SHOWS!!!!!

WELL! it was a LONG weekend! We left at 1pm from the motor pool to drive to U-mass. We were supposed to leave at 12:30 but Dan was late...what a surprise. We got to our hotel at about 7:30, and went out to Applebees for dinner. They took FOREVER to feed us, and then Bryn's dish was REALLY dirty. The manager tried to tell her it was "stained" because of the new colored dishes going through the dishwasher with the white ones. Yet she had food stuck to it....there's a BIG difference. And dishes aren't like clothes...they dont "bleed" in the wash. Whatever. So that didn't go as well as it could have. We got up at 6:30 To drive to the Hadley farm (thats the university of mass's farm) it was only a 5minute drive from the hotel, but we wanted to leave by 7:30 to get there before registration started @ 8am, and we didn't really know how to get there. We had directions but that doesn't mean we wouldn't go the wrong way on accident. Dan was late AGAIN. *grr* I was soooo pissy.

Anyways so we got a good group of horses, ended up getting group one, and draw one, meaning we were the first to ride in each of our classes. What fun ;). Everyone laughed when Sandy pulled the numbers. We made a good presentation of ourselves. I placed Fifth in Training 4. There were 9 schools, and 12 teams, with a total of 48 riders. I was the only one in our team to place. But I am so proud of everyone! The horses were spooking all day long. I think it was just the weather because on Sunday all the horses at the puckerbrush show were spooking like crazy too!

Because of the rain the show ended up going over by 2 hours. We didn't leave the farm till 6pm, and didnt get packed up, food, gas, and on the highway till 7pm. We got back to the Motor pool at 1:30am!!! and of course the clocks were supposed to "spring ahead"! *grr*

I got in bed @ 2:30...couldnt fall asleep.....go figure! So barely 4 hours later I was up again. 6:30am I got out of bed, and got ready for the Puckerbrush show. It went well, I got 2nd in my Training 2 test, and 3rd in my Training 4 test. Jack was really off the whole day. He was super spooky, I don't really know why he doesn't normally act that way. I couldn't get him to calm down, and I couldn't get him to focus. It was so confusing. There were so many rude people there too. This one lady kept pinning me and jack against the wall in the warm up. She was this fat nasty lady on this big percheron type horse. She had her test READ to her! I don't think that should be allowed. If you can't take the time to learn the test...you shouldn't be showing. IMO!

I started crying after I left the ring from the training 2 test. It was so bad. Just before I went in, Sandy said I'm tired! And I said yeah I am too...and felt tears just as she said, I feel so tired I could cry. I agreed and went into the ring. When I came out Sandy said Good job! and I burst out into tears. She asked me why I was crying, and all I could say was I'm SOOO tired! ah so emotional ;).

Anyways, I felt as though my second test went a lot better than the first. I scored lower, but I felt like it went better than the first one. He was together with me more. I gave up messing with his face, because when I did, he would react. He did the same thing with amy! Sandy and Bryn are gonna have the dentist out to check his teeth. He is "all of a sudden" very sensitive with his mouth. So we shall see what happens with that.
Both of these tests were primarily 5's some 6's and some 4's....most due to the fact that I couldn't get him to relax and pay attention he kept spooking and bucking, and doing lead changes bah! BUT she gave me a 7 on both of my tests for Rider seat, position, and use of aids. So I was very satisfied.

Anyways so that was the weekend. I got home at ~ 4pm, talk to dew for awhile, got ready for bed, went to bed at 6:30, and didnt get up till 8:30 the next morning. I was still REALLY tired, but atleast I wasn't crying over everything! ha! I hate that. When i get tired first i start to be really giggly...then if i stay up too much later, i get really emotional over EVERYTHING. All in all it was a great weekend! I'll put some pictures up when I get them.
kim~