December 4H Horse Show

  This horse show was a crazy one.  I have been working on English jumping for the past several months and I just switched over to focusing on western gymkhana again this week.  Phoenix and I took our first lesson from Chris Otto and loved it (though she was a little crazy and trying to throw me off at first) and I've been working at roping from the ground.  I bought a new bit yesterday because my girl was running through her corkscrew snaffle and she worked beautifully with a sliding gag bit, plus it helped me work on keeping off her mouth to make riding more comfortable for her.
  Phoenix has never been that great at the trailer, but since I had trailered her 3 times in the past week she had finally started hopping in our tiny 2 horse instead of rearing and kicking.  We arrived at the barn around 6:20 and after a putting Phoenix's boots on and a little bit of coaxing, she got into the trailer and we headed out to the Yuma county fairgrounds.  We arrived at 7am and I got signed up and tacked up.  I put on my helmet and we went to work.  After warming up in the rodeo arena and talking with friends, it was time for gymkhana to start.  I was super excited because this was our first show.  I wanted to be competitive, but I wasn't quite ready to go full speed.  Plus our turns and such still needed work.
  We ended up with a 25 for barrels putting us at 3rd with a red ribbon and a 36 at poles putting us at first with a blue ribbon.  The barrel run was ok with the turns being the big reason for our slow time.  Our pole time was so slow because it took a little bit before Phoenix and I got the hang of it and for a second we almost went off course so I had to slow down and turn her so we got all the poles and then continue loping the pattern.  The other riders knocked down poles or had bucking horses, so we got lucky and won that class.  I have never done goat tying in my life.  I don't own a goat tie rope and I've never really watched it, but since it was 4h everyone kept telling me to try it, so I borrowed my friend's tying rope and Phoenix and I went for it.  We did a slow lope and I slowed her and jumped off,  running to the goat.  It was way easier than I though to flank and I held the goat down with my knees and grabbed the 2 hind legs and 1 front.  The part I had trouble with was tying.  I wasn't completely sure about the correct way to tie so after some struggling I got it wrapped around twice but forgot how to finish it off.  I tried, but eventually my goat broke free and I got a no time.  The best part was I was apologizing to the goat the whole time I was tying it and the flagger and my leader were teasing me about it.  

From February rodeo at the beginning of the year

  I like riding my mare bareback but usually we hold this class at the end of the show, so now Phoenix is still hot and full of energy.  I was a little nervous, but the class went pretty well.  Her trot was super extended and bouncy so I struggled the most there, but her canter, though fast, was smooth.  I couldn't get her to pick up her left lead (we've been working at it for weeks, but it's our bad side)  and at one point I had to grab her mane cause I lost my balance, but overall it was a good class.  I can do better, but I hadn't been practicing bareback as much as I used to, so my legs and balance needed work.  During the class my friend Melissa fell off her appendix mare, Lexi, and we all stopped and made sure she was good.  Luckily it wasn't too bad of a fall and she was able to get back on and finish the class.  We received another blue ribbon and saddled up for the rest of our classes.  After gymkhana I took Phoenix's tack off and brushed her out so she was ready for English showmanship.  We learned the pattern and practiced a couple of times and then it was time for the class.  There were only 3 of us, so it went by pretty fast.  The best part was we all started on the wrong side and couldn't complete the pattern correctly so they redid the whole class.  Phoenix did pretty good, trotting and stopping when she was supposed to.  I couldn't get her to square completely, but she did well and stood still.  One thing we do struggle with is turns on the hindquarters and she tried real hard, but that is one thing that got us.  We got a blue ribbon (4h goes purple is basically perfect, blue is really well, red is pretty good, and white is a sympathy ribbon or aka you kind of sucked).  Our next class was bareback.

    English pleasure went well, Phoenix was just going a little fast and we had the left lead problem again.  We received a blue ribbon and learned our pattern for hunt seat equitation.  Our rail work was the same as previous class with a little more give at the bit this time and the pattern wasn't too bad.  We did a pretty good (for my horse) sitting trot from cone A to cone B then did a posting trot to the right halfway through the circle and picked up a canter for the other half.  We slowed to a posting trot when we reached the middle again and did the same thing, but on the opposite side.  Sadly we couldn't pick up the correct lead, but our siting trot out was good.  I forgot to stop and back up at the conclusion of the pattern, but we did pretty good and received a blue ribbon.

  The next class was hunter hack.  Phoenix and I have done some jumping work, but we are no where near pros.  I like English and jumping, but we do that more for fun with rodeo being my focus.  We took a few practice jumps and Phoenix didn't think twice as she went over them.  She does jump a little dangerously, but I need to work on my position while she jumps more than anything.  The way Phoenix jumps is forward, but a little hesitant, so she goes forward towards the jump, needs a little leg to convince her to lock in and then she rocks back and bounds over.  It's a little hard to ride, but we were working on it.  The pattern was simple so we memorized it quick and headed into the ring.
  We circled to the left and attempted to pick up the correct lead several times, but after a few tries we settled with the incorrect lead and headed towards the first jump.  She refused, so we circled and took it again and she refused again.  The jumps were low enough so I contained her weaving towards the jump and with some pressure she hopped over the jump and we headed towards the second.  She only refused this one once and then jumped over it with no problem.  We hand galloped and then slowed to a stop and backed up.  We picked up the trot and ended our pattern at the gate.  We earned a blue ribbon (though I believe we should've been disqualified for 3 refusals or received a red for not riding smoothly through) and memorized the pattern for hunt seat equitation.

 I considered leaving the jumping at that, but I decided to continue since she would gain more confidence with more jumping and we only had 2 classes left.  The class was a little better with the first 2 jumps going clear (though still a little dangerous and ugly).  She refused the 3rd one, but we got over it at the second try.  She did good at the next two jumps and then we turned and took the last three.  She was going a little faster than I was comfortable but I couldn't slow her down so I just took the jump with her and then pulled her into a circle.  We almost grazed the fence but she slowed down and we received a blue ribbon.
  We only had the working hunter class left and we would be done.  The pattern consisted of 8 jumps and I was a little nervous since Phoenix was running through the bit a little, but we did the class anyways.  The jumps were ugly and fast and she tried to weave a few but she didn't refuse any.  We took the first 3 jumps and then turned around and took 2 more jumps.  She was trying to pull into a gallop by then and I was having a hard time slowing her down so we took the second jump really fast and then I tried to pull her into a circle, but we were going to fast and the fence was too close.  For a second I was scared that she would run right through the thick metal fence, but she skid to a stop at the last second and I flew off and slammed into the fence.  I didn't see exactly what happened, but I will give the account from what I was told and what I felt and saw.
  It was very painful hitting the fence and I was a little tangled in it.  I had the wind knocked out of me and then I couldn't breathe.  I started freaking out as people came closer and when they asked where it hurt I motioned to my throat.  After being laid down and coughing a little I was able to breathe, but it hurt and was shallow.  They called the ambulance and tried to help out as much as they could while we waited.  Luckily two of the moms there were nurses and there was an EMT at the show too.  They took vitals and tried to reassure me as the tried to figure out where was hurt.  They placed a neck collar on me and asked me questions that I answered as best as I could.  They removed me helmet and took off my boots and socks.  When the paramedics got there they worked as smooth and fast as they could, checking vitals and assessing injuries.  The parents told them what happened and sadly they had to cut my breeches all the way up to check out my legs.  They also had to cut off my wrangler shirt cause the buttons would've taken too long.  They rolled me onto a board and secured me, then worked together to lift me onto the stretcher and get me into the ambulance.  By then I started wondering about Phoenix, but breathing hurt so I couldn't find out about her till later.

         In the ambulance they asked me questions and gave me oxygen so I could breathe better.  The paramedics were very nice and only had to poke me once to get a needle in my arm.  The ride was quick and I got checked into the ER quick.  The nurses were nice and after asking some questions they put in a catheter and gave me some fluids since I was really dehydrated.  They made sure my kidneys were functioning properly and then ordered some tests.

  After a few hours, several tests, and some morphine I was checked into the hospital to stay overnight for observation.  I ended up having 3 fractured ribs, a little bit of internal bleeding, half collapsed lung, bruised and swollen leg and foot, and soreness all over.  It was a restless night in the hospital, but after some more tests and a visit from a doctor, I was released to go home.
 

  I'm still in pain and can barely move around, but I can't wait to be fully healed in 5 to 6 weeks and be able to get on Phoenix again.  I'm bummed out we won't get to practice and compete in the junior rodeo in January and the 4h horse show in February depends on where we are at after the time off.