The Region 4 Championships....Big Day....Rhet's Class Part 2

The crowd was quiet as Cheryl Fletcher walked towards the judges for the presentation of my yearling Arabian colt. As she stopped in the middle Cheryl turned the colt towards the in gate. She asked Rhet to "Whoa!" Then worked at positioning his feet.

Rhet paused with that last front foot poised in the air before he carefully placed it where Cheryl asked. Then the woman raised her hand and the crowd erupted for the third time since this colt had entered the ring. I listened in amazement at the amount of noise that was being made for my colt.

Now, Silver Aspen Ranch is not a little operation. Many times they bring over fifty horses to a regional championship. And believe me, the folks at Silver Aspen are supportive of each other, they head up to the arena in droves to watch each other's classes. It was obvious they were there on the rail to support Cheryl in this halter class and those people can make a LOT of noise!

But it wasn't just the people from Silver Aspen cheering. Sound appeared to be rising from every location in the arena inhabited by onlookers. There was no way my little barn and those people from Silver Aspen were making all this noise and it just kept on going and going. It sounded to me like Rhet might just be the crowd favorite. That thought alone was worth all the hassle it had been to get this horse into the ring.

There have only been a handful of times over the years I have ever heard the crowd get behind a particular horse in this manner. It happens so rarely, I even remember the names of the horses involved in those situations.

The first time I witnessed such an event it was Julie Durall's black stallion, Maajestic Moon at the Region 5 Championships. Then who could forget the amazing mare, Ericca, at the All Arabian US National Championships. To see that venue explode like that still boggles my mind. I also remember seeing Parys El Jamaal when he showed at the Region 17 All Arabian Championships for his qualification for the national show. In each of these instances the crowd seemed to be one in its appreciation of the horse.

Now standing in the middle, it was my colt, Rhet, garnering this attention. He seemed to sense the excitement in the air. The colt stood pretty well for Cheryl with this being his first show and all that noise in the stands. Frankly I was surprised at his composure although to be honest, I suspect he had more to give.

I did notice he was worried about the judges walking around him though. The horse's ears seemed to be following them more than pointed at Cheryl. The three judges seemed to spend a long time looking at Rhet compared to some of the other colts.

Finally all three of them were lined up on the left side of the horse making their final notations. Added to the group was the ring steward and that was more pressure than Rhet could bare. With those four people all looking at him the colt began to carefully move sideways to the left. One foot at a time he slowly moved away from the pressure still maintaining his pose for Cheryl.

One of the judges noticed the colt's response and moved to the other side, stopping the colt in his track. Rhet didn't fuss at this new pressure. He just stopped there in the midst of the judges with his eyes darting around at those standing in center ring. All the while still holding that halter horse pose.



The call judge instructed Cheryl to trot her horse off. She turned towards the in gate and signaled the horse to move. Only the first steps were at the trot, from there Rhet kept trying to canter.

All down the wall Cheryl had to keep bumping the colt back into the trot. The horse would feel that pressure and brace against it throwing his head high. I don't know if the judges ever did get to see the pretty trot I get from the horse at home. He was just too excited to go join all those colts standing around at the other end of the arena.

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

Placings



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