Even though there was supposed to be a hurricane/tropical storm/super crappy rain we decided to make the trek to our next event.

This was our first go at no stabling. 3:30am wake-up call and loaded and on the road with Frankie at 5:00am.

It was raining—not just raining, it was pouring. It was miserable. Everyone was soaked, including Frankie.

DRESSAGE:

Our dressage test was pretty good. I had about 45 minutes to warm up, and he sure needed it. We would have done way better, but our walk was atrocious. Mostly because of the rain, but also because our walk sucks. Our canter wasn’t great because Frankie didn’t want to go forward too much because of the rainy, wet, and sloppy conditions.

Score – 35
Place after Dressage – 4

STADIUM:

After a four hour wait, Frankie in the trailer and Josh and I in the truck; you could say we were happy to get out but unhappy to get out into the rain. Frankie hadn’t eaten or even attempted a sip of water. He was pissed off, I took my spurs off because he was jumping out of his skin. The downpour hadn’t let up and it was sloppy, wet, and just plain terrible outside.

Our warm-up was terrible. Even though Frankie was hyper, he was totally backed-off because of the footing and the weather. I couldn’t get anything out of him. He was jumping the fences fine, but getting to them was a difficult ride. I had no horse.

I didn’t walk the course—just memorized it. There was a combination (one to a two), a bending line (three), and another line (four), from what I could tell.

I watched two horses go before me, and could tell it was slippery. The course was hilly, and the majority of the turns needing to happen were all on hills—downhill. I wasn’t feeling good about it.

So we went in, and Frankie was being soooo careful. His usual ginormous stride was teeny-tiny, and I had nothing to work with. So we just cantered, slowly, to the bottom of every fence. Luckily, those fences were small so, we left them all standing. I suspected we had time faults though. We added a stride in every line, and the one stride was even a little long.

Faults – 4 time faults
Place after Stadium- 2nd (tied)

CROSS COUNTRY:

This event featured cross country right after stadium. No wait. We had about 10 minutes to switch tack and clothing if necessary.

Josh and I were talking about scratching. I really didn’t like how Frankie was riding. I thought the course footing looked good when we walked it, but the actual weather alone was just terrible. I kept weighing the pros and cons. I really felt like Frankie was going to do the water, the course looked like fun, and nothing seemed too difficult for him. But the weather just didn’t agree with Frankie. He just couldn’t get himself comfortable. Even if the footing was okay, I don’t think he trusted it. Plus, there were a lot of hills with a few really steep ones that did worry me.

I decided I would go jump-by-jump.

We started, and the first fence was a small log. I actually thought he might stop because of a giant puddle he would be landing in. He didn’t stop—but I sure didn’t feel like I was riding my horse.

Jump two was a really small log set uphill in the woods. Frankie actually hesitated about five or more strides away from the jump, so we trotted that fence. Up another hill and down some more. We were in a trail in the woods.

Still going downhill, jump three was drop. I decided to trot down the hill to be safe. He was a trooper down the drop, and through a really big, deep puddle afterward.

So drop, giant puddle, then a turn to fence four which was a double hanging log that sort of had a drop to it. Both in and out were on a slope. But before Frankie even saw the fence, he slammed on the brakes. I tried to get him forward, and he basically told me to f#@k off! I tried a little more, and then realized that he was done. Done, done, done. We retired.

Score – Eliminated

I was pretty pissed off. I don’t like a horse that say’s f#@k off. We un-tacked, loaded, tried to dry off, and hit the road.

After some thought, I realized I would have told me to f#@k off too. What a terrible day. Terrible conditions, all with barely any sleep, a long drive, and not enough calories.

Frankie is particular. There isn’t anything wrong with that. He needs a good rider. He needs a good nights rest. good food, plenty to drink, and he doesn’t want to be soaking wet. I think those are fair requests he might have in order to put his all into something.

Including me, there were 15 training level entries at this event. Four withdrew before the event started. A fifth withdrew before the cross country. Of the ten remaining riders, four people finished the cross country with two going clear and two having 60 faults. Those odds aren’t good. And at some point, there was a loose horse on the course, so somebody had a worse day than I.

I don’t think the cross country course was that difficult. I do think the weather was an advantage for those horses who are unaffected by the weather. Frankie however, is proving to be very weather adverse. I think it’s reasonable to expect a weather weary horse to still perform in the rain. Though rain is one thing, today’s downpour was something completely else. It was a monsoon. I’m going home not pissed off.