I cannot tell you how proud I am of not only my wonderful horse, but also to be with such a wonderful crew. Bettina has done an amazing job learning with Carette on the dos and don't on "How to ride a mare" while I've been on maternity leave. I've been helping from the ground and have found a more wonderful relationship with Bettina. And I'm proud to say it has shown. She did a fantastic job conquering her horse show fears to beat out the best 5 year olds in California on "The Paint", "The Blond", aka "Rette".The CDS Futurity consists of 2 days of showing in front of 4 different judges. Scores are averaged and the highest average wins. Simple enough, right??! And I must say, while I was excited to see a large collection of top CA trainers in the championship, I figured it also meant to win was slim. Rette is the kind of horse, you either love her, or you want to pick her to death. Neither Bettina nor I could believe the unfortunate low scores earned at our last show (which probably cost us the Dutch HOY award for First level), but I knew if there were multiple judges, Rette would end up on top. She's so correct and so honest, she really is an 80% kind of horse.
The Championships started with a panic. We drove up in the morning for a casual and relaxing day. Nope. We showed up, checked in and I was informed I needed to start braiding. Quickly! Bettina quickly changed her clothes, I got Rette ready and off they marched to the arena. No time to get nervous. Luckily my brother came to the rescue and baby sat for me while I ran around like a nut. The test was good, steady and error free. 77%. Nice. Second place??!? Damn right!
The second day came and Rette was feeling good. She had settled in quite well and wanted to show off a little. I love it when this happens. She becomes so incredibly sensitive, all you have to do is think it and it happens. You just need a few extra minutes in warm up to calibrate. We didn't have those minutes and could have used them. Bettina turns the corner to enter the arena and Rette canters. EEK! Super sensitive today. Bettina rode the first half of the test rather conservatively to avoid any other mistakes, and then by the second half they were on a roll and looking the best I've ever seen. Bettina came out of the arena and thought it was over. I reminded Bettina the mistake was due to sensitivity, not naughtyness. I don't mind those mistakes. You can't have a mistake and win??!?Apparently you can....
Congratulations Bettina! You did it!
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