Quite the experience

So it's been awhile, but when I would end up working till 7 o'clock at night for several nights in a row, at that point nothing seemed as relevant or important as getting food and crawling into bed. Life as a Boyd Martin working student was pretty consistently busy but some personal highlights were that I learned how to properly think and process while jumping, got over my ditch glitch that I developed after Plantation (more about that later) and I finally got my horse trotting round and forward enough to meet Boyd's approval.
About Surefire (I enjoy talking about this event because it was one of the best days ever):
Before:
-woke up at 1:59 am to be at the barn at 2:25 to leave by 3:00 (but I'm a morning so I was fine!)
-drove 3 1/2 hours following two big trailers through three toll booths and God knows what part of Maryland
-ended up having 2 grande caramel frapps and bread for breakfast
-walked the cross country course 1.5 times (half to meter out the first 4 min. marks and one full time with Boyd to actually look at what I would be jumping)
Dressage:
-got out 45 min. before my test to warm up (15 min walking then 30 min working on moving forward)
-1,000,000 gnats decided my horse was the perfect horse to bother and resulted in a very tense and up Apollo
- test was okay, except for me doing everything I could to hold him together and him losing his counter-canter right before the trot transition (go figure)
Show Jumping:
-never walked the course, already a bad start
-because we found out that Apollo has an particle irritation in his right eye in the hour before show jumping (luckily one of Boyd's owners is a vet and did a quick flush and gave him some ointment to sooth it) I got over there just in time for Boyd to talk me through the course before he had to run off to meet his prelim mount for a cross country round
-jumped fantastically in warmup and I finished over the bigger oxer so he would be set up well for the first jump (an oxer)
-the first three jumped fine but I didn't realize how tight the turn from 3 to 4 was and got a weird spot then he chipped in at the skinny and pulled the top rail. We jumped everything else well and finished in the time
Cross Country:
-after a quick "here throw on your vest" "slap some back boots and bell boots on him" we headed over to warm up
-one of the warm up fences was almost exactly like one on course so I popped him over that then took the oxer at an angle and felt ready to go, which was good because the steward said I was to go next
-passed Boyd walking to the start box and he gave me a quick shot of confidence and determination
-started the course out forward after he added a stride before the first one (of as Boyd said I started out "flying out of hell but managed to pull it together by the end")
-lost my rein as I was going over 6 (lovely photo of that), jumped 8 &9 (before water and in water) exactly like Boyd said and it rode perfectly
-now see, at Plantation just 2 weeks before we'd had a stop at the ditch part of the coffin, (totally my fault. i didn't properly school him at all before the event) my confidence was shaken about ditches (even though we went back and schooled it) and there were three ditches on course, so i was pretty nervous about it which is unusual for me
-came to the first ditch: trakaner which he flew over just fine. so i started thinking this may not be so bad. after 2 confidence building fences we were coming up the hill to the ditch and wall. spurred him before more for my nerves than his and he never gave it a second thought
-quick 7 strides through the brush jumps
-now we came up to the down hill to the coffin. the first jump was rather down hill to the ditch so i had been really tense about it remembering Plantation. but I just did everything Boyd had said to do and whatta yah know? it worked! after that i relaxed and really just enjoyed the last four fences knowing i was absolutely within the time.
-double clear cross country had me floating on air. YES! i got over my ditch glitch and had a fantastic ride! who cares about placings?! I went in there and got the job done in style!
After:
-was in 17th after dressage and finished in 7th overall in a class of 24 at my 3rd event. I was so happy I couldn't even contain myself!
-after loading all my stuff back into my poor car we threw Apollo onto my trailer, said good byes and headed onto a new chapter of life

At this point anyone who's reading this is probably thinking "she finished in 7th? she didn't even ribbon! why would she think that was such a good day?". well I'm glad you asked. I discovered something, its not about the destination, its about the journey. who cares how i finished? the degree to which i can deal with Apollo's  twitches is getting better at every show, i got over my ditch problem and i did fairly well on a really tough sj course. also i was at the event with a good trainer who gave me good advice and cared about how prepared i was at each phase and with people that i enjoyed the company of. it seemed like everywhere i went there was someone I knew to say hello to, wish good luck or coming by to cheer me on. It was probably the first show that I felt that I am really a part of this community, not just an outsider intruding.
Now Pennsylvania is done with (but i will be back one day!) i suddenly realized that it's O'Connor time!
I am now sitting in our hotel room after being welcomed back to my fourth O'Connor Eventing Camp by some great introductions, an amazing dinner and a really fun game of softball.
All i've really been able to be thinking is, "wow. i really love life right now" and i know that there are terrible things happening in the world right now. but right now, I'm just making the most of what life has to offer and enjoying every moment of it.