Brookside

Early Friday morning I wrapped Cupid's legs, loaded him onto the trailer (he walked right in, it was a step-up no ramp so I was very happy), and we headed off on a two hour drive to Brookside Show Park. 

Typical Cupid - making friends!

Once there I walked Cupid a few minutes to stretch his legs then let him settle in his stall.  Unfortunately as the day went on it got hotter and hotter - a good 20 degrees above what it is at home!  I brought Cupid out to walk a few times and he had a lot of nervous energy, he was prancing and dragging me around a little.  My trainer said next time I may want to consider a stud chain. 

For some reason he seems to prefer the grass in the sun, even though it was miserably hot!

We waited until it started cooling down a little in the evening before tacking up.  By then the show was done for the day so there wasn't as much activity going on.  I started by longing Cupid.  He looked okay, but my trainer thought he was still a little short in his stride.  She said let's see how he feels under saddle so I got on.  Not surprisingly both Cupid and I were a little nervous and distracted in the unfamiliar surroundings.  Overall Cupid was good, just a little quick.  We did a lot of trot work with 20 meter circles, figure eights, shoulder fore, and changing the trot diagonal to help focus.  My trainer got on him and did one small jump, she thought the arena was a little harder than at home and the landing might have stung his feet a little.  So she said wait until the morning and see how he feels, then decide what to do.

Saturday morning I got up early and put on my show clothes.  I was feeling optimistic that it would be a good day, and thought about how good things had gone at camp.  Our warmup started off well.  Cupid was still a little quick, but not as much as the previous day.  We had a warm up arena to ourselves.  Our canter to the right went well.  We started off on a 20 meter circle, then went around the entire ring.  We changed directions, and had a little trouble picking up our left lead.  Then we got it, did our circle and started going around the ring.  All of the sudden I felt Cupid lunge forward and was worried he was taking off.  I pulled him up, and realized the incident was caused by a pinto horse coming into the arena to be longed.  I asked my trainer if the horse just walked in or did it do something unusual that would cause Cupid to react - she wasn't sure but the horse was being a little rambunctious.  So my nerves were finally settling down but then I didn't feel good again.  Since I wasn't feeling great and my trainer still thought Cupid's feet weren't 100% we decided to scratch from the jumping classes.  I went to another warm up ring and just walked around.  Cupid was very good, even when other horses were cantering or jumping. 

We were supposed to do a hunter under saddle class.  There was a schedule change and the class went off earlier than posted.  We didn't hear the announcement, so unfortunately I missed it.  We had a practice session instead.  The arena was pretty busy, but we cantered and even did a few little jumps and Cupid was very good!  My trainer thought he liked being with a bunch of ponies in the arena. :)

I need to work on keeping my seat in the saddle!!

Overall the show was a good experience, even though we didn't actually show.  It was good to just get some practice being out there and having another trip away from home.  I'd rather leave thinking we could have done more then regretting trying to do to much.  Hopefully next time Cupid will be healthy, and we will both get over the nerves quicker.