Horse Show Hack

Saturday morning I took Stella to the Heartland show sponsored by the Heartland Region Pony Club at the Hoosier Horse Park.  I realized that she hadn't actually been to the horse park in a "normal" for us capacity although she had been there for the open show last summer, so I wanted to get her out and about at a very busy show and take advantage of the low key day.

It started out with a healthy dose of trailering experience, I 65 was a two lane construction zone most of the way, I took my normal exit and immediately hit a road closed sign.  We pulled into a truck wash and my boyfriend googled an alternative route, which I knew existed but had never run backwards before.  I am also not comfortable taking roads I'm not familiar with in my truck and trailer so yeah!!!!  Experience!

I had reconfigured my trailer to see if Stella was more willing to load in a bigger space and forgot to tell my boyfriend to keep her head screwed on straight in case she tried to turn around.  There really wasn't enough room I thought......

but I underestimated Stella's bendiness and her determination so she turned around in the trailer leaving half her ass in the process.   Ooooops.

After we settled in I hacked Stella all over the showgrounds, especially down all the crowded barn aisles, which had been an issue at the open show last summer.  She handled everything great and only hesitated when we got to the dressage arenas with their scary bleachers.  I schooled her for a bit in the show jumping warm up, making sure I had a gas pedal at the faster gaits in a crowded situation.  I did experience some nerves, mostly "oh my god if I ask her to canter is she going to stop?"  Yes, yes, she did.  We were fine.

Here's a picture of Stella being slightly grumpy as we "waited" in line for our show jumping round.  She was just fine when she was moving and exploring but became impatient and antsy anytime I asked her to stand still, so I made her stand still here.

As you can see in the picture, she's wearing her Renegades which you can find new at their website.  I put her boots on because I was concerned that her lameness issue was an abscess and I didn't want to irritate soft feet on all the concrete and gravel at the showgrounds.

I got lots of questions about her horse "crocs"

I'd never thought about it, but I guess they DO kind of look like Crocs!!

At the end of the day Stella visited the mobile tack shop run by local business, The Stable Tack Shop to pick out some horse cookies.

I'd like to add a huge THANKS! to my ever patient horse show boyfriend, who not only reassured my nerves on the drive in, but helped carry all my stuff, and followed behind us as we hacked in case we had any issues.  

After that we packed up and headed home.  Stella gained some experience at a show, I gained some driving experience, and my boyfriend gained some sore arms!!!