Things Work Out

This past weekend, I took my horse, Hero, to a horse show. It wasn't an especially fancy show, but it was one of slightly higher caliber than the usual horse shows we go to, and so I knew I had to do everything absolutely perfectly if I wanted to win (which is, of course, the goal of all athletic competitions)!

Although I made a bunch of silly mistakes in my first classes of the day, by the end, I was on top of my game and put in some really nice trips. For those of you who don't know about hunter divisions at horse shows, the basic idea is that you have to do ~8 jumps in a specific order (called a "course" or "trip") and you are judged on style, with the focus being the horse's form as he clears the obstacles. It's kind of like figure skating or gymnastics in that there are little nuanced things that outsiders might not catch, but could mean the difference between winning and not placing at all.

So I was super excited when I laid down what I, and my trainer, believed to be some really nice courses at the end of my day. I watched the other riders with baited breath, tallying their errors in my head and decided whether theirs summed up to be better or worse than my own. I was sure that I had a chance of winning at least one, if not several, of my classes, and had my eye on the much-coveted "champion" title for the division.

And then the results came in.
The first class: 6th place. I swallowed my disappointment, assuring myself that this was my worst course, and that surely I would win the other two classes.
Second class: 2nd place. There we go, that's what I was aiming for. Now surely I could win the 3rd class!
Third class: 3rd place. My heart sank a little as I realized that I wasn't going to get my champion ribbon, and would have to work that much harder to qualify for the year-end finals.

When I talked to my trainer about what I could've done differently to get a better result, she didn't really know what to tell me. My trips had been good- but so were all of the others. This has been one of the toughest lessons that horseback riding has taught me- sometimes you do your best, and it's really good, but someone else's best is just a little better that day.

Part of it comes down to the nature of horse showing. My horse did not come with a six-figure price tag like some of the horses I was showing against, which, although not an inherent, advantage based on price, indicates that my horse is not as "fancy" or "desirable" as the others. I wouldn't trade him for the world, but horse shows rarely care about the adorable personality traits that make me love my horse. In addition, the judging is extremely subjective and with a different person judging the same classes, it's likely that the placings would have looked at least moderately different from what they were.

Don't get me wrong, I don't want to sound like a spoiled brat here. I am thankful for the opportunities I have to ride and show, and I am more than satisfied with my own performance as well as that of my horse. It's just human nature to want that verification that I did something good, that knowledge that someone else recognizes my achievements.

So we packed up and left the show, and while I was far from being upset, I wasn't as jubilant as I had anticipated that morning when I first arrived. I decided that next time, there wouldn't even be any little mistakes for the judge to hold against me, and started to think about ways I could improve myself and my horse.

Then, on Monday, my trainer called me. She had been checking results from the show online, and discovered that I had won the Marshall and Sterling Hunter Classic, a special class whose results had not yet been announced when we left the show.

So next time things don't seem to be going as planned, I will remind myself of this past weekend. Even if things don't always end up with this kind of redemption, knowing that they have in the past will encourage me to keep trying for the future. And that's what life is all about.