Hey EA!! I just got back from my TIP challenge at the time of writing this (not necessarily when it’s posted, though🤣) and I’m very eager to share with y’all how it went!
Thursday was just check in and trainer meeting. So easy day! And a night for Tilly to get accustomed to her new environment. I hadn’t had the opportunity to take Tilly on an adventure over our time together so she never went on a trailer ride or worked anywhere besides our own barn! We really went all in on this one, haha.
She did great and adapted very well!! It didn’t take her long to be walking all around calmly and just taking in the new place.
Friday was handling & conditioning and the trail/obstacle classes. She did awesome in both! However I was very nervous so I drug us down a bit. We ended up placing fourth in handling & conditioning and third in trail. Not bad at all! I didn’t think we would make it to the competition, let alone place in anything so I was very impressed. Tilly still can’t lift those back feet very well, though, and it showed on our scores in that class. She really performed well and I couldn’t have asked for better behavior from her!
Saturday was the freestyle day! I didn’t have anything planned at all so we just went out and winged it. You could tell it was a last minute performance, but she did outstanding and calmly went through our routine as I made it up all along.
Not much to say about the freestyle, except I was the most nervous for this class because I had nothing planned besides our decorations and song. Unlike the first challenge I participated in with Shelby, I didn’t really think twice about the freestyle so I just threw something together last minute. It was a lot of fun, though. I enjoy working to music over silence anyway, so that was nice. The first day was spent in silence which really makes me timid.
Oh! And I sold Tilly to her new family this day! She is now no longer owned by me and that is bittersweet. I’m happy she has a great home however I will miss this horse with my whole heart. She is so blessed to have a kind family to take care of her and finish her training! I do hope to be there to help out throughout the duration of it, though!!
Here’s a neat freestyle photo of our entrance! I had Tilly jump the cavaletti to enter with a rush. The judge did say in his notes that our freestyle wasn’t very original and it could have been better, which is absolutely right and I am disappointed in myself for not spending more time coming up with a creative routine.
My overall reflection of this weekend is that the horses I work with are awesome. They really are. It’s me who needs the most work. I need more confidence and more grit to do what needs done. I’ve been the type to rely on groundwork and moving at a slower pace ever since an accident a few years ago. However I need to let go of the past and start to push myself or I will never improve and get to where I want to be. So that’s what I’m going to do! I’m going to better myself and my own mindset in order to be better for the horses I work with in the future.
We scored third overall, which isn’t bad, but I know I could’ve done better and I could’ve pushed Tilly a little farther than what I did. But I’m grateful for the experience this gave me and I can’t wait to try these new ideas on other horses in the future!
Tilly is a calm, easygoing horse. I am disappointed in myself for not being the trainer she needed along the way. I need to learn to have balance, to push and ask for more but not too much more. I need to figure out a good time to release and when it is time to ask for just a little more. Tilly was first place material, but I am not yet and that’s okay. I’m going to work on self improvement through improving my own horses in a way I don’t normally go about it. I’m just going to take leaps of faith and hope for the best. I know for certain now that great opportunities are going to continue ing me by and I can either stand here and watch them or I can chase after my goals and start achieving them.
I’m so grateful for doing this challenge so that I could open my eyes to things that I know I can do! The only thing holding me back is fear. Fear of getting hurt and being out of commission. Fear of overstepping my boundaries with my horse and creating a bad experience. Fear of not knowing how to handle a situation I put myself in. The list can go on. I want to shorten that list bit by bit as this year draws to an end!
Anyways, thanks for reading the ramblings of my overtired self as I lay in bed pondering my experience over the last few days. I hope you guys all have a great rest of your day/night!
Comment