Whoop Whoop?!?

"Experience: that most brutal of teachers. But you learn, my God do you learn." 
-C.S. Lewis


So simple, but so true.  This weekend I've had a lot of experiences in which I have learned a lot about eventing, myself, and my horse.  First of all, the competition down here is so much more serious than I've ever had to deal with.  At this show (and I'm sure the ones to follow) the horses are fancier, the riders are better, and the game is more technical.  Every competitor down here, including myself, came down here to do their best and show their stuff.  Showing up in my area you get a whole different crowd which can make the show sometimes easier.  All that aside, I'm still glad I came down here.  If I can show down here and do decent, I will be more than ready for my competition up north.  


My final results left me in 10/16 riders for my division.  Normally I would be rather upset with myself for this, but considering most of the people I was competing against have shown at Advanced, I'm happy for myself and my little novice level horse.  If I wanted to play the "well if game" I would be blaming myself for messing up in dressage and stadium moving our placing lower than it would have been....but I won't because I'm seriously trying to get that out of my system.  


All in all, I'm rather pleased for our first outing and I've gained a lot of knowledge and tools that I will be carrying over to my next show most definitely. 


Day off tomorrow for the horse and me.  I'm sure she will be happy relaxing in the sun :)