> Might be going to a show this weekend to help out the girl
 > who mucks my stalls.  She has an 11 year old warmblood who's
 > only been to one show (last weekend).  She placed 3rd out
 > of 23 in an adult eq. class.  However, the poor kid went
 > all by herself, and found it amazingly difficult to show
 > without any help at all (g).  So, I offered to go to the
 > next one with her and act as groom...I can feel that show
 > blood coursing through my veins already (VGB).
 
Good for you, Meg!  The groom part, I mean.  ;-)
 
 > Someone say something sensible here!  Like...you're too
 > old, Fiddle's never been in a trailer, she's not fully trained
 > yet...come on you guys!  Wonder if there's a 12-step program
 > for horseshow addiction....HELP!!!
 
Let's take these one at a time, shall we?
 
1) You're too old.  Hogwash.  (How old would you be if you weren't showing?)
 
2) Fiddle's never been in a trailer.
 
This is more promising.  No, you really don't want to be hauling Fid off to 
show when she's not properly trailer-wise.  Do you really, really want to get 
into the "you WILL get into this trailer" battle with Fiddle because you MUST 
get her into the trailer because you've already signed up for the class and 
if you don't go you'll lose all the money you shelled out for entry fees and 
make a fool out of yourself in front of (or not in front of) all the people 
who know you had planned to show that weekend?
 
Or worse -- do you want to BE at the show and not be able to get Fiddle 
*home* because she won't get into the trailer?
 
So train her to ride in the trailer first!  Take your time and do it right.  
Not because you want to take her to show -- because she needs to know.
 
3) Fiddle's not fully trained yet.
 
See above.  Do you want to mess up Fid's training because you're under a show 
deadline?
 
I know what you're going through.  I can't smell chalk without wanting to go 
and teach again.  ;-)  But I tough it out and after a while, the feeling goes 
away again.
 
Just focus on what Fiddle needs to know.  You can worry about whether you 
want to show off what she knows *after* she knows it.
 
I always feel that it is wrong to (for example) make a student learn some 
brutal show-off piece for a recital, then make them stumble through it in 
performance.  Why not let them get their performance experience by playing 
something that is *easy* for them under classroom circumstances? 
 Like the race-trainer's trick of dropping a horse down a class.
--- Opus-CBCS 1.73a
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