The Region 4 Championships......Moving In part 2

The young Arabian horse was profusely sweating all during the time he was trying to figure out how to escape from his stall. I was worried the pounds I'd worked so hard to put on the horse were melting away with the sweat.

I already knew from experience that this particular horse could easily drop over a hundred pounds before it was time for him to show. I had to figure out a way to stop his stressing so I didn't end up with a colt too thin to show.

Once we had the work all done it was time to hit the sack. I closed the top doors on each horse's stall before heading off to bed. Then I laid in bed most of the night with my wheels turning for something to safely secure that stall guard. I was convinced if Rhet would give up on getting through that he would eventually calm down.

By morning I had my solution. I just happened to have several short bungee ties in my horse trailer. I had to tie a knot in the middle of each to shorten it even more. That shortened length made a tight fit between the buckles on the stall guard. A fit tight enough that even Rhet's abuse didn't cause the guard to sag.

The only problem was tips of the S hooks at each end of the bungee cords. I worried about the horse cutting himself on those ends. With the twenty staples going down the horse's neck, I didn't think we needed anymore "jewelry" added. It was time to whip out the duct tape and cover those ends.

It was interesting to see that it didn't take Rhet long to figure out the stall guard could no longer be compromised. I think it was twenty minutes tops when the horse quit assaulting the thing. He was no longer throwing himself against it AND also not picking at it with his mouth anymore. Rhet had accepted he must stay in the stall.

With that acceptance, the amount of sweating went down as well. The horse was still peering over the top of the stall guard and doing some talking but he was beginning to settle in. He did get upset if anyone went in his stall. He was still definitely looking for a way to escape but he was now thinking he'd have to go through the open door than over the top of it. At least we'd won round one with this horse.

Classes for the pre-show began that morning. For those who aren't familiar with Arabian shows, the pre-show is a regular A show tagged onto the beginning of a regional show. It gives exhibitors who haven't yet qualified for regionals another chance to earn points so they can show in the regional championships. It also gives exhibitors a chance to school their horses in the ring before the regional classes begin.

Legs still has issues in the arena and this particular arena is where the whole thing started. Then our last show at this facility we'd had another major wreck. It was clear extra ring time was definitely called for with Legs. . I was entered in the select rider class and the adult amateur owner to ride class. I probably could have entered a couple more but I wanted to have a horse left to show at the regional championships.

I can't even remember how many classes. We'd brought a total of twelve horses and some of those weren't qualified. Others, like Legs, had rings issues and needed to work through them. The two day pre-show schedule was jammed pack for us, that's for sure.

Since it seems like forever since that pre-show, I can hardly remember who did what. The exception would be the major things that happened and believe me there were major things. This was not one of those quiet little horse shows...........not for me anyway. Well, at least, Rhet was beginning to look like he might just settle in............

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

Pre-Show Select Rider



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