Oh man, where do I start?
I couldn’t have written this post yesterday or Sunday. I was too pissed off, confused, steaming!
Even now…ARGH.
Let’s start with the good: Had a really nice week with Oats. He did some pony riders for my mom, went in a jumping lesson with me and was GREAT! And we got some great shots out of it! And then we had a fun ride in the rain on Saturday, and then..dun dun dun…horse show on Sunday.
Just a small Appy show, but this is where the Bad/Ugly started:
We warmed up fine, he was moving out nicely until we hit the ring. He refused a warm up oxer TWICE! That is already unusual. He was slacking off behind my leg and lulled me in…
There were like 20 riders in my division, and so we sat, and sat, and sat and got bored and sleepy in the holding pen. Our round came up, and it went okay…I tried for a solid 5 in a line and blew it…got a chip to an ugly 6. Oh well, shit happens eh?
Boy, does it EVER.
My next round, I felt anxious…Underpowered. I didn’t feel like I had him WITH me, you know? He slid to a stop at the FIRST FENCE and I fell off over the jump, and pretty much landed on it.
Yes, I fell off AGAIN at a horse show. That makes two in a row, and my fourth fall off Oats since March. WTF>>>
I felt airheaded, fluffy and out of it. I couldn’t focus? It was so weird. I just kept saying I felt strange.
It’s true, I did. Couldn’t get my head in the game, you know? And boy did Oats feel it.
We went in for our last round and he stopped AGAIN at the second fence in the line. This time? I got ANGRY. That is ENOUGH of you (and lets me honest, me too) sleepwalking through the rounds and taking me down the freaking daisy path here.
I spanked him, HARD.
Turned around in quick circle, and blasted him over the silly little jump he neatly ‘declined’ to jump over. Then I kicked his ass all around the course. Hesitate? BLAM! Slow around the corners? KICK! I rode him like I was on fire, and damn, if it didn’t go MUCH BETTER.
He is not a stopper, so I have no idea why he was riding like shit.
JESUS.
Let’s not have a repeat like that ever again. SHit! How does it feel like I’m getting better (more effective rider, my position is improving-you should see the pics!!) and getting worse at the same time? WTF is all I can say right now.
I might take a break from showing for awhile. Clearly, I have some issues that need fixin’
Photo credit to the talented Kourtney Anne.
The adventures of Mr. Oats 
It sounds like you eventually did the right thing in that last round by riding the hell out of him. I think the stuff you’ve been working on with Karen is your answer to all of this… No more Oats flipping you the bird! You can do this Sarah!!!
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I know…oh man it is a RUDE realization! I’m like, how am I getting worse at this??
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You’re not, you’re just waking up to the fact that you need to step up even more!
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It is so true. I think we have just been waking up to realize that! I got stuck at a plateau because I was afraid to push the envelope, in case Oats had some naughty tricks up his sleeve, but the plateau was keeping us down 🙂
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