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The USEA Adult Team Championships are being held this year in conjunction with the American Eventing Championships. Since we’re already going to AEC, it didn’t take long for my brain to leap into “let’s get a team together and do ATC too!”. Because let’s be honest, I’m going to AEC purely to have fun and party horse-style for 5 days straight, and the only thing that makes that idea sound even better is having teammates to participate in the debauchery as well. Luckily 3 folks at my barn are all AEC qualified at BN and Adult Rider members, and we met another person at Corona HT that would be a great addition to our team as well. You need a minimum of 3 for a team, but 4 people allows you a drop score, so it works out pretty perfectly. Bobby and I have had a lot of time together lately (what a lucky guy he is) to formulate plans and ideas and all I can say is – this is going to be the best thing ever.

Bobby and I have this running inside joke about unicorns from the past couple horse trials (I won’t even begin to try to explain) so it makes complete logical sense for our team to have some kind of unicorn-centric name. We have no idea yet what that could be (IDEAS WELCOME!!!) but it has to be awesome. Because we’re awesome. And so are unicorns. We even have a unicorn themed Course Walk with Bobby planned for AEC.

We also found out that it is encouraged to find team sponsors to help cover the costs of or donate items for team saddle pads, shirts, hats, grooming bags, stall guards, banners, etc. The idea is to really make everyone feel like a team and make it as fun as possible, so they want people to go all out. Any money or items donated are also 501c tax deductable! How cool is that??  The ideas are already churning for what kind of swag we want to get and who might possibly want to sponsor us. I think I might actually be more excited for the Team Championships (and our epic Course Walk with Bobby plans) than for the individual AEC competition itself!

It just so happens that our 4th team member is a bartender, so our team will even have an official drink. Can’t beat that. What else do you think would be cool to have for team swag? Ideas for sponsors? Team names? Help us brainstorm! Has anyone else done an Adult Team Challenge or Championship before?

Here’s an article about one of the teams last year: http://useventing.com/news/adult-riders-lay-claim-%E2%80%9Cfun-award%E2%80%9D-usea-adult-team-championships

Every horse show weekend is a learning experience in and of itself, but that was especially true for Texas Rose…

1. Always watch ALL of the helmet cam footage, don’t just delete the excess. 

I’m not coordinated enough to be able to properly push the button to start the GoPro while I’m mounted, so I always turn it on when I put my helmet on and turn it off when I take my helmet off. This makes for a really long video file, which I just cut down to the ride itself and trash the rest of the footage. This time I accidentally left the raw video rolling in the background on my computer while I did something else and happened to hear my post-ride conversation with Bobby. It was too great to omit, so I made it into it’s own video. If you like cussing, burping, high fives, or Bobby – it’s pretty hilarious.

2. Saddle pad = stall door.

Henry is a bit of a dumb, and every time I closed his stall door he would start spinning and neighing in his stall. Solid walls with no windows… he was pretty sure that by shutting the stall door I was also removing all his friends. I tried tying his lead rope across the doorway and leaving his door open, but he kept putting his head under to escape. Then I hung a saddle pad over the lead rope and he was like “Aw man, now there’s a DOOR there, I can’t get out!”. Yes Henry, you’re totally right – that saddle pad is absolutely a solid door. Bless your heart. Worked like a charm though, I could leave him like that for hours and not only was he perfectly content, he stayed put.

3. Hot pink underwear, while beautiful, are not wise.

I have this one pair of underwear that are so perfect for dressage. No seams, very soft fabric, the perfect size and shape. For real, they’re the holy grail of underwear. None of my others compare. Sadly, they’re also hot pink and I’ve never been able to find the exact same pair in white or beige. I skirted this problem by wearing an underlayer, thinking I was pretty smart. Then I sweated buckets during dressage at Texas Rose, my underwear bled through my underlayer and my perfect white breeches, and it looked like I had my bubble gum period. Luckily I was so hot I couldn’t muster up the energy to give a shit, but you’re welcome fellow Area 5 eventers for the entertainment.

4. Yelling “CHAMPIONS” at people is totally acceptable.

When you have a 4 hour haul to get home and are totally delirious from heat stroke and lack of sleep, it is perfectly ok to entertain yourselves by honking at strangers and yelling “CHAMPIONS!!!”. It works even better if you hold your ribbons up to the window and wave while you do it. People love that. It’s basically a parade.

5. There are idiots everywhere you go

If I saw one more person sitting on their horse immediately after XC, standing in the sun and chatting for a while, and then having the horse carry them all the way back to the barn, I was gonna throat punch someone. It’s HOT, the horses are HOT and TIRED, get your ass off your horse, loosen your girth, and get them walking in the shade. Come on people. It’s an animal, not a golf cart.

6. There are awesome people everywhere you go, too

Eventers are a pretty cool lot. Between the finish line and the barn I had 5 complete strangers ask me how it went and congratulate me, one of whom was an Olympian. You just don’t get that anywhere else. I have never in my life walked back from a jumper class and had a complete stranger ask me, with a smile, how my round went. It’s impossible to go to an event and come back without at least one new friend. Stay cool, eventing… you’re the greatest.

Just a quick one today, I’m headed out the door for Texas Rose…

First, big thanks to Martin of MDC for replying to everyone’s questions and comments on my MDC stirrups review post the other day. It’s not often that we get to chat back and forth with a product’s creator in the comments section! He’s still reading and replying.

Second, don’t forget about Sadie’s baby contest! It’s easy to enter and the winner gets a $25 Riding Warehouse gift card. Sadie is getting bigger and bigger by the day.

Finally, I have a few things for sale if anyone might be interested:

Animo light blue long sleeve polo shirt, size I-42 (fits like a 34-36). Also worn very little and in great shape. $50

Annie’s Tardis blue full seat breeches, size 30. Worn maybe 10 times, in great shape. $50

5.25 or 5.5 (need to measure) Nathe loose ring. $50

Full set of Tekna fancy stitched boots, open front and hind ankle in brown. Size cob – they run big, these fit Henry with some room to spare. $45

Tailored Sportsman Trophy Hunter tan full seat breeches size 30. Small light stain on the rear seat area. Good schooling condition. $45

 

Barn friend Bobby is also selling his Point Two Air Vest:

Brand new, never used Point Two ProAir Riding Vest – Adult Large/Red (4 cartridges included)

This air vest provides inflatable protection in the event of a fall. It clips across the chest and lays flat on the body, much like a garment, for a comfortable non intrusive feel. In the event of a fall, the CO2 cartridge is activated to instantly inflate the vest for full upper body protection including the neck area. The inflated vest will stay inflated for 10-20 seconds when it will then slowly deflate. While the vest is inflated, the rider will have full movement of arm and legs. Can be worn over a traditional body protector for extra protection. Includes saddle attachment and lanyard. Asking $500

Nothing like trying to cram all your prep for a move-up into the last week before show time! I’m not complaining one single bit, because I’m just beyond thrilled that it’s stopped raining and things are drying up. Henry’s been able to go out all week and the arenas no longer resemble lakes.

Because it’s supposed to be hot and humid this weekend, I opted to cram more of my serious prep work into the beginning of the week and lighten his workload the last few days before show time. We had a dressage lesson Saturday, did conditioning work Sunday, jumped on Monday, then he had Tuesday off, an easier dressage ride last night, and gets today off, then we leave for the show tomorrow morning. For our jump school on Monday only half of the arena was dry, but it’s amazing how half of an arena feels like a gloriously huge space after a month of being surrounded by swamp. I set up a square oxer and a bigger vertical and made the best of our little area.

We were a little crooked, and it was hard to keep a consistent pace in the space, but Henry felt good considering we haven’t jumped in a while. I feel a little rusty, but hopefully he’s ready to go!

Last night’s dressage ride was really just to get him loosened up and thinking forward. At this point we’ve got whatever we’ve got, so there’s no point in trying to drill him now. I’ll be thrilled if he can continue being as relaxed for dressage at Texas Rose as he was at Greenwood and Corona. He was basically comatose last night!

They also posted ride times yesterday, and I’m very relieved to see that we’re running XC early on Sunday morning. Henry doesn’t handle heat very well and I was a bit concerned about having to do XC in the heat of the day on Saturday, so bullet dodged there. Of course, we have dressage and stadium in the heat of the day, but I can get him through those two phases a lot more easily. I spent the week sewing him an ice pack thingy that he can wear on his neck – a process that involved much cursing, blood, whining, and a burned finger. I figured if I made it I wouldn’t need it… obviously a sound strategy. I’m taking it anyway though because dammit I bled for that thing and he’s gonna use it.

 

 

I hope you’re prepared for more epic course walk debauchery, because Bobby is coming along to this event too. And here’s a gross picture of his face, because he thought he was being funny by putting this on my phone. I get the last laugh by putting this on the internet.

Let that haunt your dreams for a while.

 

I think just about everyone who has competed in horse shows is familiar with nervous energy that comes along with it. If you’re one of those rare souls with ice running through your veins, count your blessings. I am not one of those people. To what degree those butterflies really affect us varies from person to person… some of us just feel a little bit of heart-pounding at the in gate, while others might be in the porta-potty barfing up their breakfast all morning.

I’ve always been the type of person that feels anxiety and nervousness at shows. I’m lucky enough that it’s never been super severe (no hyperventilating, no puking, no hysterical bawling in the warm-up ring) but it has definitely varied from almost none to feeling queasy. For a long time I tried really hard to conquer those nerves and force myself to relax. Eventually I realized how ridiculously futile that was, and it dawned on me that maybe I was looking at it from the wrong perspective. I have never succeeded in getting rid of my butterflies, but what if I could tame them and turn that nervous energy into an advantage rather than a detriment? It took time and a lot of introspection, but this is what has really helped me a lot and I’m hoping that by sharing it here it might help someone else too.

The first thing I had to realize is that nervous energy doesn’t have to be a negative thing, it can be positive too. Research has actually shown that nervous energy, when properly channeled, can help you perform tasks more efficiently and can improve memory. The butterflies are not our enemy. For me, recognizing that fact and learning how to make it positive has been the key to a happier horse show experience. That’s not to say that I win the battle with nerves 100% of the time, but it’s gotten better and better, and substantially improved after I changed my perspective on nervousness.

When I start feeling those butterflies creeping up on me, I take a deep breath and think “Ok self, you’ve got two choices here. You can let the nerves overtake you, fill you with doubt, and defeat you. Or you can embrace the feeling, use it to energize yourself and sharpen your focus, and go out there ready to kick some ass. Your choice.”. It’s my own little pep talk to myself, so to speak.

One of the first things we start thinking about when we feel anxiety is how many things could go wrong, and in how many ways. What if, instead, we thought about all the things that we could do to make things go well. After all, things are going to happen no matter what. We can’t do anything about that, and worrying about all the things that could go wrong does absolutely nothing positive. What we can do is figure out how to plan accordingly, how to react, and how to move past it. That’s what we’ve spent so long training and preparing for… at horse show time it’s just a matter of implementation. By the time you’ve gotten to the show you theoretically have all the tools necessary for success, all you have to do is use them. Success isn’t something that happens to you, success is something you make happen. And you can’t make it happen if you allow yourself to become debilitated by nervousness.

Whether it’s deep breathing, visualizing success, giving yourself pep talks, or even simply just smiling, the first step to handling the nerves is to stop the cycle of negativity. If you can’t get rid of the butterflies you might as well learn how to tame them and use them to your advantage. 

What do you do to help calm your show nerves and/or turn them into a benefit instead of a detriment?

Some useful articles for further reading:

The Hidden Power of Anxiety

Embrace the Butterflies: How You Can Use Your Nerves to Get Ahead

You Can’t Control or Cure Nervousness – Use It to Your Advantage

Stop Nervousness and Use It to Your Advantage