First Sleep Away Show Ever: Day 3 - Mixed Results

Holy apocalyptic heat wave Day 2.  Temps hit somewhere around 116 degrees, if the temperature sensor in the car was to believed. 

Just a thought:  If you're going to be doing a lot of summer horse showing, you might want to consider an investment in this shirt.  I saw a picture of French show jumper Penelope Le Prevost wearing it and had to hunt one down.  It fits, and is flattering, which can be tough to find if you're built like a brick shit house (thanks, Dad, for burning that phrase into my brain.)  Even more importantly, it's cool. 

I told my barn mate the shirt was unbelievable, and although she doubted me, she bought one.  Let me tell you, she was a heck of a lot cooler in her ECE than she was in her competition polo yesterday.  I have a couple of short sleeve performance show shirts because I melt like ice cream on a summer day, and this one outperforms all of them. Just saying...

Anyway, the good, the bad, and the ugly:

Kiddo did so well today. Fought off the heat all day, drank water every time I nagged at her to,  and held her own in the Schooling Pony Hunters.  Cookie found the striding tough to make, but she and the kiddo fought for the numbers and came away with an 8th in the their third class.  Am so proud of both of them -- hope to have pictures to post soon.

My first foray into the Low Amateurs was not quite as good.  We decided to go for it as we'd schooled 3'3" a time or two at home and they'd been setting them soft at 3'.  Well, today's ring crew was not feeling quite as kindly as yesterday's, and they set the fences to the correct 3'3" height.   I was feeling a bit heat shock-y and almost bagged the class, but pulled my big girl pants on and gave it a go.  Sug and I had a heck of a warm-up, but problems at 2 different oxers in the class meant we were DNF for the class.  Sug basically said to me, "Look Mom, I can pretty much cover you 99% of the time, but it's hotter than heck and these are higher and wider than we normally do, and I need a little help from your end.  Either we do this the right way or I'm choosing life and making the executive decision to stay grounded."  I didn't hold up my end of the bargain and waffled on my decisions to the oxers in question, and she wisely chose life rather than risking us. 

So, lesson learned and back we go to Level One tomorrow. We'll hang there until we're more confirmed (rather, Mom is more confident) at the 3'3" fences.  God bless my big girl, though, she's so funny.  If you watch us while we're waiting to go, you can tell when I get tense or have a negative thought.  Not from anything I do (I think) but because Sug will turn her big ol' head around to look at me, as if to say, "Oh for the love of Pete, woman,  RELAX!  I GOT this! Just take a deep breath and stay in the middle and hang on, will you?"  This happens at least 5 or 6 times as we wait for our turn in the ring.  She's a pistol, my girl.  I'm so lucky she puts up with me.

Side notes:  Shared a few giggles with Neal Shapiro of Hay Fever Farm at the water cooler by Jumper Ring 2 today.  The man was one of my heroes when I was growing up.  I can remember him being so very kind to me when I met him as a star struck little girl, and I'm thrilled to say he's just as nice today as he was then.

That's one of the best parts of this whole experience -- seeing the riders I idolized as a kid, seeing the riders I've come to respect in recent years, and being able to really watch them in action.  Better than being back stage at a Stones concert, at least in my book.