Groundhog Day

I know this is the coast and we can expect grey skies and a bit of rain most days, but I'm starting to feel like our local show series is set in some ultra soggy alternate universe. It rains, HARD. Every single time. All day long.

You can also be guaranteed we'll roll in "late" (I will take full responsibility, but at this point its kind of a fact of life given our hauling arrangements and the unpredictable show schedule. I've given up, no matter when we roll in - 8am or noon or anywhere in between, my ride is apparently imminent.)

Essentially, you can be sure we'll arrive, be instantly soaked and miserable, and have someone shouting that you're either due in the ring NOW, or due any minute. I'm 99% sure there is some history/drama between two key people at these shows, but I digress. Let's just say sometimes things are made unnecessarily complicated for the innocent.

And so, we had an OK day. It was cold, it was wet, but Midge jumped around great. I obviously didn't get to warm up or learn the course, and went off course pretty quickly in our first round. So, we did a second unjudged round and got it right, and then had to call it a day because doing a schooling round means you can't go back in the ring ever again,  or something like that ;)

So,  why do I continue to attend these shows? For someone as anxious about showing as myself, they're basically an anxiety dream come true. Super late, and no time to warm up or learn the course? Check. Passive aggressive people? Check. (Today's gem (as I worried about not knowing the course) On the radio to the judge: "We have a member of the entitled generation needing more time before she goes in" To me:"Your pony doesn't look fit enough to jump a full course anyway") Crazy weather blowing the jumps and numbers over...to ensure you're forever lost, LOL. Check. Even the quick look I did get at the course diagram confirmed alternate reality status...the original numbers and jumps were mostly crossed out and the edits illegible.

Now if she had said "and I hear you write a blog with very little media of your pony or yourself. You're failing there!" I might have been sad, because,  truth.

This was actually super good for me, because it's all the stuff I worry about. People judging me negatively, not knowing what I'm doing, being late...probably my top three stupid things to worry about. And guess what? In the real world it's fine. I still don't like the lady at the gate, and I also still don't care what she thinks of me or Bridget. In real life, random people's opinions don't mean a lot to me. Being late means I either miss the class or don't have time to prep. News flash, there's always another class, and if not, the world won't end because an adult ammy missed a 2'6" jumper classes at a local show last weekend :). As for not knowing the course, oh well, but was still actually sort of a good thing...it made me look around and be in the moment, and think things through. A little bit of under preparedness might serve me well in the future.

More sleepy Midge last weekend. I had left G in charge of waking her up, but you can see how well that went.

The other reasons I continue to go is that the cost is really reasonable,  it's just a short haul up the road, and most importantly,  someone needs to test rain jackets! Today's victims: a Kerrits rain shelter barn jacket, and an Asmar City Jacket. To give Asmar their due, they never claimed their coats were waterproof, only water resistant. Kerrits outperformed them marginally, but I was soaked through after a couple of hours in each. One day I'll find the perfect alternate universe soggy horse show coat...but it wasn't today.