The Equestrian "War"

Ground rules

Much longer part this time :D
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Today has been a full day of packing,
unpacking, and repacking. Trying to pack
light is difficult for a semester away in
London. The letter was a very short notice
for my liking and I only have two days to say my goodbyes to friends and family.
Adequately, the school provides airfare because finding plane tickets cheap and two days prior definitely isn't effortless . I looked at my two giant stuffed bags and groaned.

Do I need this much?

What if everyone laughs at my excessive luggage?

After redundantly questioning myself, I did
some more calculations. I figured I need to be
prepared with weeks worth of breeches in the
case that I can't get to the laundry room. I will
also need a week worth of uniforms which
should be arriving tomorrow in the mail. In
addition, I should throw in about two weeks
of normal attire for the free time we get. That
should be sufficient enough so I don't get tired of wearing the same clothes. For special
occasions, I've decided to buy formal attire in
London.

If my rankings are high enough after the first
semester, I get to continue my sojourn for the
rest of the year. I plan to keep my hopes low,
so my disappointment is bearable if I get cut out. It's hard to balance the studies and riding. The major predicament is, if I decide to solely focus on riding and get cut off, then I'll be failing school for no good reason. If I fail school, my realistic back up plan, a good college and career, is unsubstantial.

My solution? No sleep.

It's going to be a hard year of juggling riding and studying. I am positive many riders are
not going to give a crap about their classes. I'm going to have to look out for them. They are much more dedicated to riding and therefore their chances of winning are greater.

I pushed my bags to the side and pulled out
my journal. I decided to make a game plan
and write out a schedule and strategy. I'm not doing this because I'm organized, but because I'm a procrastinator and I need a break from packing. First I wrote out my school schedule and the times of my classes.

1) English- 8:10-8:55
2)science- 9:00-9:45
3) French-9:50-10:35
4)math- 10:40-11:25
5) history- 11:30-12:05
6)lunch- 12:10-12:55

1 hour free - I MUST DO HOMEWORK(no exceptions)
-20 min to get to the barn and tack your horse
-1hour lesson
-1 hour hack with another horse
-barn chores and horse class (2hr)
-free time/activities (varies)
-dinner (varies)
-free till curfew
-curfew 10:00 (pshhh I'm not gonna sleep)

Well, there is my massive weekday schedule.
We have shortened class on Saturdays to
catch up and no class on Sunday's.  I'm not necessarily looking forward to another day of class in the week, but it's worth it if I get to spend a semester riding and training with
amazing horses.

Next I wrote some ground rules to keep my head in the game.

• no friends
•don't fight enemies, just beat them in comps.
•PASSIVE AGGRESSIVE
•no boys
• NO DRAMA, STEER CLEAR

I don't want to make the mistake of making
friends, because we will have to turn against
each other eventually. I wouldn't want a
ruined friendship, so I'm going to avoid friendships altogether. I am destined to make
a lot of enemies due to the equestrians' nature to be mean. I refuse to let their harsh words and bitchyness distract me. In return,
because I dislike being hypocritical, I will not fight back or hurt anyone else. I can't crush on any boys because the relationship will be doomed as soon as we go up against each other. I wouldn't want me to have second thoughts about winning in the middle of the semester.

To sum that up, I have to keep drama to a
minimum. That will be manageable if I can
handle all the other rules.

It was guaranteed I was going to be lonely by
excluding myself, but it's the only way I can
make it through. I can assume I was  going to
be the so called "weirdo". But this "weirdo" is
going to win.

I grabbed some stamps from my
desk and put them in my bag to write to my
friend Alex. I promised we would keep in
touch. She is going to help me keep sane
when I'm surrounded by crazy equestrians in a war zone. The term "War" is not much of an
exaggeration when you put a bunch of horse
riders together and make them
compete.

Most importantly I can't snoop to
to their level. I need to win fair and square or
don't win at all.

So what exactly are we competing for? There
is a money prize which isn't very important. The significant award is the recognition you
get in the equestrian community. Businesses
practically beg to be able to sponsor you.
Additionally, the school will continue to
train you with top Grand Prix trainers. That
is an opportunity that I don't want to give up on.

I got up to my desk to look up previous
winners to see if I have a chance. The highest I've jumped is four feet, but I think I'll be able to jump much more with the help of this school. I clicked on a video to see the winner
of the 2014 Bellington final competition. Her name is Alice Grouse and her technique was perfect. She cleared all the 4'9 jumps like they were nothing and had no time faults whatsoever. My hope of winning faltered, but
I wasn't going to give up.

My strategy was my shield and sword, and it's
the only way I can win. 

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Quick question, how many of you guys are equestrians?¿

For any non equestrians out there, please ask whenever there are terms you don't understand:)