Rachel and Grandma and Arabian Horses at the Daffodil Summer Show.....a whole herd of them!

Normally, the summer show is this laid back, low key show that I can take my horse to just have some fun. Somehow this year we ended up taking three Arabian horses for this occasion. Then Rachel was going to show Angie's horse, Midnight Eclipse, as well. Four horses makes for a lot of classes crammed into a two day schedule.

Dandy, alone, had seven classes. Rachel was showing the horse in the junior select rider class as well as the junior owner to ride qualifier and championship. Then I was going to show the horse in four trail classes.

Legs had four classes and Hope had one. Rachel had two classes on Eclipse then I got a bit crazy and added a couple of halter classes. God only knows what I was thinking. All I know is it made for a hectic schedule.

Rachel hadn't ridden the Arabian horse at all at home. Between Lindsay's injury keeping me at home and Dandy needing the chiropractor again, I hadn't ridden the horse much either. Poor Dandy and Rachel were winging it.

Their first schooling session was on Friday night at the fairgrounds. She had been in one of her moods complaining about her back or a headache or something......the usual stuff in recent months about why she wasn't concentrating on her riding. I cut the lesson short to save myself and the horse the frustration of dealing with the temperamental teenager.

I was pretty sure that's not how Rachel's lessons with Eclipse had gone or Angie wouldn't be letting her show the horse. I had been told that things to do with Eclipse were between Angie, Colleen and Rachel so I was feeling a bit (this is an understatement, in case you are wondering) defensive on the subject.

It seemed, not only had I been pushed away, but that Dandy wasn't being appreciated as well. So things started off shaky. I wasn't really sure why Rachel was even riding Dandy because it sure didn't look like she cared to be doing so. All she could talk about was Eclipse.

I was going to try and keep my distance from this situation and just enjoy showing my horses. I didn't want to get caught up in anymore stuff with my granddaughter. If Rachel wanted me to not be involved, distance was the best place for me.

That meant I didn't have much in the way of expectations of Rachel either. I took care of cleaning the horses stalls myself and only asked Rachel for help feeding etc if I just couldn't get it done myself. That way I wouldn't be disappointed or upset if she didn't get things done. I knew the horses were well taken care of because I did it myself.

Saturday morning, Rachel's first class was a ways down the schedule so we planned on arriving around 8. That would give the horses plenty of time to eat before it was time to get Dandy tacked up and ready for his class.

I set the alarm for 6. That would give me plenty of time to feed and water my Arabian horses. We could stop at McDonald's for breakfast and still arrive in time to see the classes of the others from Angie and Richard's barn............well, that was the plan anyway.

However, I got a call from Angie wondering when we were coming. Chris had left her number in our tack room and she and DJ were one of the first classes in that first session. Our leisurely morning immediately turned to stress and we headed off for the fairgrounds.

We arrived to find they'd given up on us. Cody had climbed over the wall to retrieve the exhibitor number. That goes to show how secure locked tack rooms at a horse show really are. If someone really wants to rip you off, they can and will.............. I'd only wished they'd let me know that Cody had scaled the wall. I certainly wouldn't have stressed nearly as much on the drive to the fairgrounds. I swear, I missed every single traffic light possible just because I was in a hurry. At least we arrived in time to see both Chris and Cody ride.

When it was time for Rachel's first class, I gave her as little time to warm-up the horse as possible. It seemed the more time she spent on the horse, the quicker she got frustrated. Once that happened it was all downhill so my strategy was to not give her enough time to get frustrated.

Things were ok in the warm-up. The horse was rounder than he'd been for her in a while. Rachel's mood wasn't bad but it seemed to me her focus was more on showing Eclipse in the afternoon session than it was on the class she was getting ready to ride. I tried not to let it bother me and just kept focusing on instructing her on how to ride my horse.

Dandy jogged into the ring just a little bit fast and not quite underneath himself but still ok. At the lope the horse was clearly dropping his shoulder to the outside again like he had at Region 4. But unlike Region 4 the horse would straighten right out when cued to do so. Rachel, however, wasn't remembering how to fix the problem instead she was just picking at his face. Other than that, the class went pretty well and Rachel got second place.

Before we even got back to the barn Rachel was already mapping out in her mind what she needed to do with Eclipse. I just made sure that Dandy was untacked and properly put away. I took care of cleaning the stalls and then made myself scarce.

I didn't have a class until the evening session so I went up to the ring and watched my friends ride. I can't even tell you when I've had the time to stop and just sit down and watch horse show. It was really nice for a change.

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

Part 2

I don't have video of Rachel's first ride but there is video of her other rides. You'll be able to see both classes with Eclipse and the remaining classes with Dandy.

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