Adelaide Metro Show

17.+18.November 2012

On this weekend, Mark went to a really small local show in Adelaide which is right next door to the airport. The horses don’t mind the noise, but I do. No way to escape it, though. At least Adelaide is not a big, busy airport. It was nice and warm, not too hot. I still managed to get sun burn though, because I only put sunscreen on the parts of my skin that were meant to be exposed to the sun. But when I bent over to screw in the studs, my shirt crept up and my lower back got burnt. So by now I’ve got a little patch of tanned skin on my otherwise pale back. It’s like a tan tramp stamp.

Saturday, we only took Shrek and Salsa, and Mark rode three other horses but I didn’t have to do much with those, only help get one ready and screw studs in for two. My horses were happy, tied to the side of the truck with their hay and no drama when one went away. So it was relatively relaxed for me, I got everything done in time and the show ground isn’t very big, so the walk (or run, when Mark forgot something in the truck) from parking to the warm-up arena doesn’t take very long. There are very few starters per class, show-jumping is not big in this country, which means that when Mark has three or four horses in a class, there isn’t even time to warm them up properly because there are only one or two starters in between. But that’s not my concern and there’s nothing I can do about it anyway. Some of the riders are very bad, you can see that they don’t have a widespread training system here like we do in Germany, and a lot of people who jump have never learned the basics of dressage. It’s wild. Mark didn’t place but both horses did well so he was happy and that’s always more pleasant than when it goes wrong.

On the Sunday, we took all four: Shrek, Salsa, Coolio, and Dennis. And again, Mark rode three more. But today, I did not have time to help out with those, having to get all of mine ready. For whatever reason, the horses were a lot more clingy today which doesn’t interfere with the routine but it’s annoying having them scream all the time. I put sunscreen on my already burnt lower back, to prevent it from blistering, and thank god it didn’t get worse because I’ve only just recovered from my burnt feet. The day is a bit of a blur because there was absolutely no time to catch your breath or take in what was going on around you. It was all brushing, studs, putting the tack on, making sure Mark was dressed properly, helping with the warm-up, running back to get the next horse ready, swap horses and wash the other one before helping with the warm-up for the next horse. As yesterday, the horses went well but again, Mark didn’t place; sometimes I think he lacks that wanting to win, is a bit too relaxed about it just because it’s not a big show and there’s no competition. But anyway, when he’s happy, it’s a good day and at the end of the day, I don’t care whether they get a ribbon or not. We got done quite a bit earlier than the day before and we took “my” new horse back home. I have a sweet little mare all to myself now to bring on. When we were just about to leave, Mark backed into a power line and almost tore it off. Thank god some onlookers started yelling and he noticed before thousands of volts got unleashed. It took some time to get the truck out of the mess and making sure the power line did not get damaged, but finally we were on our day and another week was over.