead of the 2'0 verticals and oxers.

Okay, no problem.. right? During warm up I was having fun, calm, relaxed. We approached a wide grey oxer and Symbah hit the brakes, ducking out. That would've been warning number 2.
So whatever, I get him over the oxer and pretend nothing happened. When we get into the ring for the flat class, he's acting like a firecracker. Again, this is my usual steady-eddy horse.
Nope. But his upward transitions were fantastic, downward were a bit slow but still okay. However we did not even place on the flat. But, the girl who placed 1st had cantered the entire time on the wrong lead. The girl whom placed 2nd, her horse had bucked a few times infront of the judge's booth. And the girl whom placed 3rd, her horse had taken off and temporarily stopped the class. So that would've been warning number 3 about this show.

A note to everyone: Listen to your gut instincts.

Our first course had been disasterous. He charged and lunged over every fence, snatched at the bit and dragged me everywhere. I had no turning power with him and had to try and yank him off his feet to stop a possible trainwreck. Ontop of that, he refused and deeked out of one of the simplest jumps and proceeded to bolt across the arena and refused to slow down until I pointed him into a wall. However, I did turn him back and complete that course! Obviously, no placings.

The second course was a bit better but I spent the entire time in a defensive position, death grip on the reins trying to pull him back as he continued to launch and charge jumps. Made it through, but it sure wasn't pretty. Again, no placings.

Third was our "stakes" class. Depending on your placing, you can get money back. So after a flat class and two disasterous courses, I finally started to figure him out enough to stay somewhat safe. I was able to ride him a bit better through that course, although it was still terrible. We ended up with a 4th place for that one.
I had signed up in the morning to do one 2'6 class so I went in and scoped out the jumps. We tried over one single and he was acting like a monster still, almost taking down that jump. At that point, I called it a day and left. I was not going to endanger my life nor his with bigger jumps when we obviously had some training faults that needed to be fixed.

So we went home defeated with only a 4th.