The Region 4 Championships......Pre-Show Select Rider Part 2

When the announcer called for the lope, I waited for the horses in front of us to lope off first. I wanted there to be plenty of room for me to set up my horse and a place for us to go. Before that room even opened up I heard Richard's voice boom, "MIKAEL!" and I knew I needed to go.............and to go now.

Without time to set up my horse, Legs took the wrong lead. I didn't dare fix it until I knew what the warning was about. I looked around to see that chestnut stallion coming right behind us. I pushed my horse deep against the rail heading to the corner moving behind another horse. Only once the chestnut stallion was clear did I stop my horse to fix the lead.

I watched the chestnut stallion go short across the corner. I decided at that point I better do my best to keep that horse in front of me. I didn't know what had happened causing Richard's warning but I knew it was serious or he never would have yelled like that.

The rest of the class was uneventful for us compared to the first half. There were a couple more blow-ups from other horses and they all seemed to be near that red horse. I was really glad when I heard the call for the lineup.

This seemed to have been one of those classes that John Rannenberg had spoken up. Things were obviously escalating it was time to stop. Let the horses settle

Legs had gone along doing his job although clearly tensing up if we got too close to that red horse. I was beginning to think my horse being on the muscle was directly related to the presence of that stallion. I was going to have to figure out how to deal with this issue.

When the horses lined up I watched for the location of that red horse. I didn't want to end up anywhere near it in line. Nine times out of then that horse would act up badly once the placings began. The last thing I needed was another incident between these two stallions.

The class ended up with the red stallion being down near the in-gate while we were up near the gazebo. Once the placings began the red horse started his usual antics throwing his head up out of the bridle and refusing to stand. There were no surprises there. The surprise was that red horse placed third in a class of over ten horses.

I couldn't believe my ears. I couldn't even tell you how many wrecks had been caused by that red stallion. He'd even been in the proximity of the horse that had gone out of control. It couldn't be just coincidence, could it? I definitely had some thinking to do. I knew this horse was in at least one of my regional classes and now she'd earned enough points to enter the other if she wanted.

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

The Aftermath



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