Showing in Blue

I honestly don't know how the people who show for weeks (or for that matter just a few days) do it.  Showing is exhausting to me.  I'm getting better at it, but it's still exhausting.

Yes, I am wearing an apron

Here are some of my own personal, very amateur and slightly diva-ish/lazy tips for showing:

1. Pay people to help you if possible!  This includes braiding, coaching, and calling (for dressage tests).
2. Pack your trailer the day before you leave.  It's so nice to just grab the pony and go!
3. Bring more hay than you think you'll ever need.
4. Chug water, Gatorade, and bring lots of snacks!  Don't forget to bring some sort of protein.  You're gonna go from not hungry at all to oh-my-god-how-did-I-let-myself-get-this-hungry in two seconds.  
5. Also bring snacks for anyone helping you.  They deserve a million cookies.
6. When someone acts like an asshole in warmup, ignoring arena etiquette completely, and nearly runs you over several times, keep the incredulous faces to yourself.  You never know who someone's trainer is on the outside of the ring. *oopsie*
7. Immediately upon returning home from said show do laundry!  White breeches, white shirts, white show pads clean better if not left to their own dirty devices for weeks in the back of your trailer.
8. Always put the pony first - first to eat, first to get water, first for treats and kind words.
9. Don't take it too seriously.

My face in ALL of these photos clearly shows that I'm taking this way too seriously ;)

Gavin and I showed last weekend and accomplished something that I had set as a goal in 2018.  It is a tiny achievement to some, but Gavin and I qualified for the RMDS championships in September at training level.  When I realized we scored well enough to advance I started to cry in the middle of the show barn aisle.  My mom thought something was horribly wrong (not a pretty crier), but I just felt so proud of him.  

Besides a lot of calling at the show (and oh boy, did he scream his head off while we walked around the grounds), he didn't put a hoof wrong.  This doesn't mean our test was perfect (hello breaking to the trot down the long side, jigging before the free walk, and general tension), but he is always game to try, and luckily he puts a lot of trust in me to get him through scary situations without him dying.  I feel very lucky to call him my horse.

We left the show absolutely soaked (it poured right after our test) with a 63.8% T-3 test, a second place ribbon, and a ticket to championships.  :)