The Adventure Continues.........The Horse Show Begins

The Adventure Begins

My schooling ride at the US All Arabian National Horse Show had been just as I expected. Legs had given me every thing he had to give even though was very stiff one direction. Despite his stiffness the horse maintained a new rate he'd only achieved a ride or two before we'd left Washington.

Now as the chiropractor worked on my horse, we strategized a treatment plan. Legs had reacted to chiropractic work at the Region 4 All Arabian Horse Championships by retaining lactic acids. Trying to avoid a repeat we did the treatment for such retention at the end of the session instead of waiting for signs of soreness.

Then the plan was I would ride Legs early in the morning before the horse show started. That way if there were any signs of soreness or issues that could have been masked by the presenting issues, we'd have time to address those before it was time for us to show.

The next day the temperatures plummeted and the rains came making Tulsa feel like just another miserable horse show. I had packed clothes for all kinds of weather to make this trip but it had never occurred to me I"d need my long underwear. With the falling temperatures, I was really wishing I had. If I had an lingering mystique about this show it was fast disappearing into the miseries of showing in the cold.

I had other things to worry about as well. Sleeping in my horse trailer with a window that doesn't close had me a bit worried. That coupled with a secure monitored parking lot at this fairgrounds had me concerned the facility might not allow sleeping in horse trailers. I sure didn't want to be sleeping in my truck for this show. For the first couple of days I didn't take my trailer down to that lot not wanting to know if my fears were true.

My friends at home were more worried about me freezing my you know what off sleeping in the trailer than I however. As the weather worsened I got more and more input about the fool hardiness of sleeping in that trailer. No one could imagine I'd possibly be warm enough.

I'm here to tell you that I was snug as a bug between the sleeping bags and extra quilt and afghan I brought from home along with Colleen's contribution of an additional sleeping bag and down comforter I crawled into bed freezing from the cold barn and it didn't take me long to warm up.

Despite the winds howling outside all around me, that horse trailer served me well. So well in fact that I slept right through my alarm and even past daylight that second night. I can't even tell you how unusual that is for me at a horse show. I think by the time I took a shower, I arrived at the barn past 9. (that performance was not repeated at anytime throughout the rest of the horse show.)

I'd certainly blown any chances at my early morning ride so the chiropractor could have status on Legs. with my late wake up. Now I would have to wait until the lunch break to get my horse into the ring again. I knew the later in the day I got the information to the chiropractor, the less likely he would have time to squeeze Legs into his schedule if the horse needed more help. I'd picked a bad day to oversleep.

With the weather so cold I went in search out more horse clothing while waiting for the lunch break. I had brought extra blankets from home but I was short one hood. Also, some of the blankets just were not heavy enough for the temperatures with the added wind chill factor. The last thing I wanted was any of the three horses growing hair and needing to be body clipped again.

I thought that Schneider's would have a booth at this show. It is, after all, the national championships. But then I've never been to a national show this far east. As it turned out there Schneider's was not there, instead there was a booth called Uncle Bob's..........which is all Schneider's stuff.

I ended up buying three blankets, a hood and a couple of sleazy's before I made my way out of that booth. I only needed two of the blankets but Bob had stocked some of the smaller sizes AND the blankets were on sale so I grabbed a 64" blanket in navy blue just because it was there. I even managed to get the stalls cleaned before moving on to schooling Legs.

When I took Legs up towards the arena, I did everything just like I had the day before. I got on him first in the warm-up outside the Ford Truck Arena planning to do a couple of laps before I entered the arena. I don't think I got through two laps when the water truck backed up around the corner spraying its contents everywhere. Legs saw that thing and it was over..........the stallion was convinced there were trolls everywhere.

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

My Terrorized Horse

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