Wow it is over!

The last week has been an emotional roller coaster. I am going to do my best to try to describe everything. But it is truly a competition that you have to see to believe. Not sure where I blogged last but the four days before we left Spade became really sick. I have never seen a horse feel the way he did. Tuesday (the day before we left) I took him into my vet. That is when I found out that he had dry bronchitis and he really was sick. For days we had batted around if it was sickness, exhaustion, or a emotional issue. The night before we were going to leave I decided that he we well enough to work through my classes and to double check that he would do everything required. It didn't turn out like I wanted. I ended up working two hours trying to get him to do the very basic maneuvers. He felt bad and had not been ridden in over four days. I was so upset I didn't want to even load him the next morning to leave for Fort Worth. I fought the emotions the entire way there. I knew that this wasn't an easy competition even when your horse is working right. I was really worried.
Once we got to the show grounds it was craziness. People unloading trailers pushing horses and saddles to and fro. A typical check in at any horse show. My goal was to get him checked in and settled as quickly as possible and get on and ride. I knew if I could spend time with just him both of us would be okay. I was a ball of nerves. It is very different when you go to a barrel race and you are confidant in who you are. Here I walk in my horse knowing that he really needed two or three more weeks of training and then you are being passed by some of the top trainers in the nation riding their newly trained mustangs through all of this craziness, BRIDLE-LESS!! It isn't like we were in a closed pen I mean they were in the parking lots and the stall areas. Talk about being worried. I carried Spade to the main ally for check in. Right off there were people walking right behind him looking at him. Then a man came up with paint brands to paint his butt. I am standing there praying the whole time that Spade would not kick anyone. He has been doing so well but this was serious pressure. After the man was done I felt I could breathe. From that moment on I decided to not worry about him kicking anyone. We got to the stalls and set up our tack stall. By that time I had a few hours before the competitors meeting. So I saddled up. I wanted to ride him in the pen as soon as possible.
The first ride eased my mind. When I walked in the pen many of my friends I had met on Facebook were also riding. We walked around and looked at he sights. Spade was extremely calm. He did everything I asked. Had great spins, great circles, great stops. Never tried to run off. The ride made me feel much better. I also was able to talk to the trainers that had helped me prepare. On the way back to the stalls you could hear through the whole barn the startled shuffle of hoofs on the concrete. It was a sound we heard all week every time one of these guys would spook. Once I received my packet in the meeting I relaxed. The patterns were well within our capabilities. Then riding with other Idols trainers we started to see how talented other horses were and we were just as smooth and nice as they were. It made me feel like I was going to be okay.
My first class was Thurs morning. It was the trail class. We had to walk out, walk over poles, move a slicker from one barrel to the other, pick up all four feet and then cross a bridge. Spade did so well. He had a slight hesitation crossing the bridge because of the greenery on the edges but he was fine. Then we had to turn around in a box trot thru cones and back into a chute that was also covered in greenery. He did it all but stepped out of the chute twice trying to avoid the decorations. This hurt my points. Then we had to lope to a cone stop and side pass over a log. He did pretty good on all that too. His side pass was super smooth once he knew what he was suppose to do. When I walked out I knew that the hesitations and the stepping out of the chutes were going to hurt me. But then sitting there watching others mustangs flipping out and refusing obstacles I was pretty proud we did that good. We ended up 21st. I was a little upset because I thought he did better but at least the pressure of winning was over. Now I just needed to do my best in the other classes and see where I could place.
That night I pulled him out to start working on my pattern class for the next morning. He fought me a little and I had to make some bit changes so it was a little frustrating but by the end of the night he was set and doing wonderful. I was confident that we would place high in this one. The one thing that I had noticed in practice was Spade was gravitating toward a banner that had a picture of horses on it. He kept wanting to sniff them. I wasn't overly concerned. The next morning when I started my warm up it was like he had wheels on his feet. He had currently been in a 12x12 stall for 48 hours and was felling better so he wanted to run around. I knew by the way he was warming up he was going to be a handful. Plus in a warm up pen with people from multiple disciplines here is no cultured traffic. It is hard to get a circle in without someone cutting you off. And all you barrel racers know that is the most frustrating thing. The pattern class for us was a basic reining pattern minus the hard stops. Finally it was my turn. My nerves picked up just like they would at a barrel race. The gate opened. Spade did the two tracks beautiful, he stopped and backed up. On the first loping circle he tosses his shoulder inside the circle and starts pulling on me a little. I knew then he really didn't want to be there. As I started the second circle he spotted his beloved horse banner on the wall. And started loping toward it thankfully it was the direction he was suppose to go. When he passed it there was a very large bright blue banner next to the horse one. He shuttered underneath me and, remaining in the pattern, bolted. So there we were sprinting the reining pattern. He nailed the lead change and the final circle required needed to be slow. He slowed down and did great. As we approached the stop I was still a little frazzled from him running. I never say down and gave him the cue to stop. When I pulled in the bridle for the stop I was still squeezing in my legs so he loped straight toward the fence. I knew I had just blown my chances at placing. I loped another circle and stopped. He finished with two beautiful 360s. I came out almost in tears. Spade did everything that he could do I just wasn't communicating with him. After watching the video it really didn't look all that bad. I thought for sure I would get last. We didn't! We placed 21st again. An hour later the final class came. He did everything he was suppose to but once again my lack of show horse experience placed us for another 21st. Overall we ended up 20th. At least I was consistent. It gave me lots of perspective on the competition and my riding skills. Needless to say I told God I am doing it again next year and I am going to learn more advanced riding between now and then. I had a fairly long discussion with the Lord about who I should learn from. I figured I would come home and research and figure out what to do. Well God had other plans. The next morning Spade was eating in the stall row while I cleaned his stall. He had been so good all three days. He never kicked at anyone even though people were everywhere. So I walked around the corner to fill his bucket and when I came back Mark Lyons was standing in the other side of Spade. He asked me if he was mine. I said yes. He said "He just tried to kick me!" I apologized and told him a little about how difficult Spade had been. We chatted a minute and he went on. I was so upset at Spade. Mark is one of the most well known trainers and is related to some of the best in the business. I looked at Spade. "Really Spade of all people you have to take a swipe at, Mark Lyons!!" About an hour later Mark approaches me in the arena. I apologized again because I was so embarrassed at Spades actions. Mark hands me a brochure. It was his and Miranda's information. He told me he knew that I had gotten to know another girl that he helped this year and he wanted to invite me out to the ranch for help. I was super excited. After talking to Mary Kitzmiller (which took 4th in Legends this year) I knew that it was no accident that Spade chose Mark to throw a punch at. I had already decided that they could teach me quite a bit. She told me she had been an intern under Clinton Anderson and she entered last year for the first time thinking it was going to be easy. She placed very close to what I did this year. The Lyons helped her jump 30 places in the last year. Still a little concerned not knowing how they trained I asked God what he thought. I didn't really get much of an answer. While I was walking Spade around for a leg stretch there were so many spectators talking to the trainers. Pretty soon people were all around Spade petting and talking to me about our four month process. I slipped into a warm up area trying to give Spade a break from the pressure of all the hands. He was kicking around the dirt thinking about rolling when a couple bee lines across the pen straight to me. They talked to me just like the others but next thing I knew Spade LOVED them and was rubbing and loving all over them. I found it VERY odd. In the conversation the woman told me that her horse was sent to Mark and Miranda to train. I asked questions about what they knew about him. They had used him quite a bit and loved him. After about a 15 min conversation they left. I felt I needed to pick up my jaw off the floor. It has been a long time since I asked God for something and he gives me multiple encounters to confirm his answer in a matter of hours. But God is like that sometimes he just needs us to ask and he will answer any question we have. Our problem is we don't ask. Needless to say I am going to load both mustangs up and head to Whitesboro this week so I can catch up on Magpie I am now over a month behind all the other barrel racers. I can sit on her but haven't moved any farther. As easy going as she is if I had not had Spade I would already be on barrels with her.
The one thing that I learned this week is God really cares about us to ordain something like a horse kicking at someone to bring attention to their owner. I would have probably come home and signed up for a less then par reining clinic somewhere. Or worse. But God knows how and what we need to learn so He hooked me up this time. I feel like if we rely on God for even the little things then he will make our paths straight.