Show Time!

Yesterday, I rode in a horse show!  Since Nox is still on rest, my friend (and owner of the new barn we're boarding at) Penny has graciously let me ride one of her horses for fun and for lessons.  Baya is a 4 year old warmblood mare (warmblood means she's part draft horse/part Thoroughbred) who Penny rescued a few months ago.  Back then, Baya was thin, sick, and recovering from having twins too young.  She was in need of some love, attention, and exercise.  Now, she's cute as a button and an absolute joy to ride.  We only started jumping her about 6 weeks ago, and she's a natural.  Penny and my trainer Beth suggested that I show her at the next horse show and after a week of mulling it over, I agreed.

I haven't shown a horse in 14 years.  I remember always being so nervous and feeling enormous pressure to do well for the horse's sake.  That nervousness always transferred to the horse I was riding and I never placed very well.  In fact, the last time I rode in a show class, the horse and I were so out of control that the judge actually had to jump out of our way to avoid being run over.  Needless to say, we came in dead last - I'm pretty sure the judge muttered something about the ring gate hitting us on the ass on the way out.

Over the years since, I lost interest in showing.  I didn't really have any opportunities to show anyway.  I was moving around the country, galloping through sage brush in Wyoming, and riding friend's horses sporadically when I had the chance.  It wasn't until I adopted Nox that I started thinking about horse shows, but I wasn't convinced that I'd have fun doing it again.

Through all the moves (I've lived in 5 states since graduating college), I kept two things with me: my riding dress boots and my stock pin.  My mom bought the boots for me with I was 14.  They fit perfectly and made me feel like a real rider.  I've kept them with me because classic riding boots never go out of style and I always thought I'd wear them with jeans or something.  It turns out that my 14 year old calves were much slimmer than my twenty and thirty something calves and I could never wear them with jeans - but I kept them anyway because just looking at them made me me feel like that 14 year old rider who felt special in her boots.  The stock pin was also a gift from Mom.  I've kept that with me for the same reason - it's a nice memento from my horse days that made me feel better about not having horses to ride.   Who knew that 14 years later, I'd be able to wear them in a horse show once again?

When I decided to show Baya, I pulled my boots out of the closet and my pin out of the jewelery box.  They both needed a good cleaning and shine.  Best Husband Ever offered to do a Marine Corps spit shine on my boots.   They came out perfect and wearing slim riding breeches, I was miraculously able to put them on!  I bought a second-hand show coat, a pair of breeches, gloves, and a show shirt, and I was all set.

Baya has never been in a show before and she's very young, and after my long hiatus from the ring, I went in to the show with no expectations.  My only goal was to stay on my horse, get her over the jumps, and have a good time.  I just smiled and rode for fun.  Once I saw that Baya was calm and responsive, any trace of nerves I had disappeared.  Baya and I placed 2nd in a jumping class - her first show and she earned 2nd!  Best Husband Ever and our barn buddies cheered wildly and clapped when our number and names were called and I couldn't have been prouder of this sweet little horse.

2nd place!

By the end of day, Baya and I earned 6 ribbons - mostly fourth and sixth places, but we beat a few people in most of our classes and frankly, I was just ecstatic to be out there.  I had so much fun and Baya performed beautifully.  We have a few things to work on before the next show in a few weeks - jumping over flowers boxes (she was a little worried about the flowers and hesitated a bit), picking up the right lead at the canter (I had to correct her a few times), and I need to make sure I keep my eyes up and shoulders back.  All in all, it was a great day! 

Best Husband Ever cheered us on and buffed my boots between classes (he really is the best). I received lots of compliments on my shiny boots!

Horse cuddles and more ribbons!

Oh yes, and my trainer volunteered me for an interview with the local news:

http://www.wwnytv.com/news/local/Horses-Jump--268805381.html

Oh boy. I don't have much to say about that, except the happiness and excitement were real.  And I'm kind of a dork on camera. 

Nox had to stay back at the barn, of course, but he's happy to stand in the sunshine, snort at the pigs, share his grain with Agnes and the chickens, and play with his neighbor Ellie.  After the show, I returned to the barn to unload horses and tack, and spent some time grooming and sitting with Nox. I've got the show bug again, and hopefully in a year or two I can show Nox.  He'll look so pretty all braided and tacked up.

Nox and Ellie

          

      

What a Difference!

Nox is thriving in his new stall/paddock combo.  I'm pleasantly surprised and amazed at his quick transformation.  I feel like I have my sweet, wonderful, goofy boy back.  Last year, I often sat out in the pasture with him as he grazed and he'd walk over occasionally to check in with me and nuzzle my shoulder.  He was a pleasure to be around.  The past several months he's been too high-strung and aggressive for me to really chill out with him.  Being locked in four walls was making him stir-crazy and I understand how difficult it was for him.  It was an almost constant fight to keep him under control and not biting, bucking, or trying to run from me.  There were moments of calm, but they didn't last long.  He was always like a shaken can of soda - ready to burst at the slightest bump.  Now that he has some freedom and fresh air, he is relaxed, content, and calm.  All the things he used to spook at - loud noises, tractors, the wind - aren't affecting him at all.  The farm tractor rumbles right by his paddock and he barely flicks an ear at it while he continues munching on his hay.  Five days ago that would have sent him into a tizzy. 

He is quickly charming the all the new human friends he's meeting with his good looks and sweet personality.  He nickers at Penny in the mornings as she feeds the pigs and hams it up for anyone who stops by his paddock.  This morning he was eating his grain outside with a bunch of chickens who were snatching up whatever he dropped.  Penny told me he was moving his feet very carefully and watching them with intense interest between bites of grain.  He sleeps outside in the cool night air and retreats into his stall when the heat and the flies get too much in the afternoon.  I love arriving at the barn after work and seeing him enjoying the sunshine.  He still nickers for me when he hears my whistle. 

I groom him in his paddock and he stands quietly.  I like to sit with him while he eats his hay in the paddock, and he nuzzles my shoulder and lets me kiss his nose.  I trust my horse again.  Despite the freedom and space in the paddock, Nox doesn't run around and Penny says she hasn't seen him act up at all, so he is getting the rest he needs.  I'm very hopeful that if we keep this up, his September vet check will show an improvement.  In the meantime, I'm enjoying my sweet boy once again.

Best Husband Ever made the beautiful stall sign for me.

 

The Good News

Nox has moved!  He is now enjoying a much larger stall with an attached paddock.  He can walk outside and enjoy the sunshine and breezes any time he wants!

Dr. Meg really wanted me to find a stall with an attached paddock for Nox.  He was going crazy in his stall and when I did let him out in the ring, he'd just explode from the pent up energy and boredom.  The stable only had stalls or large group pastures and neither was suitable for Nox on stall rest.  I felt so bad on beautiful sunny days, knowing that he was standing in his stall, waiting for me to come to let him out.  It just wasn't working out.

I talked to my friend Penny, who owns a stable just down the street from where I was boarding Nox.  She has stalls with paddocks and I asked her to please let me know when one opened up.  Penny's place is like Disneyland: lots of horses, ponies, pigs, a mini donkey, chickens, cats, a guinea pig and rabbit who live together, a huge dog, and a goat named Agnes.  Penny and her family live on site and they are very dedicated to their farm.  The trainer that I really like started working at Penny's stable a few months ago, and Penny had a horse that needed to be ridden.  So, a few weeks ago, I started riding Baya, a cute buckskin warmblood, and taking riding lessons.  I'd ride and then go over to the other barn to see Nox.

Last week, Penny told me a stall was opening up!  I've been so excited to move Nox, but I've also been dreading it.  I haven't trailered Nox since he arrived at the barn 2 years ago.  In his old race horse life, he was trailered often and I imagine that he must have been pretty good at it.  But, it's been 2 years.

Today was moving day and Nox did not get into the trailer.  We tried for an hour and he simply refused to get in.  He wasn't scared, he just flat out refused.  We tried walking him on.  We tried standing in the trailer with grain.  We tried picking up his front hoof and putting it in the trailer.  We tried cracking a lunge whip behind him.  He just stood there at the entrance to the trailer, refusing to step up into it.  If I pulled on the lead rope, he'd snap his head up and hit it on the top of the trailer doorway.  It just was not happening.  Finally, I decided that struggling with him for another two hours was going to do more damage to his ligament than just walking him the mile and a half to the new barn.

So, that's what we did.  Penny's son and I each clipped a lead rope to Nox's halter and walked on either side of him down the road, with Penny following us in the truck and trailer.  We were the goofiest parade ever to march down the road.  He spooked at the first three mailboxes we passed, but was surprisingly calm for most of the walk.  As we neared the new barn, he whinnied to the other horses.  They called back and the horses in the pastures came running over.  Agnes the goat met us at the property line and escorted us to the barn.  I turned Nox loose into his paddock and he immediately rolled, looked around, and spooked at the pigs.  An hour later he had calmed down and was walking in and out of his stall and paddock, meeting his neighbor horses and making friends with Agnes.  His stall is very open, so he can hang his head out into the barn aisle, and his paddock has a view of the pastures, the riding ring, and the pig pen.  I was so happy to see him so entertained and engaged!  He was so isolated in his old stall.  By the time I left a few hours later, he was eating hay in his stall and playing "nip the nose" with his neighbor Ellie.

Hopefully, this little bit of freedom to be outside whenever he wants will be just what the doctor ordered.  After he calms down a bit and gets used to his surroundings, this new arrangement should make the next few months of stall rest much more tolerable and help his ligament to finally heal.  In the meantime, I can keep in shape riding Baya and taking lessons, and see Nox at the same time.  It's a better situation for both of us.  Good news!

Nox standing in his paddock.

Nox standing near the doorway to his new, larger stall.

Nox making friends with Agnes.