High Sierra Riders 4H Trail Trial

I am SO grateful Mother Nature held off and allowed the High Sierra Riders 4H Trail Trial to go off without a hitch. After watching the forecast get progressively more grim throughout the week, I woke up this morning to a forecast of 70% or more chance of thunderstorms all day long! Well, suffice it to say the forecast in Northern Nevada is often even less predictive of the actual weather than in most places. While it drizzled on us a bit and was rather chilly, all in all I'd say it was a lovely day.

Finn, by the way, was an absolute super horse. Aside from the Buck Brannaman clinic this May, this was his first big "event." It was also his first competition, although I don't think he noticed. He was somewhat confounded at first by all the horses going every which way, but he soon grew accustomed to it. That alone was a huge part of what I was hoping to accomplish! I've had Finn half-way LOSE IT over horses in the distance before... today there were almost constantly horses in the distance and it was no big deal.

When it came to the actual obstacles, I was pleased to find that the Novice level challenges were pretty appropriate for us. There were several obstacles which Finn handled with ease, such as picking up a rain slicker, mounting and dismounting, walking through a "car wash", or navigating ground poles. There were others that concerned him more, requiring that I allow him more time to think his way through, such as circling a tarp-enclosed water hazard and crossing through a white PVC gate. And there were a few we accepted a score of '0' for, but still found a way to achieve success by our own definition.

For example, at one obstacle, we were asked to walk across a board laying on the ground. After several minutes of working at it from the saddle, I asked if I could dismount and work on it from the ground. Luckily, there was no one behind us waiting, and the judge welcomed me to spend some time schooling. After a little more discussion, Finn gave it a try, making the first crossing in a half-leap, and the second in a lovely walk. I would have happily left it there, but the judge invited me to remount and try again. After a brief hesitation, Finn willingly took a little half-leap to the other side, and on the second try walked across perfectly. So far as I'm concerned, the score of '0' does absolutely nothing to detract from the value of that experience! I was thrilled.

Trying it from the saddle first...

Helping Finn find success from the ground.

On another note, the PVC trail gate had the added challenge of a semi-hidden small board on the far side which the horses had to step onto. I know Finn well enough to suspect that he might launch a bit when that board moved under his feet. If I hadn't been doing a trail trial, I probably wouldn't have set something up like that, because it did test my nerve. I worried that Finn might put a foot across and then suck back, potentially catching a foot on the bottom bar of the gate.

In the end, he did launch somewhat... forward though, which is almost always preferable to sucking back, especially for a future jumping horse. I was on it enough to have taken a hold of my breast collar when I felt him commit to going, so I stayed right with him and didn't catch him in the mouth. I praised him big time for his bravery and moved on, as there were people behind us and thus no opportunity to school.

The reason I am dwelling on this (and a few other things that happened) as a success is this: nothing Finn did today felt concerning or difficult to ride to me. His handful of startles and his one big leap all felt reasonable to me, and never once did I feel like he was anywhere close to really losing it. In other words, one might say I have ridden through some of his antics and survived! That is definitely a confidence booster.

The thing is, Finn has shown me some very dramatic reactions in the past, reactions which I would absolutely NOT want to ride. He showed me them at a time in my life when my confidence in my horsemanship was already faltering, and to be honest I have felt more nervous, heck even fearful, around and on this horse than I had EVER felt before, especially with one of my own horses!

But that's changing... I trust Finn more now. I trust my own abilities more now. And altogether I no longer feel like getting on him is a gamble... now we've got enough going on to really put the odds on our side. That is HUGE!

So, all in all, a fantastic day full of growth and fun and laughter and Yes! moments. Exactly the outcome I had been hoping for all along. Again, I am SO grateful Mother Nature chose to play along with our plans!