Snowflake Series II: Batshit Crazy

 Yesterday was...interesting. Eventful would be a better word, plagued with vehicle and rig issues only exacerbated by the weather. I had hitch troubles, got stuck twice, almost got T-boned and my 4WD wouldn't turn off, so I had to drive home going 30 MPH so as to not fuck up the truck beyond help. It was stressful beyond all coping.

I need to watch the weather more carefully apparently, because I was the only one unaware that it was supposed to snowstorm the whole day, and if I had known that I don't think I would've attempted this show. I don't mind winter, but when it comes to hauling other riders horses I get very nervous with wintery weather.

To start, loading the horses was miserable. It had rained all night and then began snowing sideways by 6 AM when we were loading and as I was walking Bacardi out to the trailer I couldn't help but think how fucking insane this was for all of us to be doing in a snowstorm on a Sunday.

Regardless, of all that, I had took it upon myself to braid his tail up like a polo point since he took the liberty to shit all over it the last time, brushed the excrement off his butt (thanks B), wrapped his legs and off we went.

What a nice thoroughbred booty

patiently waiting

Bacardi was great and walked right in and we were all loaded up with  the EME crew's ponies and off we went in the sideways blowing snow before the crack of dawn. Luckily at this point it was still 40 degrees but the temp plummeted in the hour between when I arrived to the barn and when we shoed up on the show grounds. Literally by 11 degrees in one hour.

The horses were saints and stood in the freezing rain and blowing snow while we threw on saddles and sprinted into the barn aisles. We crammed 10 horses into the host's barn aisle while we booted up and bridled out beasts. In the 15 minutes it took us to do all of that, the horses were coated with almost an inch of snow. It was literal insanity.

Horse people are fucking crazy.

Bacardi handled it like a champ and acted so chill it was slightly disturbing, haha. Like, why aren;t you being a crazy horse?

We crammed all of us into the warm-up ring and he popped over everything with ease, save one refusal at a flowery oxer and I exited the ring to chill by the heaters. Yes, heaters. It was nice.

Also,  Bangor (my S/O) got me starbucks and it made me happy.

While the wind and snow whipped around us, we were all warm and dry inside. Love that host barn!

So majestic. My heart.

Yet again, because of weather and whatnot, we had about 10 minutes to memorize our courses. I signed up for the entire 2'6 division which is a power and speed, and then 2 classes with different courses AND a jump off for each.

Bacardi ROCKED the Power & Speed. I could've kicked it up a notch, but he was still a little distracted. He felt great though, and I was like "fuck yeah, my horse showed up today!". We cleared fence 11 and I slowed him down overjoyed with a perfectly clear round.

It was then that everyone starting screaming, "FENCE 12 FENCE 12 you MISSED it!!" Whereas I then proceed to be very confused and yelled back "WHAT FENCE 12???"

Apparently there was a fence 12 that I completely didn't see on the sheet and I missed the last fucking jump on a perfect round.

WHOMP WHOMP.

See video HERE. (lol watch until the end)

I still ended up 3rd because he was quick, but looking around confused for what seemed like over a minute didn't exactly help our time, haha.

Second course was...nonexistent. I had memorized the course perfectly and was yelling it to my barn mates while they were riding.

Dragon

When it was my turn, I started with the jump -off instead of the actual fucking course.

Course TWO that I failed to do correctly. COOL.

No video for that since it lasted all of 15 seconds.

I was legit actually really mad and steamed in a corner for about 5 minutes like a spoiled brat.

To be fair, its $20/class and I am not rich and I was annoyed I fucked up twice in a row and didn't even get to do the second course.

I got over it quickly though and memorized my next class, which was a different course and a different jump off.

B was exceptional and nailed it. Despite being a bit sassy and flipping his head a little, we cleared everything and made it to the jump-off. He LOVED it when I let him gallop in-between fences and despite taking the longer routes because I forgot the third fence for a split second, and he's not some tiny pony that can whip the turns (yet).

I was pleased, and we ended up second out of a large class.

Video HERE and HERE (jump off)

After that I was a little bummed we had only jumped in 2 classes. We had come all this way to practice and my S/O could see I was a little upset. In true gentleman fashion, he offered to buy me a class in the 3ft division for my birthday, since its my birthday week.

God, he's perfect.

Don't worry, he didn't actually hate his life entirely 

I was overjoyed to be able to take my horse in the 3ft division. I chose the class I had royally screwed up by jumping the jump-off instead of the regular course.

It was pretty funny when my time came to go, I kept saying, "rollback left DO NOT JUMP 4" over and over, and I think I was so concentrated about not missing fence 2 that I rode like ass to fence one and we pulled a rail.

Video HERE.

Minus the rail, Bacardi was more than game and I was so so so so so so happy (SO HAPPY) with him. Every mistake was fully mine and he was really on point all day. Terrible weather, rushed tacking up, crowded ring, crowded waiting area and more crappy weather...he was a star and handled it with grace. He also nailed every lead change, which I wasn't even trying for but thats a win! If you stare really hard at my shitty ass grainy video's you might be able to see it.

How to make a 17.1hh horse look small...be me

"Did I do good? Do you have treats, can I has them?"

Only "complaint" I could have at all was his head flipping near the beginning of each round and semi-awkward transitions, but I wasn't angry about it. I was riding aggressively and he was excited. He was in my hand and listening, so I was happy.

Overall, a great show day and another Snowflake Series in the books. Our EME team did amazingly well. Two of our riders were Reserve Champions in each division and another of our riders ( an ten year old who kicked ALL our asses-shes in the pink) was Grand champion in the 2'6 division.  I love my EME barn family!

Just a few of our EME riders

The drive home was, horrific, freezing, white knuckle terrifying, but that is behind us.

I wrapped B for the evening and blanketed heavily since the low tonight it absolutely awful. He will get a few days off then we will work some more on dressage for a while.

Just happy with my horse, and thankful I made it through the shitty weather and that my thoughtful and sweet S/O (Bangor, Destroyer of World's) was there to support me. All the accolades!

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