My first show since the fall!

[Vegas_Sky]

Hi everyone!

Just thought I would give a little update - I went to my first show two weeks ago, but I had four midterms this week :dead: so I didn’t get around to posting until now!

I took Poppy to a little clinic/schooling show and we had a great time! Now, Poppy is the mare I was riding when I fell. I started riding Poppy again just before Christmas, and after a long talk with my parents, I convinced them to let me take Poppy for my B rating in Pony Club this year. Poppy is a great, great, great horse! OTTB, 13 years old, a good mind, and sweet as can be. I really love this horse and we have a great working relationship.

So the clinic/schooling show this weekend was run as a clinic with a big-name local eventing trainer on Saturday, then a jumper schooling show on Sunday with coaching from the same clinician - really a great format, especially considering how much I love this trainer.

Poppy was a wee bit naughty during the first part of our lesson on Saturday - one end of the arena was VERY scary! She was throwing an OTTB mare temper tantrum, flying around the arena backwards and threatening to rear. We came through it okay, but to my great surprise, I was afraid. I felt that fear creep up inside me and all I could think about was the fall and I was so scared that I was going to fall again. Eventually I gathered my wits about me and we got over the spooking issues and actually ended the clinic quite well, with Poppy doing some gymnastic exercises over low fences quite calmly and sensibly. By the end of the lesson though, we were both quite tired! I decided not to tell the clinician about the fall, the TBI, or any of the resulting issues (I had Poppy’s owner there with me, a good friend who knows everything, so there was no safety issue) because I wanted her to push me and be brutally honest about my faults in riding and what I need to fix. And she definitely did that :lol:

So Sunday, we went back for the show and warmed up very well and popped around our two little Beginner Novice jumping courses with very few issues! We had one stop at an oxer on the first course, because that was my fault and I stopped riding her like I should have because she was going so well. And that day was the first time either of us had been over an oxer since…well, the warm-up of cross country the day of the fall. So I wasn’t upset about that at all. The second course went very smoothly - no stops and it flowed a little better than the first course, I thought. We actually ended up in sixth place in the second class! I was pretty happy, but Poppy was pretty tired!

I could definitely feel that I am just not strong like I used to be. I felt very floppy in the tack, especially my right side, which still has some pretty major hemiparesis issues. And I have very little trunk stability, so I tend to collapse a little bit on landings.

We were signed up to do the two novice classes that morning as well, but when we got to warm up Poppy and I were both exhausted, it was raining very hard which made it difficult to see out of my glasses, and that oxer…it was big. I took one look at it and those apprehensions I had had all morning about the novice classes grew into the full-blown fear monster. This really surprised me, as I have never really had fear issues before and I’ve schooled all the way up through Preliminary, and this was just a little Novice oxer…but on Sunday morning, on the horse that threw me, in the rain when I couldn’t see, when we were both exhausted…I knew that it would be foolish to continue. So I threw in the towel, ended on a good note with that last BN course, and explained the issue to the clinician - about the fall and how we just weren’t ready. She wholeheartedly agreed with our decision.

So even though I was a little disappointed with myself for being afraid, I still had a great time and I am SOOOO proud of my Poppy for how well she did after having four months off! We had a great time and I know that as soon as I work through my issues, I’ll be able to ride her to her full potential! We are nowhere near where we were even at the beginning of last show season, let alone the end, but very soon we will be!

Here is a video of our Jumper round from her very first horse trials last June:
http://www.youtube.com/watchv=P608t4uCFg&feature=player_profilepage

Here is our first jumper round from the schooling show:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gqfp31elUgg&feature=feedu

And the second round, which I think went better (minus the near-stop-and-fall-over-shoulders-at-fence-seven)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOYV7pTVUrk&feature=feedu

And here is a link to the album of this weekend. The pics aren’t that great (they were pulled off a video) but they’re pics nonetheless You can clearly see that I’ve still got a long way to go, especially with my right leg, but we’re getting there!
http://s161.photobucket.com/albums/t201/vegasbay/Karen%20ONeal%20Clinic%20Jan%202011/

All in all, I’m just happy to be riding and jumping again. I’ve got some pretty major physical issues to work out still, and apparently fear is something I will have to conquer, but I will do it. And I will come back an even stronger rider than when I left!

[Calvincrowe]

Congrats! My first few rides with jumps have been…scary! I have only trotted to a single so far, but I’m working on my strength so I can be safe and effective. I didn’t come into my injury as in shape as you.

Don’t be afraid of going back to basics–have canter poles before jumps, jumping a “course” of poles, trotting to jumps to gain that confidence back. Even riding a schoolie who just keeps on keeping on can do wonders for your own self-confidence.

As an aside, where was the clinic? That looks like a fabulous arena! I think my SIL rode in that clinic, come to think of it. I’ll have to ask her.

[stryder]

Good for you, Vegas Sky! You’ve made remarkable progress.

I know you’re in rehab, but ask your PT to check out your psoas. I had poor lateral stability, my PT found my psoas wasn’t firing, likely due to a previous fall. A few simple exercises, and I became much stronger and more stable quickly. It made a huge difference for me.

[Zu_Zu]

CONGRATULATIONS TO YOU AND POPPY ~ BE PROUD !

CONGRATULATIONS TO YOU TWO !!! :D:yes: BE PROUD ~

[Invite]

Congratulations! Good job fighting your fears and going for it :yes: Give yourself a big pat on the back!

[FlightCheck]

Well done.

Don’t you dare feel badly for making the decision to not do the Novice classes. I wish more people would make good decisions like that - riding is supposed to be FUN for both of you!

Congratulations!

[Vegas_Sky]

[QUOTE=FlightCheck;5426710]
Well done.

Don’t you dare feel badly for making the decision to not do the Novice classes. I wish more people would make good decisions like that - riding is supposed to be FUN for both of you!

Congratulations![/QUOTE]

Yeah, the more I think about it the more I’m really glad I didn’t do it - we definitely would have ended up in trouble…something I have no desire to repeat.

I was at an Upper Level Pony Club conference this weekend and one of the speakers was talking about addressing fear in our students (and ourselves) and what she said really made sense: “After a bad fall, the part of your brain that is afraid is the smart part. Of course you’re afraid - you don’t want to get hurt again. If you weren’t afraid, you’d be stupid.”

That made me feel a lot better about my fears and gave me motivation to address them in a safe manner. Once I start riding again (I had to stop again for a few reasons) I think I will only start jumping on my super safe Vegas, who is the definition of a packer. Once I have accomplished everything I can with her level of soundness, we will start with Poppy over trot poles - rebuilding my confidence from the ground up.