it was magical

I rode Shyloh in the walk/trot class today at the Draft Club show!!!

After our ride! Go us!

She was amazingly as perfect as she could be. I mounted her from the ground and she didn't move a muscle. Then me and Jaime, on Notch, walked around the grounds a little bit. I warmed Shy up and tested her brakes. They worked!

Our class was called and in the arena we went. Since this was our first time and I am still working with her on her trot, we walked the class. But to me, that is not the point. The point is that we rode, we were away from home, we were with a bunch of other horses, and Shy was awesome!

She set her head and had such a relaxed, beautiful, and forward walk. I was able to do all the things we practiced, like moving her to the rail with my leg and using my seat to control her speed. When it was time to trot, we moved off the rail and stayed on the inside, to be out of the way. 

Getting ready for the obstacles

The only teeny, tiny hiccup was when all the horses were trotting and I thought to myself, Gee I am glad Shy doesn't want to pick up the trot when everyone else is trotting. . .and at this point she trotted about five steps. I was not expecting it and even though it was a smooth transition and an nice trot, I brought her back to the walk. I toyed for a mili-second about keeping up the trot, but I think the fact that she went into the trot without me asking was a more important thing to correct. She went right back into the walk. We lined up and Shy even backed up up for me! It was a magical day!

Halter and showmanship were. . .eh. But the judge provided useful feedback that I will work on next time. For the line driving obstacle course, Shy refused to go on the tarp (ugh! She does tarps!) but she did cross the bridge. Again, the judge gave me some pointers to work with her on, like keeping more contact.

And for the magical finale. . .

I had my first cart ride! Jaime let me ride with her and Notch in the cart class. It was so different, but fun. Notch was such a good boy.

Again, we did not win anything, but I think we are taking away a lot more from the shows than ribbons. Experience, friends, fun. . . can't be beat!