The Third Place Ribbon

     I wasn't first but I wasn't last which is a great place to be when you are first starting out. If your first time out you get first place you have a good chance of coming away thinking you are better than you are. However, after you have walked out of the show ring a couple times without a ribbon at all it can be very discouraging.

     I never had the desire to enter the show ring. I was always content watching my daughter, my neice, and my sister and our students. However,  lately I have been considering taking new horses into dressage schooling shows. I felt the show experience would be good before I started doing schooling tests where I was in the ring all by myself in front of a judge.
At least in this show ring I could try to blend in with the other horses on the rail. So finally at fifty-something, I entered the ring for my second class ever. This was a warm-up class I told myself since I had signed up for three classes altogether. Once I entered the ring my nerves settled down and I just concentrated on riding right. I knew I had made a few mistakes right in front of the judge. However, I was feeling so good about my overall ride though that I thought maybe the judge will feel the same way and my anticipation grew with each number called out...5... 07.... and 5...15.... and 5... 78.  My number, 537,  was not called. Deep breathing helps and I told myself, "this was just the warm up." Hmmm... apparently I have been touched by the show bug but not bad enough to have teary eyes going out the gate like some. 

    Next class-- riders entering on the rail. I tell myself to just relax and do everything right. LOL. This was a crazy class with lots of horses acting up. Apparently, I was told by an observer, my horse was the only one that behaved. Really? My anticipation turned a little Blue! And then she added, "Too bad you were on the wrong lead." Dang. The fact that I got a ribbon at all was entirely due to the fact that I was riding a great horse who behaved and had little to do with my riding ability. But I don't care. I let none of the side chatter about that crazy class in which the judge commented was so bad she wasn't about to ask for a hand-gallop, I let none of that take away the joy I had when I heard my number called out for the first time. It reminded me of when on my graduation day from Basic Military Training my TI told us we were the worst class she'd ever had. None of us cared when we paraded in and picked up our graduation certification. Her negative chatter didn't take away from the fact my name was on the certificate and I was leaving the worst TI I had ever had!! And no where on that Third Place Ribbon hanging on my rearview mirror does it say, "you sucked but we had to give Third place to someone." Actually that ribbon gave me a little hope that in my next class I thought I might actually be able to get a well-deserved ribbon. Again I have a lot to learn about riding in a group in front of  a judge. But I went away pleased as punch with my little yellow ribbon!

   Maybe I did get the show bug, just a little, but what I found to be the most significant impact that that Third Place Ribbon had was on my facebook status. You know I have been putting up some pretty cool status updates lately and getting no responses. But the day I posted, "I got my first show ribbon ever," my wall was flooding with activity. I guess that ribbon meant more to my fifty-something and over friends than just a win for the old geezers. It was a sign of hope that we weren't too old to start following our childhood dreams. That's right,  as long as you're still kickin, even if it's not as high, just hop on your horse and ride. You never know where that dream will take you.