Back again.

I haven't done this in a long time, which sucks because now I have to make a huge entry to get caught up.
District was pretty fun. It was my last year to show there. Stella and I did really well in the first showmanship pattern, but I screwed up on the second pattern and we lost the class because of it. The judge that we had was my favorite judge ever, and he came over to me in the lineup to ask me what happened. I just told him that I got a little confused and we laughed about it. He's a great guy :)
Shortly before I mounted up, I loaded myself with a cocktail of painkillers to ward off any show-stopping pain. Unfortunately, I wasn't successful. The pain was AWFUL. I even skipped equitation because the judge kept calling for the sitting trot and I knew I couldn't do it. I knew my equitation would suck anyway. The pain always gets in the way and I have to ride defensively, screwing me over in the whole equitation department. Pleasure wasn't pleasant. I was in excruciating pain but I forced myself to ride the class anyway because it was my last year. I'm assuming Stella picks up on my pain. When I'm hurting, I tense up. That obviously doesn't help an already tense horse to cooperate with me. Her behavior was absolutely atrocious in the class. Wrong leads, threatening a rear, racing around and evading the bit, dodging, refusing to stand in the lineup...yeah, that class had it all. I'm only sorry that we had to go out like that.
I worked at the barn a whole lot all this week. Two little kids have started coming to the barn to ride, and they came once this week. The little boy went to ride Sissy with Larry while I tacked up Tina for the little girl. I love little kids, and I love helping little kids with horses. It makes me so happy. After she helped me saddle Tina and lead her outside, I led her around. I taught her about using her legs (even though her legs are really too short to communicate well) and holding the reins while we walked around through cones. She even got to trot. It was adorable.
Stella and I also had some really nice rides this week. I rode her in Larry's new saddle once. It was a great ride, but my entire seat was bruised--yes, bruised--the next morning. I also couldn't ride with stirrups on Larry's saddle because they're just not in the right spot for my build. I rode in my saddle the next day, and everything was good.
I would write about the show today, but I just woke up after dozing off at the keyboard. I think I'll go to bed and write some more tomorrow.