[jeda_horse]

Well... the whole experience was fun, exciting and... interesting.

It was a NIGHTMARE getting there. A 5 hour drive for starters . We went the back way to avoid the city, not a good idea lol. One of my tires on my 4WD exploded (yes exploded!) in the middle of nowhere. On the phone to the RACQ (RACQ is like a mobile mechanic... I cant change a tire, couldnt even get it off the car lol) I couldnt even say where we were, they had to come find us (me and a friend) We were stuck on a highway that was as skinny as anything, trucks roaring past at 100 miles an hour... no side bit so I was stopped on the actual HIGHWAY ERG! WITH a horse trailer!

Eventually the RACQ found us and towed us first to safety and then changed the tire. I had to walk Denz along the highway to the clearing where the truck towed my car to (couldnt leave him IN or tied to a float on the highway).

Anyway so that was ok, my tire got fixed and we were on our way again. But the blast from my tire exploding, ripped off half my alluminium sidestep, the panel above the wheel, the mudguard and half the back bumper (well it was still attatched but hanging there). The tire was shredded and such. I cant get over it lol, it was crazy!

Anyway so we were in convoy with someone witha GPS but by now they had left so we had to find our way the next 3 hrs of the drive. Which was ok. Cut to when we arrive, almost at our destination...

We had to go up a mountain range... after 5 hours my car had enough and was not going to tow my horse and float up the mountain It died halfway up! So I pulled to the side (yet another highway stop) to let it cool down, but wasnt having much luck. Had a trucky stop to give advice, which didnt help lol. So we rang our friends who had already arrived to come save us and tow my horse to the grounds and she said she would be 1/2 - 1 hr away. So me and my friend got compfortable for the wait.

*sigh* can you say FRUSTRATED, TIRED AND ANNOYED by this point

Anyway a nice man who was an official for the comp, was driving up and stopped and offered to take my horse the rest of the way YAY! SAVIOUR! lol We gratefully accepted his offer, called my friend told her not to come. Chucked some water in my car, which by this time was cooled down a fair bit. And followed him the rest of the way to teh showgrounds.

So that was that, we were finally there!

Anywho I'll get to the results now...

Dressage was first on Friday. I hadnt even practiced my test or ridden for 2 weeks (I have a bad back injury) but got on leaving plenty of time to get myself warmed up, and I was just finishing my warm yp when the call over the loudspeaker "my name" to gear check please! ARG! The ring was running ALOT earlier then expected. So I galloped back to my float to get dressed, I was in a complete frezy got dressed in 3 secs lol galloped him back to the ring and went in. Had some time to cool down and try to relax while the girl in front finished her test though so that was ok.

Get in the ring, execute perfect collected canters, canter halfpasses, tempi changes, counter canters.. both directions WOOT! lol reinbacks, half pirouettes, spins, leaps, rollbacks

haha did I mention this was a preliminary test? requiring BASIC walk, trot and canter.

Yep I scored a whopping 82.9 for that test (sounds good right?) nope that is 17.1% yep what a score! lol Guess where I was sitting in the ranks.... yep LAST!

Saturday - cross country.

Denzell was being the biggest pig in warm up, and still hadnt settled by the time they were calling us to get in the start box. They count down, he is prancing in the box, I let him go and he leaps out the box, I try to aim him towards jump 1 but he wouldnt have a bar of it. He was insistant on galloping sideways down the track, racing backwards, half rearing, bucking, galloping on the spot In a way I was glad I had 3 refusals at the first jump. The way he was acting it would have been too dangerous to take him round the rest of the course, which was HUGE and complicated, no place for a horse with a screw loose

So I was eliminated, and pulled out of showjumping.

I didnt have the preperation, so I wasnt expecting alot. I had to go the 5 hour trip anyway to pick up my new horse float, so I thought I may aswell have a go.

Next year we will do better, and hopefully it will be closer!

To anyone that read all that, congradulations!

[yertle]

Sorry to hear it wasn't a good time.

I think they hold the states at Toowoomba every year - pretty sure they were there last year too.

[chocchipcookie]

You'll look back on it and laugh one day, I hope.
Hope your next show is better!

[magic_rider]

Sorry it didn't go very well, don't worry, it happens to everyone occasionaly.

[madvoice]

Now no more riding until that back is better missy! Otherwise I'm going to throw a crutch at you. I've got a good throwing arm . I'm glad you got home in once piece even though the day didn't work out the way you wanted.

[superhorse]

Your trip was almost identical to one of my friend when she went to the interschool thing!! What a coinsidence, their whole trip was a disaster and on the last day she had a bad fall and got concusion. So it could have been a bit worse.

It happens to everyone at some point, and at least nobody was hurt. Better luck next time.

[jeda_horse]

lol its ok now Im home I can laugh haha. I got home in one piece and so did my horse, so for me that equals a good experience

[jeda_horse]

Originally Posted by yertle

Sorry to hear it wasn't a good time.

I think they hold the states at Toowoomba every year - pretty sure they were there last year too.

OH someone mentioned it COULD be at Maryborough next year. Thats what Im counting on! Cuts over 3 hours off my travel time

[yertle]

Originally Posted by jeda_horse

OH someone mentioned it COULD be at Maryborough next year. Thats what Im counting on! Cuts over 3 hours off my travel time

Would be good then if they do that

[KZWestern]

So sorry to hear about the horrible trip and the not-so-good results of the show. Wow, and I thought I've had some bad shows!! I want to say though, congrats on your fairly upbeat attitude! And to be honest, reading the part about your dressage test was the laugh therapy I needed! (Sorry if that sounds cold hearted) Thanks so much for sharing. I feel your pain!