Otis and I tried our hand at eventing for the second time yesterday, September 11, 2011, at a 2-Phase. I trailered Otis over to my friend Liz's house in Cornish bright and early. We loaded my stuff into Liz's trailer and we were off to Stepping Stone Farm in Carmel, ME. I had really been looking forward to this event, I had so much fun at the horse trial in New Hampshire, despite our cross country mishap. I thought a two phase would be a good confidence booster for us, since there is no cross country.
We arrived at our destination at around 9:30, and found that we had to park across the street from the venue, in a field that probably hadn't been mowed all summer long. We left the horses on the trailer and went across the street to sign in, and found that there wasn't really a place to sign in, just a box with our packets in it, sitting on the ground. This wasn't really that big of a deal, we found our packets and decided to check out the warm up area, and find out where the dressage and jumping would take place. The warm up area for dressage was a very small grassy area, that we found out was actually a pasture for one of the horses that lives at the farm. With I-95 right next to it, it was less than ideal. The warm up for jumping was even more cramped, with the indoor very close to one side, and a very steep hill on the other. Liz and I tried to stay optimistic and make the best out of the situation, we traveled quite a ways, we wanted to have a good experience no matter what. We found out that the dressage would take place in their indoor, which worried me a little because Otis is not always on his best behavior in indoor arenas, there are horse eating creatures in them you know! We then made our way down to the stadium course so we could walk it before we went back to unload the horses. The arena was small, and the course was tight, but given the low height that my jumps would be set at, I wasn't too worried about it.
I watched Liz do her dressage test, and then went back across the street to start getting Otis and myself ready for dressage. I didn't really do much of a warm up with him, because I figure with the size of the warm up area, and its close proximity to I-95 I was more likely to wind him up and start a fight, than to get anything accomplished. So I opted to walk and trot him a bit in front of the indoor where we were waiting for dressage. This worked out fine, because Otis was being a good boy. Liz went over to do her stadium course, and came back just in time for my test, the girl before me was in the arena doing hers. I was having a hard time figuring out what was going on in there because she started her test, and then the judge stopped her, and she started going again. She had two numbers on her back, so Liz and I thought maybe she was doing two tests back to back.
Finally it was my turn, I entered the indoor and discovered that it was a particularly "scary" indoor. It was very dark inside, the ceiling seemed very low, and the noise from I-95 was vibrating off the walls. I walked and trotted Otis around trying to keep him calm until the judge rang the bell. We started our test, and not a minute into it, the judge rang the bell again. I couldn't figure out why they were ringing the bell, it usually means you are off course, and I knew that I wasn't. Then I thought maybe I was hearing things the first time, and shouldn't have started yet. That's when the judged called me over to talk to her. She started to tell me that I had made the same mistake as the girl before me, and then she started looking at her scoring sheets, that's when she realized that she had scoring sheets for the 2007 Intro B test, not the new 2011 test. There was a moment of awkward silence that seemed to last forever while the judge and her assistant tried to figure out what to do. Then the judge told me that she was going to explain the test to me, and then give me the sheet to look over. My heart sank! There was no way I was going to be able to memorize a brand new test under such pressure. I usually use my handy
USDF iPhone App to memorize my test, as I am a visual learner, I can't just read a list of instructions and know what I need to do. I did my best to try and interpret it, and the judge assured me that I would be okay, so off I went. I had no confidence it what I was doing, and tried my best to do what I thought I was supposed to do, at one point the judge called to me that I was off course and directed me back to where I was supposed to go. By the time I finished I was almost in tears, I was so frustrated, and felt so cheated. Liz asked me what happened and I told her that I was doing the wrong test, at first she thought I meant I had memorized the wrong test, but when she found out they were using old tests she was just as upset as I was. It wasn't listed anywhere what year the test was coming from, they aren't even supposed to use the old tests, so there was no way for me to know that was going to happen, there was nothing I could have done to prevent it.
I was so discouraged, but headed back across the street to the trailer to get ready for the stadium phase anyways. I went over the practice jump a few times and Otis was being very good, so I headed down to wait my turn, I didn't have to wait long because the girl before me was just finishing up when I got down there. That is another thing that wasn't very good about this venue, there was no announcement system, and the warm up area and the stadium jumping area were very far apart so you had no way of knowing if you were next, or if you had an hour to wait. I waited outside of the arena while a girl fixed the jumps. I looked around to see if could see an official to make sure they were ready for me, I didn't see anybody, so I just went in. Then I heard somebody say "wait wait wait" so I stopped and looked at her, and she said, "aren't you going to salute me?" Don't you know that you are supposed to salute me?" I said nope, this is only my second event, (I was thinking, this isn't dressage, why should I salute you?!) but I did it and off I went. Otis was good over the first and second fences, a little strong but good. At the third fence he was going along nicely and then at the last second he stopped, this took me by surprise because I really thought he was going to go over it. It was a very small cross rail so I just walked him over it. The fifth jump was a larger vertical and he refused that too. At this point I was so frazzled and my confidence was so shot, that instead of circling, and going back to the jump for a second attempt, I just went around it and moved on to the next jump. We finished the course with out anymore issues, and the same lady that wanted to me to salute her was waiting for me at the rail, she said "you know you just eliminated yourself?" I said I know, I am very well aware of that, and just kept walking. Then she had the nerve to ask me if I had an instructor! I felt like telling her that it was her fault I did so poorly, because she used old dressage tests without telling anyone, and made me feel like an idiot just before starting my stadium course, but instead I just ignored her and left the arena. I felt so defeated. The best instructor in the world couldn't have prepared me for the day's events. I walked up to where Liz was waiting with Dreamy and told her that I knew I shouldn't have gone around that fence, but in the moment my brain was just fried and my knee jerk reaction was to just move on to the next fence.
So needless to say this event wasn't the confidence booster that I had planned for it to be, but it wasn't my fault, and it wasn't anything that I had control over. It was still an experience, and it definitely didn't deter me from eventing, I just won't EVER return to Stepping Stone Farm. Otis was very well behaved, we did the best we could, and Liz and I had fun and lots of laughs, despite the terrible and unfair way the event was run.
