Yesterday I rode about 5 miles south of town, and today I went to an open horse show for the fun of it and entered 3 classes.
Let's just say that Colletta is better suited to endurance riding than loping at a walking pace. <.< >.>
But first, yesterday's ride! It was in the 70s yesterday, cloudy, with a nice breeze, so it was a perfect riding day. The only bad thing that could have turned out worse was when I forgot to tighten the saddle girth for the second time (I usually tighten the girth once, put the bridle on, and tighten it a second time before riding off)...
See, I had been riding for about 10 minutes at a walking/trotting pace. Then, a little ways south of town I decided to lope for a while in the grass next to the road. We made it about 100 feet before I started sliding to the right...and didn't stop...and didn't stop....and--well, you get the idea. I managed to get Colletta stopped before I completely fell off, and when she stood still the only thing still on her back was the girth and my left leg. It was awkward.
The best part is that Colletta couldn't have cared less that a saddle was attacking her belly and stood calmly eating ditch grass while I took the saddle off and put it on properly. I've only ever seen horses have a complete melt-down in that situation, so I was pretty impressed.
So after fixing the saddle, we continued on and picked up a farm dog for a while...it followed us for about half a mile, anyway. I think it was excited to have someone to explore with or something. After the dog there were cattle...LOTS of cattle. Lots of very noisy cattle. I'd say there were about 200 all strung out across a pasture, mooing and staring and carrying on. A couple came galloping over, bucking and sending saliva flying (cows are slobbery creatures) as if they were going to chase us off. Or check us out. Or something. They were just nosy. Colletta couldn't have cared less (again). I think she rather likes cattle, to a degree.
After the cattle we passed some pastures with horses and came home on Main Street. At the last pasture of horses--this was about a block from home, with horses that belonged to some people we know--I let the horse stop and touch noses through the fence. I'm not sure if she was posturing or what, but she decided to do a Fell Beast impersonation and bellow/stomp her feet a couple of times. The other horses were chill about it...so maybe they were having a conversation? I don't know. It was bizarre.
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So that was yesterday. Today at the horse show I entered a walk/trot class (which is exactly what it sounds like), open Western pleasure (walk, trot, canter), and trot poles.
Let's just say that after working on speed and endurance for ages, it doesn't make much sense to enter a class where one is judged on how low the head is and how slowly one can walk/trot/lope. Colletta was passing EVERYBODY. *headdesk* And she couldn't lope with her head low to save her life...so it was a fail in that respect. I would have gotten 2nd in trot poles if she hadn't gotten excited and loped for two strides at one point...ah well.
There probably won't be a next time, because I was reminded why I'm so jaded about horse showing in general (mostly because of the impracticality of the gaits and the 'win at any cost' mentality a lot of people have. It gets scary, man...). I'll stick with endurance riding, thanks.
And I'll relish the knowledge that my horse will stop and be totally cool with having a saddle-tumor on her belly, while most horses would have a complete meltdown. >:D
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