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

Part 1

It's been a while since I've posted about this show with too much other stuff happening here. With readers wondering how things turned out, I thought I better pick up where I left off before I began any new saga......besides...........we go to another show this coming weekend. I thought I really should get the last one wrapped up before I show at another.

We left off with my Arabian stallion in his first class getting frightened by commotion on that rail. The only good thing about this mess was that I had three classes this evening. Even though the first one had not gone well, I would get two more chances to get the horse "through" his fear of that ring.

The next class was the adult amateur to ride class and it was only about four classes after the amateur owner class had been. I did school my horse in the warm-up arena a little bit during the time between classes but I spent most of the time standing with my horse down near the in gate. That way the horse could look into the ring and see what was happening in there. I hoped that he would be able to get over some of his fear watching the other horses going around and looking at the activity on the rail and in center ring.

For the longest time Legs just stood there intently studying the scene in front of him. I have no idea what the Arabian horse was looking at specifically but could tell he was definitely looking at something. The horse gazed all around the ring but spent most of his time looking off in the distance towards that corner with the trolls.

I don't know how long we stood there before the horse let out a big quivering sigh. Then he dropped his head down to a point he could no longer see into the ring. I took that as the horse telling me he had seen what he needed to see. Then we headed off to the warm-up arena to do a little more flexing and bending.

I hoped that our next ride into the ring would be "spook" free. However, that was not the case. The horse spooked again down in that corner going the second way of the arena. Again it was at the lope, the horse leapt into the air almost suspended for a moment before he came down and charged off. But the charge was brief, only a stride or two and it really took no effort on my part......just a reminder that he was ok.

You know that look a horse gets when they've done something foolish and they've just figured out how foolish they were? Well, that was the expression I could see on my Arabian horse's face as we headed towards the line-up. Just to be on the safe side, we spent more time standing down near the in gate watching that next class.........letting the horse study the ring.

The third class I rode that evening was the western pleasure 50 & 0ver select rider class. It always amazes me how show committees can put classes for the least skilled group of riders, not to mention the oldest, late into the evening when the riders will be more tired and the horses probably more fresh due to cooler air. But lots of them do it.........and some barns don't let their riders show in late night select rider classes.

For me it really doesn't matter as far as skill level goes because I'm really in that class because I haven't spent much time showing anything that's been truly finished since I've reached my current level of riding. However, my body and my brain definitely tell me it's past my bedtime by the time I'm heading into my third class in the evening session.

Just sitting there outside the ingate, I was dozing off. None the less, the select rider class is where I know my horse is currently the most competitive so I managed to wake myself up in time to ride my horse into that class. I think the cool air didn't affect my horse much either. I'm pretty sure he was feeling the effects of this many classes in one session also.

I would tell you all the details, if I could remember back that far. But since it's now October and the class was ridden in August, let's just cut to the chase. The horse was good and we won! Oh ya! and we beat six horses. How's that from someone known for cliff hangers?

Why did I do that, you wonder? Well, the really good part comes the next day and you're going to have to wait for that until tomorrow. In the meantime be prepared, it was NOT my usual Sunday at the horse show.

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

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