Tully Cross Hamish and Jules Ennis at Plantation.
I’ve ridden and competed my own horses nearly all of my life. Rarely if ever has anyone else ever ridden my horse for me. When I stood next to a friend who owned a horse competing at Rolex, and saw her emotion and nervousness up close, I was sympathetic but not really down with how it felt — and after this weekend, I soooo get that feeling now!
While my horse was ridden by new up-and-comer and Advanced rider Jules Ennis in an Open Novice division (pretty far cry from Rolex), the nerves were certainly a surprising development to me. I know about “Show Ground Arrival” nerves. Understand “First Walk of the Cross Country Course” nerves. Familiar with “Show Jumping Warmup” nerves. Get “Startbox” nerves. But Qwner Nerves are a way different deal!
First off, you don’t have control, which is a very new sensation. Second, you know your horse and you hope that everything you’ve been prattling on for hours about your horse might be of some use to your rider. And third, you sincerely hope it’s not going to be your horse that is the reason for anything that might happen to your rider.
I have to admire and hand it to the great owners of this sport who support riders, love their horses and can sit calmly and watch them compete at the big events. Because even for my Open Novice ownership debut, I was about as panicked as it gets! For me, cross country was the worst. I was so nervous when Jules went into the start box with Hamish I almost puked. My hands were shaking so much I couldn’t hardly use my camera! I wanted so much for her ride to be drama-free and it was, thank goodness.
The nervous owner shot. Out of focus and not centered. Photo by Holly Covey.
It helped that I had faith in Jules and her ability to pilot my horse, even though there was very little in the way of familiarization (she’s seen me ride Hamish and was able to ride him herself with only three days prep) and still ripped off a respectable 31.5 in dressage for a fourth placing.
We knew show jumping was our most challenging phase of the weekend and there was one rail, but the round grew the horse a little and was very satisfactory for me. I could see my own riding weaknesses by watching the good decisions that Jules made during the round.
Cross country was just terrifying for me because, being on crutches, I wasn’t able to walk it and see the jumps personally. While I know the course’s general flow, it was still hard! Because I was so nervous I let Jules tack up and warm up on her own and basically tried to stay away. Ever the micro-manager, I “reminded” her to cluck to him if he looked at anything (as if she didn’t have enough experience to do that!) (Sorry, Jules that was for me). Then she was in the start box and off!
As soon as the first fence was done, my nerves went down a little, and as soon as I was able to watch I was very happy that they were double clear, almost more relieved than happy. Comparing how I’d have felt if I were riding, I’d say the nerves at the start were double what they would have been if I were in the saddle!
I have to say here that really, there was no reason to be nervous about the horse. He’s a real steady-eddie, has had unrecognized experience, and is a solid jumper if not as experienced at the show jumping as he could be, but that’s due to basically foxhunting most winters. I really did have confidence in him.
And I sure wasn’t worried about — we’ve been friends for years, she’s competed to CCI** and Advanced, ridden event horses in England for three years including catch-riding at all levels and in show jumping competitions too, and has ridden around Plantation before, of course.
But something about seeing a horse I owned and was responsible for, carrying around someone else — obviously, you want them to be safe; and for the horse’s first real recognized competition, you want a good experience with no giant hiccups. You want it all to go well, but you realize, standing there as a spectator, you have very little control over it!
The only person with nerves is holding the camera. Photo by Holly Covey.
So what was I worried about? Of course, the cross country round was super. He looked a bit at a down bank, with his little foxhunting cautious soul, but Jules’ confident riding saved the day. She reported that the up bank to the chevrons rode perfectly, and I was able to see that the log into the water jump Hamish took very confidently. In fact, the round was spot on! Nothing to worry about! Jules reported after the finish that he was “great” and she had fun, which is about the nicest thing you can hear as an owner.
We packed up and headed home, learning that Hamish actually ended in third place in the division, which really made my whole weekend. I certainly had an interesting experience playing owner, and I have to tell you, once you get over the nerves, I think it was actually fun. Seeing your horse go is very gratifying. He is way more beautiful than you ever think while you’re riding him, and watching him jump on cross country like he loves it — well, you just can’t describe the fun in that. It’s almost as much fun as riding. It might be more fun.
