This month's blog post is about healthy competition.
We often see articles about healthy competition for horses, not so much for the rider. Remember your goals ought to be to have FUN at the show.
We attended the South Central Quarter Horse 15th Annual Fuzzy Show. They put on a great show as usual, as a competitor it is very important that you compete with an open mind and most important have fun.
As you all know I have a neck injury, our young horse is not easy to handle when he is away from his stable buddy. My equine partner was neighing, not wanting to stand for the judge or put his attention on me. I stayed grounded and patient with him as for a pray animal this is not a natural situation. He did not perform as I hoped.
I never got mad or disappointed, we did our best. I reflected back on what we accomplished; he loaded into the trailer and got out (he does not like to unload, never had a horse like this before), walked quietly around the grounds and participated in a class. These are all great accomplishments.
Looking back on how we arrived at this show is helpful too; it all stared with a wonderful friend Marlene for finding us Tucker, then selling a show saddle to acquire a horse trailer, great friends Ed and Debbie (Metal Dream Designs) who converted the trailer into a one horse, another great friend Gaylene for introducing me to a wonderful coach Wendy Price who has been working with me to overcome my pain fears with horses.
Rudy my husband for helping me 100% along the way, Mom for always just going with the flow and helping where she can, and of course Simon who saved the day with hauling us to the show and now the Grand Forks show in May as our truck failed. Wow now there was alot of work done here, it does not begin on the show day.
We now have focused on all the positive, I wanted to paint you a picture so that when you feel upset, or your are feelings hurt, disappointed, that you can look back on all the goals you reached to get to this point. Don’t take it out on your equine partner, I see this way too often, I am happy to be seeing clauses in shows that now disqualify competitors for their unnecessary abuse towards their equine partner.
Together you are a TEAM, how would you feel if every time your four legged partner felt you did something wrong that you did not understand or that you were unable to communicate just bucked you off....every time! Would that be fair to you? I didn’t think so.
Be happy you have the opportunity to show yourself and horse off! Smile and have fun!
Vanessa Bardeck's mission is to educate and improve the relationship between horse and rider; she has eighteen years experience with horses and at the age of twelve she was riding her horse without a bridle or halter. By age twenty she was able to jump a course not only with no bridle or halter, but also with out a saddle.
Vanessa had a major set back from her neck injury, caused by a car crash when she was sixteen, that almost kept her from ever riding again.Due to this crash she damaged all the muscles in her neck. Vanessa has always suffered in pain since that horrible day; In 2008 one October morning she woke up paralyzed. After a year of therapy and rest, Vanessa was still nervous to get on a horse, the pain she now has from that set back some days is too much to handle. She spent a lot of time with Dillon, her horse, even if it was just being in his stall. Over time she finally got on him, once she did she knew she had to continue riding.
http://www.wix.com/okanagancowgirl/horses is the place to check out to view her website and for her contact information.
If you have an idea for something you would like her to talk about in 2012, please feel free to contact her by email at rvbardeck@live.com or you can post a comment on our new facebook page which can be found here. (Dont forget to "Like Us" if you like the work Frank Callaghan did, and want to keep reading each month! )
Kelowna Riding Club Gymkhana Club Day May 13th
