PONY SLEEPOVER

Friday after visiting TC, I still had more miles to go, and that was because instead of heading back home to the east, I headed north to Peony's house.

After harassment from Nicole to volunteer at the WSS event, I agreed when it was apparent that L and I would both be in the area. Unfortunately, L didn't make it, and you can read about why on her blog! So it was just me, Peony, and Andy on Friday night and it was AWESOME (but L was definitely missed, especially with all the pony talk and lack of unconscious cuddling in their guest bedroom).

Andy BBQed and we all talked horses while I contemplated how it might be possible to steal a dog. There's always a lot of good pony talk with pony friends and blog talk with blog friends and it's so fun to do both. We talked about everything from Spot's really really interesting breeding, to TC plans, to why Andy's new horse needs to have some version of "Up-gray-dd" (gah Peony I forgot how you spelled it!) as a show name, and more. We, uh, kind of stayed up way too late for the hour we needed to get up to be able to have breakfast and get going.

My jumps!

The next morning we got up and while my trainer friend was judging the event, we had pancakes and coffee. She actually wanted me to scribe and I asked Nicole but there were already enough scribes. Honestly I was super glad for that since dressage started at 7:30am but Andy, Peony, and I weren't needed until the jumping started around 11! So we slept in a tiny bit and then had pancakes and eggs and coffee.

Then at the grocery store we stopped for snacks, and I got some chai. Coffee and chai in the same morning, a morning where I was facing meeting a million new people at a new place and doing a thing outside my normal schedule, oh and generally I'm really sensitive to drugs. I was basically trembling by the time I was half way through my chai. I was probably the closest I've ever been to doing cocaine. We took separate cars on the way to the event since it put me closer to home and I'm glad we did because I was full of energy bouncing around trying to find a radio station. When we got to the event, all the jump judges were in the office and I like had to remove myself from the situation because I was so amped that I couldn't handle everyone else's adrenaline. Because caffeine. Craziness. I should not do drugs ever.

Eventually I calmed down, not before talking my trainer friend's ear off about why 4-3 is the devil and how LB was the day before and what my student's plans are and how I might become a dog thief and how her judging went and how I want to do the L program but there isn't one any time soon and I should have done the one that's just ending now but I thought they happened more often and I was in grad school and poor but now I guess I'm just as poor and I dunno should have probably done it right, right RIGHT? She's seen me at horse shows so seems immune to my weirdness.

Look at these dummies, their gate is open to the big pasture but
they're eating the sprigs in the smaller sacrifice area

Jump judging was fun! My jump was a touch boring (no complaints), the second jump on course. However, the third jump on course was very interesting at all levels, so everyone would sail over my jump while I was distracted calling it in, and then I got to watch as people crashed and burned over fence three. Not even the course designer was immune to the difficult turn to the skinny house going down hill at prelim.

The whole day made me fluctuate between that's it, I'm selling TC and am going to buy an event horse and I'll jump again and it will be great! and why the fuck do people do this sport, that was so scary. For now at least, I'm sticking with dressage, although Peony and I had fun imagining Rico and I doing Intro at one of these events. Not sure if it'd be more embarrassing to win against children on ponies/adults on green horses or be beaten by them as my horse refuses to jump colored sticks and goes lame while trotting downhill.

Peony has it in her head that I should take TC to one of these things, whiiiich might happen eventually, although can you get disqualified if your horse doesn't LEAVE the water complex?

Not coming to an event near you

It was an awesome day, although it was unnerving to find out that Nicole is actually six people, since there's no way that one person could have done her job. Oh well, she is still awesome and I'm excited to see her (and Peony) more on Sunday this week! I got all excited to jump judge again but then realized that at the next event there's a comp clinic with Tracey that I want to audit on the same day as cross country and... yeah dressage still wins.