Rachel and Grandma and Arabian Horses at the Summer Show Part 7

Part 1 at the Summer Show
I went into the class on a beautiful draped rein with my horse jogging the prettiest slow easy jog you can imagine. People are always surprised how slow and still true this big horse can jog.

For me, it's one of the fun parts about riding him. Out of the corner of my eye I can see the first look on a judge's face as they realize that a 16 hand Arabian following behind a 14.2 H Arabian and the big horse is going slower and truer than the little one. This entrance was no exception. Dany is know for his entrances into the ring but from there things can get a little crazy.

The first lap around the arena was ok but once the gate was closed and the riders began to bunch up (and the baby boomers are great a bunching up, I can tell you), Dandy began to get nervous about the traffic. While the horse didn't do anything really naughty, he lost his rating,speeding up when he got close to another horse and slowing down again when he got out of the spot that worried him.

The horse was pretty good at the lope the first direction. He was not quite a round as I would like him but reasonable for the little time I'd been back to riding him. Again the horse had a slightly noticeable increase in speed when he got near another horse.

The second way of going was not quite as good. The horse began bracing at the pole and was getting a bit stiff in the jaw, Grandma was definitely in schooling mode trying to soften him up for Rachel's next ride in the ring.

The real problem came at the second lope. It wasn't Dandy that was the problem either. From out behind us came a beginning rider with her horse on auto-pilot. The pair passed us , cutting in front of us diving for the rail.

Dandy broke! But in his defense there was no place for him to go. The horse cut us off so badly that I could see Dandy's chest up against the horse's back end. Dandy raised up his head over the horse's croup as the horse flipped it's scrawny tail in my horse's face.

Dandy just stood there> He didn't lope off until I cued him to go. As much as he is intimidated by traffic, the horse actually handled this situation quite well. He didn't speed up or act silly or even get into pinning his ears badly. He just lost his confidence for the first few strides and then settled back in.

When they called for the line-up, I was relieved. Dandy's final jog was pretty good. It was clear that even with the wreck I had gotten the horse's mind back where it needed to be with Rachel in the ring. I was pleased as we found our place in line.

Actually, I lined the horse right up next to the out gate. I wanted to be able to look down the row and count the number of horses in the class. At fourteen it was the largest class of the show.

By the time I finished counting, I heard the announcer beginning to call out the results. I heard a number that sounded close to mine and I was shocked when I heard my horse's name followed by mine. There was lots of cheering which was nice but I couldn't get past my shock, I knew what my ride was like. All I could think was it must have been a really wild class if I had won.

I backed the Arabian horse and then turned him out the gate picking up my ribbon and prize. They asked me if I wanted to take a victory pass and I laughed as I said I'll pass and headed back towards the stalls.

Going down the backside of the arena, Colleen mentioned she thought she heard them calling me back to the arena. We tried harder to listen and sure enough they were calling me back to the ingate.

Rachel said she'd go to find out what they wanted and I laughed. I handed her my ribbon and prize as I told her she was going to need them. This made a lot more sense, it had been a mistake.

I learned later, the announcer had goofed things up. I had gotten 7th in the class. It was my friend, Angie, who had won it. Now that made sense to me. Her black Arabian gelding is going so soft and smooth. She felt bad that she had taken my ribbon away. I teased that I should at least get joint custody!

To be continued...........

Part 8


Part 1 at the Summer Show series starts here

The first post of the Rachel and Grandma and an Arabian Horse series was posted several months ago and documents Rachel's journey on her way to her dream of competing one day at the Arabian and Half Arabian US National Championship Show.

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