Monday, August 25, 2008

Rachel and Grandma and Arabian Horses at the Daffodil Summer Show.....a whole herd of them! Part 2




Part 1

It was a big honor for Rachel to get to show Midnite Eclipse in a western pleasure class. Angie has allowed other kids to show the multi-championship winning Arabian horse in hunter pleasure classes but she has never let anyone show the horse in a western class before Rachel. Angie made the decision to let Rachel ride Eclipse in western pleasure based on how "soft" that Rachel can be with her hands.

Angie had actually first made the comment to me that she was impressed enough with Rachel's riding that she would consider letting her ride Eclipse western. I had encouraged Angie to do so because I thought it might be good for Rachel's self-esteem.

It had never occurred to me that Rachel would want to do this without me being involved after all we had been doing this Arabian horse thing together. We were a team............or so I thought. Discovering otherwise was a hard pill to swallow but swallow it I did despite my hurt feelings. At the horse show I kept my distance.

I'm not exactly sure why Rachel ended up wearing Angie's clothes and her cowboy hat instead of Rachel's own things, but that's what they decided to do. I image it was based on Angie having some kind of idea of how the horse should look..........keeping up his image maybe. When I saw Rachel ride into the ring, she looked like a younger version of Angie on the black horse.

I'm not going to narrate or comment on the class or Rachel's riding. I'm pretty sure that's part of what I'm not "supposed" to do. Instead you have the video and you can see how the class went.

I'm glad that Rachel did well but it was a hard class to watch. I didn't really know what to think or feel. This horse thing that I'd started with my granddaughter three summer shows ago wasn't turning out to be what I had hoped. There seemed to be a lot more hurt feelings than any kind of bonding. I had to wonder where it would go from here.

Then in the evening session, Rachel was back to riding Dandy in the amateur owner class. Her class was scheduled right before mine but I still warmed the horse up. Then I put Rachel on with very little time to school using the same strategy that I had in the morning session.



While Rachel rode that class, I was in the warm-up riding my Arabian stallion. It was hard to watch Rachel riding into the ring knowing I wouldn't be able to watch her ride and be there on the rail. I don't know if I was trying to take care of Rachel or maybe Dandy but that instinct to "be there" when Dandy and Rachel were in the ring was strong.

I hated that the schedule was laid out this way. It wouldn't be fair to Legs to ride him in a class with no warm-up so I just kept warming up my horse trying to keep my mind on Legs instead of what was going on in the ring.

I could see as the riders came out of the class that Rachel and Dandy had won. I was relieved to see that Dandy had held his own in the ring with this judge. Now if he could just hold it with Rachel.

As I got ready to ride my own Arabian horse into the ring all I could think about was Rachel's class. I was hoping that someone had taken video so that I could see how Rachel and Dandy's ride had went. It's a good thing my horse is trained..........even if he's not totally finished yet he still knows how to make an entrance.

To be continued.............

Part 3

5 comments:

  1. I know this has been really hard for you, but you must be proud of her good result in the class with Dandy. I think she loooked far more comfortable on him. In the first ride (I am learning here so bear with me) she looked a bit stiff which relayed itself to the horse and I thought on the first go round when she came out of the lope she broke pace, I couldnt make up my mind if she was meant to come down from the lope to a walk or a jog, difficult to say because she was so close to the camera, but it looked like she was a bit gimpy on whatever the change was (I dont have sound on my puter so can't hear the announcer). I suppose what I am tryin to say is that the transition was not smooth.

    Okay how is that for a first analysis on something I know absolutely nothing about LOL.

    Looking forward to your ride and glad your puter is up and running again. Take care (((Hugs)))

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  2. Glad she did well. Look at this way, she gets experience on other horses, which can be a good thing. Kids inadvertantly hurt the feelings of their parents and grandparents and don't really mean it. It's all a part of growing up. That why we parents have to be tough! :)

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  3. That is so hard...I mean you want to see your granddaughter be successful and have fun in the show ring, but if she is doing that without you it takes away some of the specialness of it all. It must be so tough to be in your shoes watching her ride someone elses horse.

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  4. I know how tough it can be MiKael, when the one thing you want to do together starts putting a wedge between you. Been there already with Megan.

    I think what Rachel is trying to tell you is that she wants a little freedom to try things out. As much as she loves Dandy, maybe she needs a horse a little less trained, that she can put some of her knowledge to work. It is so much easier to tell what works and what don't on a horse that needs some guidance.
    A finished horse like Dandy can be hard to ride, when you want to "fix" things. Give her something that needs her to fix things and she will learn to appreciate the horse she can just go in and show.

    Anyway, that's my 2 cents worth, coming from a mom with a teenage girl who rides with me. It's not always easy to let them make mistakes but we can't ride their rides for them. At some point they have to figure out how to win on their own. Then you can step back and be proud that you guided them in the right direction and they were good enough to figure it out.
    Hugs to you grandma-it's not easy!!

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  5. Wow this is a tough one isn't it. I like what BEC said. Very well put. Hopefully the two of your can come out of this season with a new respect for each other. ((hugs))

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