Horsemasters 2009

Maggie and I attended the Horsemasters ride in East TX. It was the last NATRC ride of the season as the Last Chance ride had to be canceled. I have mixed feelings about it being the end of the season b/c I added up points and it looks like I'm tied for 1st in the Novice Heavyweight division. If I had one more ride, I could possible win clear...of course, I might not even actually be tied for first b/c I might have added it up wrong, so I will wait for official word to roll in.

The ride weather was beautiful. Liberty and Dixie had a hard time separating. The trail wrapped back on itself, so about the time we would each settle our horses, they would see each other and go nuts. Liberty was badly behaved at the first P&R because he saw Dixie leaving...somehow, despite his bad behavior, he didn't blow his P&R. Maggie told me that Dixie was upset about being alone as well. She said that she had never been nervous riding Dixie, but this weekend, she was nervous about her behavior. She said they did OK till the end of the ride, when she inadvertently crossed the two mile marker before she intended, in front of the judge, and had to continue on. Her buddy that she had ridden with all day had left her (another difficult horse) and was having similar trouble. Maggie ended up coming in 2 minutes early, which is better than she had expected. She just hated losing the points.

Sunday we decided to ride together, which was mostly OK. Dixie was misbehaving some and at one point, Maggie sent me over the edge b/c I felt like she was being mean to Dixie. Someone else helped me with Maggie, after I had yelled at her (Maggie, not Dixie) and we repositioned some tack and got out of the woods, and got away from the stallion we were riding with. Something helped to fix her attitude because things improved from there. I was so embarrassed yelling at Maggie in public. I hate to punish her in public. It embarrasses me, and her, but it had to be done in this case. The day ended pleasantly and we had fun cantering through some fields just b/c we could.

The obstacles were all things I could do! There was a dismount and remount on the offside, backing through two trees (he backed through them even though he bumped into one of the trees) downhills, uphills, a huge log that we had to jump b/c he just couldn't get over it. In the end, Liberty not only placed first but Sweepstaked again! I was shocked. I had been thinking about how bad he had been fidgeting for the vet and just generally not behaving, but evidently he wasn't as bad as I thought. It's kind of a nice switch from the days when I thought I was really good, but wasn't :-) Now I don't' think we're good and we're OK. He's just such a tremendous horse. I'm so happy and surprised that the year turned out this way. I never would have believed he be this good at this sport. In the beginning I thought he'd be better suited for endurance, but now I think he's suited to do whatever we decide we want to do. I adore this horse. I am so grateful to God for bringing him into my life.

I forgot to post about Medifast last week. I didn't do so hot last week. With my birthday, I ate too much and gained 2 pounds. However, I think I will have lost it plus a couple more when I weigh in this week.