Blogging from AQHA Region 1 – toes in the Big Pond

Today is Saturday and I’ve been here since Monday when we hauled in early to set up and settle in. I was able to grab a partner for Ranch Sorting on Wednesday – we only penned one cow in the time allowed but placed 5^th in the Amateur – most of all it was fun and Grace loved it! 

Wednesday night I rode in a Trail Class Clinic, the clinic was great – tons of information on how to ride a trail course at this level, many technical aspects that I never thought about. The riding part did not go so well. Grace was running at the poles and by the end of the night she and I were both incredibly frustrated. Once again this year I am having a hard time not comparing myself to the well-schooled horses and riders that are my competition. Ranch Horse Pleasure on Thursday morning was another fun class. I am upset with myself for not having higher scores, I know I can do better at home; still Grace was relaxed and really flowed on pattern. We fell apart in Trail that night picked up the wrong lead and never recovered. Grace and I were tense for the rest of the pattern and I was so pissed at myself. When I came out of the ring my trainer made me continue to school my horse until I got her to settle. I wanted nothing to do with it. I had already embarrassed myself enough, but Sarah forced me to not leave the ring until I had ended on a good note. I had that overwhelming feeling that I didn’t belong here at all, really not cut out for the Big Pond. This was all taking place at 11:00pm at night when Trail ended. 

The next morning Sarah wanted to talk about it. She said I could go home if I wanted to and not show at this level but she feels that I do belong here and reminded me of all that I have accomplished in the last year with my horse. With that said she reminded me that for some reason I ride differently at these bigger shows and it is something that I am going to have to get past. I had planned to go home today but went ahead and signed up for Horsemanship on Sunday. Western Riding and Showmanship were held on Friday. I thought my Western Riding patterns were good, had a bobble over the pole at the lope in the Novice Am class but put together a nice pattern for the Amateur. Still not near the level of my competitors but I wasn’t last in the class either. For the first time maybe ever I enjoyed Showmanship. I even placed under one of the judges in my Rookie class. I should really consider practicing that class – I might have a chance to be competitive! 

I still feel like I am at the bottom of the competition here and I question why I am here. Then again if I don’t push myself to a level outside my comfort zone I’ll never have a reason to push myself and improve. I’ve really enjoyed spending time getting to know my fellow riders at this show. Today is English so no classes for us but I will school today to get ready for horsemanship tomorrow. The classes are huge- 30+ in the Novice Am so I will plan to just go out there and put together the best pattern I can.

I Fixed It Myself!

Whenever possible I prefer to take on small auto repairs on my own. Little things like lights and topping off fluids I should be able to handle, so when one of the head light bulbs burned out on the truck I went ahead and put in a new bulb. I must not have locked the collar behind the bulb into place because after a few days of driving the light was out of place and the truck had taking on a new smell of burning plastic. I popped open the hood and jumped up on my trusty step stool to see what happened. The bulb had burned through the plastic backing of the light assembly. I could replace the bulb but now there was no way the collar would fit on the assembly to hold it in. This meant I would have to replace the head light assembly.

I pulled the bulb out completely and planned to tackle it on the weekend. My truck was built in a Ford plant in Canada so it has daytime running lights. There is no way to turn them off so I was now at risk of being pulled over every time I drove with the head light out. I live on an Island which no longer has an auto parts store, so I would have to head 20 minutes down the highway to get to the closest one. The first store I went to on Saturday morning told me they could have the headlight assembly on Tuesday and they would have to charge me for freight. I called the other shop in town in hopes that they would have the part in stock. I was quickly reminded why they were my second choice store, apparently they aren't used to women who do things on their own.

Me: "Hello, I'm looking for a driver's side head light assembly for a 2000 F250"
Guy at Parts Store: "pause... We only have the passenger side in stock.. another pause .. And it's only for a white truck"

Me: " Um, this is a white truck, but I need the driver's side.. wait what does the color have to do with it"

Parts douche bag: "Ha! there is no difference they are the same, I'm just messing with ya!"

Me: "NO they are not! I am looking for the assembly not the bulb, I have the bulb. I need to replace the assembly because it melted"

Parts guy: searches inventory on computer " I have one in the warehouse that I can have here by this afternoon"

Me: "Fine. I'll take it" I really didn't want to give them my business but I also didn't want to either risk a ticket or keep the truck sitting for something I could fix.

Google is my friend so I put in "How to Change Head Light Assembly for F250" and found an awesome video from an online parts store. I had it on my cell phone while I worked on the truck and came back to it many times in the process. There is zero wiggle room to work with when replacing head lights or bulbs on the heavy duty Ford Trucks. The headlight assembly butts up to the battery casing which looks like a bigger pain to remove than to just squeeze my hand in there. On the driver side there is something mounted in a cage which I have to jam my hand past to get to the light. I wore gloves until the point that I had to take them off for feel. To get the bad assembly out I had to remove two clips and then reach down behind the light to release a bracket. I had to bring in a flashlight and a screw driver as my bracket was much harder to release than the one on the video. I should have been able to squeeze it with my fingers to release but the thing wouldn't budge. Finally I got it to give and the light popped out:

It's out! Too late to turn back now.

Melted! Why do they make those things out of plastic?

New Light Assembly Is In!

And It Works!

So Much For My Manicure!

The moral of the story is - don't be afraid to take on simple auto repairs on your own! Google is your friend and you can go toe to toe with the guy at the parts store. Actually the moral of the story should be - make sure the damn bulb is locked in tight the first time and you won't have to replace the entire head light assembly!

My Part of the Equation

Lately I feel like I am holding Grace back. In the last 6 months she has become the horse I thought she could be the day I bought her. I’ve have seen more potential in that little mare in the last year than I have in the 12 years before it. She is starting to look like she belongs in the show pen, and is starting to place in the primary colors. I’ve spent a fair amount of time in the last few weeks drinking in photos from 3 straight weekends of shows that all happened to have a professional photographer. I can’t help but see the stiffness and imbalance in the rider and I wonder just how much better the horse could be if the rider could become one with her. 

I ride 6 to 7 days a week in the summer and 4 to 5 days in the week all winter – all outside. I bust my ass to make myself better for my horse, but I still feel like I falll short. I’m never quite sure what the other riders at the shows are doing that I am not or maybe they are not doing something that I am? I’ve had some great lessons with Sarah lately that are creating some amazing body awareness. One lesson focused on breathing, pulling my breath up into my shoulders, filling my sternum with air before letting it out and melting into my horse. At last week’s lesson I had a moment at the jog that was downright magical; I could feel my horse’s joints bending through my seat and hips, and felt her place each hoof on the ground. The next day I became frustrated at home when I couldn’t capture the same feeling at the lope as I had at the lesson. Why is this so freaking hard?

I had an appointment at the Strength Lab today with James Bowman and I shared with him some of the body issues I’m having in the saddle. From my arched lower back to my tight hip flexors and hamstrings, I went through all the areas that I tense when riding. We discussed that I am not in pain like I was years ago, but my body is still guarding itself when I'm riding, preparing for the inevitable fall especially at the lope. The more I talked the more I could see the wheels in James head turning; he was quickly jotting notes down and calling out names of exercises. At one point there were 7 exercises on the list leading me to believe that this was not going to be one of those wonderful hour long body work sessions. 

James took me through each exercise first giving me a demo and then talking me through each move as I tried it. Each move was structured to build strength while increasing mobility, James explained that they are equally important in the saddle. Each exercise looked easy enough when he did it, but I found them to be both mentally and physically challenging, yet by the 3^rd or 4^th repetition my brain and body started to figure it out and my range of motion increased. My hips felt amazing by the end of the session and the tension in my low back was replaced by engagement from my abdominals. I have my homework laid out in front of me; 7 exercises that with a warm up should only take 30 minutes a day and I am only to do them 3 days a week. James said that if I am consistent I should see dramatic results in 6-8 weeks and if the exercises become too easy to let him know and he will step it up for me.  I promise to keep you updated and will even break down some of the exercises over the next few weeks. My goal is to be able to pull my weight in the partnership that I’ve built with that amazing little mare.

New Video

No time to write but here is an updated video!

A Woman and Her Truck

I drive a Ford but my hat is off to Chevy for finally marketing to the women who drive trucks! This is my current favorite commercial!

Weekend 3 of Horse Shows

This weekend was the 3rd consecutive weekend of hauling Grace to horse shows. We came away with some new pretty ribbons and even more show ring confidence. We are one month away from the Region 1 AQHA Show. I have a list of things to train harder on between now and then, but most of all I have really enjoyed sitting on Grace in the show pen. In the last two weeks I've had 2 different people ask if she was the same horse that they've seen me show before, they were sure that I had a new horse. That to me is a huge compliment, and it speaks volumes to Grace's change in demeanor in the show pen. One of the judges from last weekends show was a steward at today's show. She told me today how much she enjoys watching Grace and again described her as a "nice working horse". I've always thought the world of my mare, but having other people tell me that they like her when I am at a horse show is a new experience. 

I wanted to keep a close eye on Grace over the last few weeks to see how she held up to hauling and showing. We had hot days each weekend and our hauls were between 40 minutes and 2 hours, this weekend was the only weekend that she didn't overnight at a showgrounds as we were able to come home for the night on Saturday. Grace felt the most tired to me today, I had to keep my leg on to keep her going. She was also a little cranky when tied to the trailer, giving me her mare ears and stink eye when I would approach her. She was wonderful when I was in the saddle, no attitude and no ear pinning, on the ground she was letting me know she was tired. The footing at the club we were at today is deep, and not at all like the footing that I condition her on. There have been complaints about it since the club put it in early in the spring. They replaced it this last week and it still needs more time to settle. I could feel Grace working really hard to get out of it at the lope, I only took her in 4 classes 2 of which were patterns. When I was asked to add the Quarter Horse Pleasure class I declined, I didn't want to push Grace when she was already tired and I didn't want to spend any more time in the deep footing. I will say that in footing that deep Grace's lope was lovely, and very ridable. I even won a championship equitation class under one of the judges, it was nice to be able to sit the lope without stirrups. We also won Western Riding under both judges, I want to sharpen up our changes before Region 1. At the last two shows I felt like the flying changes were a bit late and could have been cleaner, but the pattern itself is at least 100 times better than last year.

Horse show Pictures!

These are pictures from the show from the end of June. I will have to get better pictures of this shirt so you can see how great it is. I wore this same shirt this last weekend and got a ton of compliments on it. This is the shirt that I picked up off Craigslist for $60 - the girl who owned it had moved on to more expensive outfits and her mom was selling it. I have a new saddle pad on the way that should be a better match.