“Hello,

My name is Baby Seabiscuit. And I see Dead People.”

We’ve been working hard over the winter.

Very hard.

And we’ve made leaps and bounds on the flat and over jumps.

It’s been a few months since we’ve been to a show. With entries in for our first recognized show of the year, we headed out to a schooling weekend for some MUCH needed exposure.

I had my trepidations because the last time I tried to school at this venue………….”disaster” is too small a word.

My ghost seeing pony started rearing and cantering in place as soon as I unloaded him from the trailer

& he

never

got

better.

It was a pretty bad day and we went home in total defeat.

Of course that was nearly a year and 1/2 ago, so I put on my big girl pants and thought we’d give it another try.

I’m not gonna lie.

There was A LOT of lunging the first day.

There is something about that place that just sets his whiskers on fire.

But after <cough> 45 minutes of cantering & bucking on the lunge, he was a total rock star on XC.

And I really do mean rock star.

We jumped big stuff, scary stuff, even the TRAINING level Weldon’s!

Of course the problem is that he sees dead people. And the most terrifying of them all are JUMP JUDGES.

At a schooling, there are no PEOPLE standing around the jumps.

So on course, he’s perfect!

We did a combined test the next day, and it was our best dressage warm up ever.
Usually we’re spinning and spooking in warm up, but he was calm, quiet, floaty!

I thought, “We’re gonna rock this! We might even WIN!” He is fancy after all.

That OF COURSE………would be the kiss of death………

15 minutes before our test a horse in another field started calling.

Baby Seasbiscuit doesn’t know that horse. Baby Seabiscuit couldn’t see that horse. But he was certain it was a 5 alarm call, and the only sane thing to do was LEAVE THE COUNTY RIGHT NOW!!!!!!

When the rearing and spinning slowed just enough to bail, I did.
Where I then stood in place as he literally cantered around me in a 2 meter circle (the length of the rein) until time for my test. There was no changing his mind.

He was starting to look a little dizzy after running in the tiny circle, and I weighed my options whether to scratch or try the test.

I decided it was a schooling show and by golly we were going to school so I STUPIDLY  cautiously climbed back on. I let the judge know that I might DISMOUNT during the test and leave the arena if he lost his mind.

You should have seen the look on his face.

We included some Lipizzaner movements, and several others definitely not required at the level. But miraculously we stayed in the ring and I kept him between me & the ground.

That test earned my favorite comment ever, which is a BIT of an understatement!

In spite of it all…… it was better than the last time we’d been there!

So Bad Eventer added another schooling show to the calendar!