Dat show season, tho.

Even though snow is forecast to fall tonight and Saturday, I'm sitting over here excited as can be about my spring plans. I even revised my show schedule page to reflect any and all shows/clinics I am considering for the year.

If you click over, you'll note a couple of upcoming moments of excitement, the most exciting of which is my acceptance into April's Janet Foy Ride-a-Test clinic!

Don't worry Ms. Foy. I'm trying to get those withers lifted more by April...

Less exciting but more pressing, I also entered the final schooling show in my barn's winter series, scheduled for tomorrow. The first few shows in the series were unfortunately taking place while Pig was still gaining strength or lame with old-man-itis. Now he's back in gear and ready to run through a third level test just to see what the biggest sticking issues are.

Of course, the horse is finally ready, but I have come down with some version of the flu. Which totally sucks. In true horse-girl style, I plan to man-up and destroy my health to ride my horse in a tiny schooling show with zero payoff. Bring it on!

"Destroy yourself for a minor horse-related event? Why... I never!"

Of course, even for a small schooling show I find myself obsessing over the details, like memorizing the test. Mainly, I keep wondering if I should bust out Pig's double for this show.

Such fancy. Much blur. So dark.

I schooled him in it on Tuesday night, expecting some soreness related tantrums when it came to collection. While he was a little tight and tense starting off, the curb does a great job of helping me encourage him to keep his head out and down while warming up and during transitions. That's vital to accessing his brain, and keeping him calmer during a ride. Based on that alone, I am inclined to show in the double. However, when he is really working well he goes much better in the snaffle.

Hard to tell. Right now I'm considering warming up in the snaffle and seeing how that goes. He's so temperamentally unpredictable from ride to ride, I can't really make that sort of decision on the day. And, the fact that I'm basically using this show only to run through the test has me want to try it in the double just to see if that's a viable option during the show season.

Thoughts?