After two weeks and several hundred dollars, Bandit looks like he never had a problem. He was sound and did well today. Here's how we did in our classes:
Showmanship Amateur 1 of 5 (PAC point, yay)
Showmanship Open 3 of 3
Advanced showmanship 3 of 3
Horsemanship Amateur no call of 8
Horsemanship Open 4 of 6
Trail Amateur no call of 7
Trail Open 3 of 6
Country pleasure no call of 22 (buckle class,only placed 1-5th instead of 7th, bummer)
Western pleasure amateur no call of 6
Western pleasure open 3 of 6
The judge gave me advice to use more implusion for the lope. He complimented our jog and downward transition, but didn't like our lope. Of course, my trainer has told me this from time to time, but I didn't realize it was such a problem. Even worse, I don't know how to fix it. I've been working on this for three years and can't do it properly. My friends and trainer tell us we did well, but it doesn't feel like it. It feels like I'm trying to play basketball with people who are 6 feet tall but I'm only 4 feet tall. It just can't be done with what we have. I'm not sure why I can't be happy with just being able to show Bandit and get a very occasional first place, but I'm not. I think I'm the only one that gets one PAC point per show. Even a first timer got more points then me today. It's so depressing. I felt like crying more than once at the show today. That doesn't seem like fun to me. It's fun to practice on the weekends. But were not practicing correctly so it's not effective. I practice nearly every weekend, get grief from my husband for not being home, and still can't manage to do well. Is it really worth it? It doesn't seem like it but I have a hard time giving it up.
I'm sorry your show didn't go as you hoped. It can get frustrating, especially with all the work that goes into preparing for a show. You did get one point and you also got some pointers from the judge, so hopefully you enjoyed some parts of the show today.
ReplyDeleteI'm where you are, and have been there for quite some time. I haven't been able to ride my horse consistently because of injuries, so we never get to make any progress. I always look forward to showmanship because we usually win that class, but then that's it. The riding classes are just "eh". We place, but not very high and not high enough to get points.
I'm lucky if I go home with 2 PAC points... I think one show I got quite a few, but that was right before Lilly's injury and we were really making progress.
I love showing and I love taking my horse out and spending time with her. Sometimes I think I spend way too much money on something I'm not very good at, but I still get excited about going so I'm going to keep chugging along.
Can you get some help for Bandit's lope? Maybe a new trainer or someone else that can help you with it?