Baby Boomer Dreams - Dandy's Story - Another Regional Experience

Part 1

Once I had qualified the Arabian horse for the US Nationals at the Region 5 Championships, it was time to think about the Region 4 show. I think there was only a week in between the Region 5 and Region 4 shows at that time. Since entries had closed for both before the start of Region 5, I was entered in the Bonanza division at Region 4 and Region 17 as well. Since I had received a Top Ten award already I was no longer eligible to show in Bonanza but went along to show in the pre-show to see if I could get qualified in western or hunter for the regional championships.

I don't really recall what happened in the western class except that I didn't get qualified. But the hunter class I remember clearly. It was a big class of about 24 horses. For that arena in Salem, OR that's almost too many horses to be ripping around at the hand gallop, let alone for a class full of amateurs. So it was a class that a rider needed to be on her/his toes to stay out of traffic and avoid wrecks because with that many amateurs there were bound to be wrecks.

There was another rider from the barn riding in this class as well. We had been friends since I had first begun showing Arabian horses. Her horse had been in training with Kelly for the whole show season and was already qualified for our regional championship class. For me, it was a new experience to be showing with someone from the same barn. I was actually thinking this might be fun having friends and a built in rooting section.

I remember the warm up arena felt like a zoo. With all of those amateur hunters and the usual assortment of early schoolers for later classes, I was cautious about getting Dandy into any situation where he might be claustrophobic. Mostly I just walked the horse to get him to loosen up and warm up his muscles. I don't think I did more than a small circle at the trot or canter either direction.

When the paddock announcer called for us to line up to get ready to enter our class, Dandy and I were the first team on the ramp. I knew from experience that Dandy was much happier going into an empty arena. Being willing to be the first gives the appearance of confidence to the judge. In a class of hunters this size first impressions were going to be important.

I didn't ask Dandy to trot until just before we entered the arena. Then instead of rounding the corner and riding up the wall as most riders do, I rode a straight path in front of the judge to a place farther down the wall. This straight line entrance allows the horse to stretch out his stride and maximize those crucial first moments under the judge's watchful eye.

The bad thing about being the first one in a big hunter class is there's much more posting to ride than what that last rider has to do. For someone with asthma (yes, that would be me) entering later is really better than sooner, and I remember that I thought I was going to die before they even got the darn gate closed. But I managed to hang in there and didn't have a full blown asthma attack right at the start of the class.

Once the gate closed, I think the judge only had us complete about a lap before calling for the canter. I can't even begin to tell you how relieved I was to no longer have to post! Dandy nailed his transition and other than a little bobble (right in front of the judge, of course) where the horse rooted at the bit for just a second, the canter was really nice.

On to the hand gallop, not my favorite gait, my balance riding two point wasn't quite perfected yet. Kelly had shown me that I could shorten my reins and put my thumbs up onto the center of the horse's crest and balance myself there. That added bit of security helped me to be better with my legs and keep my weight balanced over the horse correctly.

Also I knew I needed to get the horse out into the middle. Because of his size and length of leg, Dandy's hand gallop covers much more ground than many of the horses. Keeping him on the rail can get the horse boxed in and that's the last thing I wanted with Dandy. If he's going to get claustrophobic at all, it's going to be in the hand gallop.

Riding on the inside presents its challenges as well. Riding the corners too tight can cause any horse to drop their lead behind. Again because of Dandy's size, he's more vulnerable to this occurrence. There's not much room on the inside to give him a proper corner. But I managed to keep him wide enough in the turns that he was able to hold his lead. Between my not so perfect balance and the horse's insecurities, the hand gallop was what I considered to be a real test but we got through it pretty well.

When the announcer directed us to walk from the hand gallop, my horse sat on his butt like a reiner. Fortunately, I was used to his fondness for "whoa" and "walk" so I didn't ask until I was balanced right for such a stop. It turned out to be a pretty cool transition down. The horse stayed round and didn't walk out of his collection, but kept it together making us look like we knew what we were doing.

The ride the next way of the ring went just as well. Other than a lengthy trot before we lined up, I thought the class went well. The trot, however, was more than I could take and as I hit the line-up, I got clobbered with an asthma attack. I remember my paramedic friend watching me from the rail, trying to figure out if he should jump the wall to save me. I nodded I was ok and managed to locate my inhaler and ward off doing something really embarrassing.

Once I could breathe again, I was really pleased with my ride. I didn't expect to get a ribbon in such a large class because I knew my horse had only had a couple of weeks of Kelly's training. How much can a trainer fix in that amount of time? Imagine my surprise when the announcer called out Dandy's name for second place. I was pretty darn excited, we were qualified for the 40 & over amateur owner hunter pleasure class.

Outside the ring, I tried to find my friend to find how she had done. Unable to locate her, I stopped to talk with a couple of my Bonanza friends who I came across. One of them had been the 11th placing horse in Bonanza at Region 5. My winning trail ride had bumped her from getting qualified and she was excited for me.

When I arrived back at the stalls, my friend was already there untacking her horse. She hadn't heard me come in and I overheard her telling her mother the judge must have made a mistake and gotten our numbers mixed up. There was no way that Dandy could have ever beaten her horse because he wasn't even good enough for dog meat. So much for my friend and barn camaraderie and hello to the ugliness of horse show jealousies. That's what I remember about Region 4 that year.


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

This picture is from that ride in the pre-show.

On to Canada

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