My dd missed her first horse show.....

[bodiesmom]

She had been preparing seriously for it with intense training the last month (been working on it since spring) and the pony would.not.load into the trailer. She (the pony) must have known something was up because come to find out our truck (with trailer attached in the middle of our street) completely died.

She is devastated.

 

Anyone have a similar story that you can share to help cheer her up? She needs to know this has happened to others as well.

[creekland]

No similar story, but tons of :grouphug: .  I hope things go better next time.

 

I have a nasty memory from missing a horse show in my youth, but it's because my dad decided I shouldn't go as I hadn't mowed our lawn the day before.  It didn't matter that he didn't tell me to mow the lawn, much less put it as a condition for going to the show.  It wasn't anything that was done on a regular basis either.  He merely decided the morning of the show that I should have known and done it.  I was supposed to ride horses for others at the show too - didn't matter.

 

I'd much rather have missed with parent support and an "equipment failure" reason.  

 

 

Edited October 22, 2016 by creekland

[Plink]

Ugh - I understand her frustration.

 

If it helps, my DD once missed a dog show because mom didn't get the paperwork sent in on time.  I still feel like a heel over that one.

[Seasider]

I am sad for her! I can only imagine how tremendously disappointed she is.

 

On the positive side, the next horse show will be her "first" horse show. All the preparation she has made to date will be carried forward.

 

How often do ponies get loaded into a trailer? I'm not a horse gal, but I think of the dogs we had who only went in the car to go to the vet. They knew where that was leading and it made them stubborn about getting in the car. The dogs that we took with us routinely to other places were much more cooperative about car rides. Does this apply to horses, too? Serious question from a non-horse-knowledgable person.

[Paula in MS]

My daughter went to her first big out of state show in December.  When they got to the show, her horse was nervous (even though he had been shown a lot) and kept trying to buck her off.  Approaching the cross country course, bucked her off.  In the dressage arena, bucked her off.  It was a little nuts because he had never done that before.  She was pretty devastated. Moral of the story:  Horses are unpredictable.  These kind of days happen to everyone, even to people and horses that show a lot.  Working with horses builds character.  This is just part of that.

[bodiesmom]

Thank you, everyone, for your kind words and stories. They are helping a lot!

 

Creekland.....that is horrid. I'm so sorry that happened to you.

 

 

Seasider- that is a great question. This particular pony has been to numerous training sessions and has loaded fine each time. We practice loading her throughout the year just to keep it from being a big scary experience. We were trying to load her in the dark (we needed to leave by 6:00) so I'm sure that made the trailer look like a big horrible, ugly monster to her. 😄

 

Plink- I've done that before.....I'm a horrible procrastinator.....

 

Paula- you are SO right. Working with horses DOES build character! I'm upset for her obviously, but I'm also thankful for this little life experience. And being bucked off when it isn't typical behavior? Sigh. Little stinker! 😎 Yep. Horses are definitely unpredictable. That's what makes it soooooo fun! My daughter wouldn't agree with me though.....ha!

[zoobie]

That would be so disappointing! :grouphug: to your DD.

[Harriet Vane]

Creekland--  

 

I experienced the same sort of totally arbitrary crap, too.  :cheers2:

 

:grouphug:  :grouphug:  :grouphug:

 

 

[creekland]

Creekland--  

 

I experienced the same sort of totally arbitrary crap, too.  :cheers2:

 

:grouphug:  :grouphug:  :grouphug:

 

I can't add a like to your post for obvious reasons  :grouphug: , but I can add a second round   :cheers2:  along with the thankfulness that we don't have to grow up and become  like our parents.

[Michelle in IL]

Yes, horse show fails here too.

 

In my dds first show, her horse ended up hurting itself in the stall before the show. Horse limped threw her event and poor dd wasnt even placed because her horse was lame.

 

The next show which was 4h, the same horse went into heat and was unmanageable for my dd. She had to scratch all events except the first event that she placed last in.

 

This summer was the first time she took her own horse to 4h and was her last year of 4h. Torrential downpour the day before ruined the arena and her events were cancelled.

 

I think my poor dd has maybe only participated on half the shows she signed up for.

[Harriet Vane]

I can't add a like to your post for obvious reasons  :grouphug: , but I can add a second round   :cheers2:  along with the thankfulness that we don't have to grow up and become  like our parents.

 

 

Amen, sistuh!

[Selkie]

Not a show story, but one of my quarter horses did something really goofy the other day.  

 

This horse comes from a long line of championship-winning cow horses and has been working cows his entire life.  He is also one of the most easygoing, laid-back horses I've ever met.  But the other day he saw two baby calves and completely flipped out.  Apparently, they were the most horrifying, blood-curdling monsters he had ever encountered.  I could barely get him back to the pasture before he took off at a full gallop to the far side of the field to get away from those terrifying baby cows.   :rolleyes:

 

Yep. horses can be very quirky and unpredictable.

 

Sorry about your daughter's show!  I hope she gets a chance to be in another one soon.

[bodiesmom]

We went to the show so she could at least watch some of the classes. English was today and western is tomorrow. She is going to give it another go tomorrow morning and hopefully "Miss Pony" will load and allow my dd to show her!

 

Your stories are great! Great in that they help when I share with my dd, NOT great in what happened. I sincerely appreciate everyone sharing....what I wouldn't give to know what these equines are thinking sometimes.

 

Wish us luck tomorrow!

â¤ï¸ðŸ´

[creekland]

We went to the show so she could at least watch some of the classes. English was today and western is tomorrow. She is going to give it another go tomorrow morning and hopefully "Miss Pony" will load and allow my dd to show her!

 

Your stories are great! Great in that they help when I share with my dd, NOT great in what happened. I sincerely appreciate everyone sharing....what I wouldn't give to know what these equines are thinking sometimes.

 

Wish us luck tomorrow!

â¤ï¸ðŸ´

 

Good luck!!!

 

 

Another idiot horse story. I have a photo of dd at a big dressage show, and Dan is going sideways with a look of terror on his face. Someone commented as this happened, "Oh, he must be afraid of the swans!" Nope, it's petunias that are terrifying!

 

We often remark that some of them seem to say, "Whoa, when did you plant that tree???"  Meanwhile we scratch our heads and note it's been there since before we came to our farm.

 

Fortunately, most of ours have better brains as we try to breed for temperament as well as looks/motion, etc, but there seem to be some recessive genes that surface at times.

[Guest]

Not a show story, but one of my quarter horses did something really goofy the other day.  

 

This horse comes from a long line of championship-winning cow horses and has been working cows his entire life.  He is also one of the most easygoing, laid-back horses I've ever met.  But the other day he saw two baby calves and completely flipped out.  Apparently, they were the most horrifying, blood-curdling monsters he had ever encountered.  I could barely get him back to the pasture before he took off at a full gallop to the far side of the field to get away from those terrifying baby cows.   :rolleyes:

 

Yep. horses can be very quirky and unpredictable.

 

Sorry about your daughter's show!  I hope she gets a chance to be in another one soon.

 

Haha! That reminds me of my horses growing up. Cows in our pasture were fine. The brahma cows in someone else's pasture were like creatures from outer space. There was snorting and stamping and prancing if not full out bucking to get away. 

 

I'm so sorry for your dd OP. That had to be so disappointing. I'm glad she at least got to go watch the show. Tell her her pony is far from the first to refuse the trailer! I We had one we had to feed every day in the trailer to convince him it was worth getting in. Every time it was like he thought we were about to ship him to the factory or something.