An Irrational Number is a real number that cannot be written as a simple fraction. For example:

3.141592653589793238462643383279502884197169399..

For those of you twitching on the floor already………. with PMSD (Post Math Stress Disorder)………… I’m not talking about those kind of irrational numbers.

We like to look at show records and make judgments about riders, horses and performances.

For example: THAT.……..is not a very good record. Yeah, that’s yours truly and Baby Seabiscuit.

So we make judgments about numbers on show records. After all – finishing on your dressage score is a big deal.

Well, maybe it’s not a big deal if you’re Mr. Jung

The BadEvent Groom took this because I was too busy screaming & fangirl-ing to remember to take a photo!

I’ve had some rather rude “awakenings” since I arrived in Florida.

The first was that I’d been “getting away” with riding stadium at a level I ~~probably~~ shouldn’t have been riding at.

Dressage & cross country were ok……………..

But stadium was where the wheels really tended to come off.

Here’s the thing.

Just because you can jump the jumps….

while terrifying the spectators…….

and probably your horse…..

doesn’t mean that you should.

In the fall I was rather quickly demoted a level (or two) with very specific goals to accomplish before moving back up.

Goal #1 “Don’t scare the coach.”

Goal #2 “Don’t confuse the horse.”

Pretty lofty goals if your name is BadEventer.

But we’ve been steadily chipping away at them, and our “Causing Fear & Confusion” factors have decreased exponentially.

We’ve moved back up, and at our last outing I put in the best stadium ride of our career.

We’ve been together for 4 years, we’ve seen a lot of competitions……….. and this was the ride of my life.

I met every jump at a perfect take off spot, I rode forward through every turn, I got every change early. I didn’t take an extra tug anywhere (that tends to be my kiss of death.) It was picture perfect and you could have set a metronome to the round.