The Region 4 Championships......The Class

As I watched the horse in front of me jog into the arena, I took a deep breath waiting for the right spacing before asking my Arabian horse to jog. At first Legs didn't respond to my request but with a push he rolled over into the jog. It was nice and slow just like it should be.

Entering the arena the first thing I did was check for the location of the red stallion. He was clear down at the far corner. That was the kind of distance I wanted to keep the entire class. I pointed my horse towards an invisible point on the rail and we jogged in past the call judge just like we knew what we were doing.

My horse was not as soft as usual, still much softer than he'd been in yesterday's class. The treatment by the chiropractor had definitely made an improvement. I shortened up on my reins just a bit trusting my horse would respond appropriately. All the time watching for the whereabouts of the red stallion.

The gate closed as I came down the far wall. I was able to stay on the rail riding deep into the corners. I wanted to keep that distance between the red horse and my own. Every decision I made about my line of travel was directly related to the other rider. It was an odd way to ride my class.

When they asked us to lope, I checked to see where that stallion was. I didn't want any repeats of him barreling up behind us. I watched the horses around me as well, not wanting to rush up behind them either.

The woman didn't rush right into the lope as she usually does. This gave me the time to set up my horse and wait for those horses in front of me to leave. Our transition at the lope was pretty decent. My horse stayed together through several strides before I even had to pick him up. If it wasn't for the focus on the red stallion, I might have noticed this was shaping up to be a pretty good ride.

They called for us to walk and I exhaled a huge sigh. Halfway through the class and things were still ok. I was beginning to think maybe this ride would be uneventful. What a relief that would be......

When we reversed, it was the closest I came to the red stallion up to that point. He was about a third of the way up the rail ahead of me. As we were instructed to lope, I waited for him to lope off first. I didn't ask for Legs to lope until the red stallion was well into the corner.

It was another decent transition.........not perfect but good and solid. My horse stayed rated pretty well, only speeding up slightly when we got into some traffic coming down the rail.

Coming around the corner by the ingate something got Legs. One of those trolls suddenly appeared and the horse jumped.........just for an instance..........but he jumped. Straight up, then he rolled back over and loped. Gary Dearth, the call judge, was looking straight at us. I watched as he scratched us off his card.

It wasn't the red horse at all, that had ruined the class. It was something I didn't see or hear.........but something got him for that brief instant and it was over. I was grateful when they called for the jog..........and I could hardly wait for the line-up. I wanted this class to be over and done with. I needed it to really end without any issues with the red horse.

It seemed like forever before they finally did instruct us to line-up. I watched as the red horse made his customary way to the last position right in front of the in-gate. I headed my stallion to the opposite position, right next to the gazebo. As I pulled into the line-up both the photographer and the ring steward smiled at me. I could see the relief I felt reflected in their faces. This scary class was over and everyone was safe. I felt my body begin to shake from the relief of all that tension. My horse sighed his own sense of relief.

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



Visit Blog Village and vote daily for this blog Here They are now measuring the rankings by the number of votes out, so if you find my blog on the site, please click that link too to improve my rankings. TY

The Region 4 Championships......Amateur Owner Warm-Up

After the chiropractor left, I began thinking about the class again. The magnitude of the possibilities with the red horse began to bear down on me. Before noon I found myself sick to my stomach and getting worse with each passing minute.

I rode my horse at the break. Just a brief ride to give him a chance to see the inside of the show ring. Barely a pass each direction at the jog and the lope with a little bit of walking thrown in for good measure. My horse was much better than he'd been the day before.

Back at the stalls I worked on cleaning my tack. Focusing on polishing silver wasn't enough to keep my mind off of the red horse. I was really dreading this class and whatever it might hold for me and my horse.

By the time the paddock announcer called the signal for us to leave, I was downright shaking. I can't remember if I've ever been so stressed before a class. A heavy dread enveloped me and I felt like I was going to vomit but I forced myself onto my horse.

As I rode down the rode towards the arena, I tried to get a handle on my self talk. I had friends watching for me in the arena. The ring master was going to be watching and so was the photographer. I needed to trust they would be able to keep anything bad from happening.

When I reached the warm-up arena, the woman on the red stallion was already there. I watched her as I made my way around the arena hoping she was watching for me as well.

It didn't take long to see that she was watching too. As I worked on supling my horse, I didn't get anywhere near the red horse. I noticed she took a break from her warm-up taking her horse into the middle. There I saw her speaking with a friend of mine. I made a mental note to see if that conversation had anything to do with the situation with my stallion and hers.

When Richard showed up, I asked him to check with my friend. When he returned, he confirmed my thoughts. The woman had indeed talked about the issue between the two horses. She had not seen it coming and she wasn't quite sure what to do, but she was definitely going to do her best to stay away from me. For the first time I felt a little relief. Maybe this class would be ok after all.

My horse stayed quiet in the warm-up. Even with the red stallion out there. Having the horse keep its distance seemed to be enough for Legs. I was going to try and follow his example. I needed to relax if I wanted to have a good ride.

When they called us to get ready on the runway into the arena, I decided I would stay back and enter after the red horse. Maybe without the red stallion behind us, Legs would stay quiet as we entered the arena.

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

The Class



Visit Blog Village and vote daily for this blog Here They are now measuring the rankings by the number of votes out, so if you find my blog on the site, please click that link too to improve my rankings. TY

Wordless Wednesday - Region 4 Championships

Visit Blog Village and vote daily for this blog Here They are now measuring the rankings by the number of votes out, so if you find my blog on the site, please click that link too to improve my rankings. TY

The Region 4 Championships......Select Rider part 2

Despite the tight poll, Legs and I had managed to garner a top five in the select rider championship class. I was really disappointed in my ride but still delighted to have a top five. It is my first top five in the western pleasure division. It's been a long time coming for both Legs and me.

Later, I checked the judge's cards. We actually were ranked third in that class out of twelve (I think. I was excited because in my book we'd have gotten the gate. I figured at the most we had barely made it in there. It was good to see that the judges liked my horse that much. It'll help in making the decision about nationals.

Once I got my horse back to the stalls I began looking him over carefully, looking for some reason for him to brace at the poll. I ran my hand over his back and checked him on both sides. It was on his right side that I found the culprit.

The horse had a hard knot right at his coupling. It was as big as a grapefruit and hot to boot. No wonder the horse didn't want to roll over. He was hurting.

The only reason I could think of to cause this was the new work we'd been doing with that right shoulder. The horse was finally moving correctly and the muscles were sore from being used differently. I guess I should have seen this coming but I hadn't. Legs has rarely responded that dramatically to a change at home. Yet, thinking about it, he doesn't get worked nearly as hard at home as he does at a horse show. It had just been too much too soon.

To get my horse some relief, I began looking for Marc DePaolo. He is the "resident" chiropractor/acupuncturist at the Region 4 All Arabian Championships. I thought he would be just the guy to help with what was ailing my horse.

When I reached Marc he was already on his way home. He'd see Legs first thing in the morning. Since my next ride wasn't until the afternoon session, the treatment should be soon enough to give my horse some relief.

Friday morning is the usual time the whole group from the barn goes off to the pancake house for breakfast together. By the time things were wrapped up at the barn and they were ready to leave, Marc still hadn't arrived. I'd heard from the chiropractor and expected him anytime so I passed on the barn tradition to get treatment for my horse. I have to admit as I watched them pull away, it was hard to be left behind. Still as I waited there by myself I knew I'd done the right thing. Legs needed some help if I expected him to go another class.

When Marc did arrive he went straight to work. He found the source of the soreness was indeed in Legs' right shoulder. The effect had trickled all the way down to his hip and upwards into his neck. Pretty much everything was on the right side. He did some adjustments and then an injection at the site of the knot in his hip. With each step in the process my horse got more and more relaxed. It was a relief just to see his response to the treatment. Maybe we'd have a shot at a good ride after all.

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

Amateur Owner Warm-Up



Visit Blog Village and vote daily for this blog Here They are now measuring the rankings by the number of votes out, so if you find my blog on the site, please click that link too to improve my rankings. TY

The Region 4 Championships......Select Rider

I was relieved to hear from the owner of the red stallion that at least that horse would only be in one of my regional championship classes. Without the stress or interference of that horse, my horse should be able to focus on his job and give me the kind of ride I'd been having at home.....at least that would be my hope.

I knew we still had issues as far as trolls living in the ring but I'd had the opportunity to school on that issue throughout the winter. Schooling at the horse show was going well EXCEPT when the red stallion was anywhere in proximity.

The fact the class the red stallion would ride was the Sweepstakes money class bothered me some. That class is my measure of how competitive my horse really is. When we can place in that division I will know we've accomplished something. I didn't really want to be going on to Nationals if I wasn't competitive in the adult amateur owner to ride, yet with this thing with the red horse, would it be a true measure. That was now the question facing me.

As you can imagine by now the stress level for me has hit an all time high. I not only had this darn red horse to worry about. There was the ever unpredictable Rhet not to mention four horses in my care. Added to the tension was the issue with my daughter. It seemed to be over something so small, I had no ideal seemed to be walking on eggshells no matter which way I turned.

Carrying a lot of stress is not the best way to be showing a horse. Tension in the body relates to stiffness in the horse........or at least that's been my experience. It was getting harder and harder to climb aboard my horse and put everything aside.

My first ride in the actual Region 4 All Arabian Championships was the select rider class. I've been schooling my horse in a contraption that Richard calls an aperture. Then just before the class, I pull the thing off and ride directly off the romels.

Most of the time I have the exact same horse in the aperture as I do the romel but not on this day. As soon as I pulled the schooling reins, my horse raised up and braced against the bit. There wasn't the tension in his body that had been there when the red stallion was around but he was definitely stiffening at the pole. I wouldn't be riding this class with a soft round horse either.

We went through the gate with my horse nice and slow but braced ever so slightly at the poll. Every time I tried to push him up under himself, I got a bit of resistance. Instead of being able to just wiggle my legs and maybe jiggle a rein at him, I had to actually pick up on the bit.

Even with that the horse was a little slow in his response. He'd hit the pressure of that bit and push a little before he rolled on into it. This was definitely not the soft responsive horse I am used to riding.

Normally when I've ridden the select rider class, my horse may not be rock solid but he's always soft in his responses. Even when I have to pick him up a lot to keep him round, we do well because I'm right on top of the corrections and he gives them to me willingly. It was my guess this new issue would probably sit differently with the judges.

The ride was uneventful, thank goodness. There were no spooks, no problems with rating, just this ever so slight bracing at the poll. Transitions up and down were decent. It was all there except for a relaxed poll. By the time we lined up I was thinking we'd be darn lucky to get in the top five.

It was really frustrating. Mostly because I wanted to know "Why." What was causing this reaction in my horse. It seems like every time I think I have things worked out something else happens. I'd have to wait until getting back to my stalls to get to the bottom of things.

I waited impatiently for the results of the class. I just wanted to get on back to the stalls and strip my horse down to examine him. When they had finally verified our numbers and released us from the ring, I was ready to do just that but Richard called out my name and pointed to the burgundy ribbons.

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

Select Rider Part 2



Visit Blog Village and vote daily for this blog Here They are now measuring the rankings by the number of votes out, so if you find my blog on the site, please click that link too to improve my rankings. TY

The Region 4 Championships......The Talk

During one of our trips up to the arena for classes, I spotted the rider of the red stallion coming in my direction. The class was just getting over so I didn't have that for an excuse. I'd play this up coming conversation over in my head about as many times as was useful. There really wasn't any reason to put it off other than my own uncomfortableness so I decided to bite the bullet.

I told the others in my barn where I was going before I left the group. Then I took a deep breath and headed toward the woman now leaning against the railing of the upper teir of seats. From the way my heart was pounding you'd have thought I was confronting some big bad dude instead of the small elderly woman now standing in front of me.

She looked up as I approached. I asked her if we could talk for a moment and she responded "Sure." I could see the curious look on her face but there was no discomfort there.....more signs I suppose she had no clue why I would want to speak with her.

I began, "Ever since the AHACO show where your stallion ran into mine" and she quickly cut me off informing me "Oh no, my horse has NEVER run into any horse in the ring." My mind quickly raced, how could she not know she'd hit my horse. And yet, I had been prepared for this to happen. I quickly shifted gears and proceeded.

" You are riding the chestnut stallion, horse number XXX, is that correct?" to which she answered, "Yes."

"Well, there is an obvious problem between you stallion and mine. Every time your horse comes near my horse, he puffs up and gets stronger. My horse reacts as well getting nervous and speeding up.

Over the last several classes things have been escalating. Observers on the rail have noted your horse has actually moved towards my horse as if reaching for him and he has begun to speak. Because of this behavior I am really worried about our safety, yours and mine and those of others in the ring. The last thing we need is something bad happening during a class.

I have been trying to keep my distance from you and your horse. However, since you have not been aware of the problem between the two horses, my efforts have not been all that successful. I was really hoping that you could watch out for me like I have been watching out for you. If the two of us can keep our horses at opposite ends of the arena, maybe we will be able to both have better rides."

In the course of this conversation, I also mentioned I thought it was two regional classes we would be riding in together. It was then she told me that she was only riding in one. That would be the amateur owner to ride class, the one most important to me.

When I finished my request, the woman responded, "I can do that." Then she proceeded to tell me how she'd been training horses for forty years. I didn't want to get into that discussion for fear of alienating her so I just nodded my head and responded, "I'm glad we had this talk." and I walked away hoping it would make some kind of difference.

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

Select Rider

Visit Blog Village and vote daily for this blog Here They are now measuring the rankings by votes out, so if you find my blog on the site, please click that link too to improve my rankings. TY

The Region 4 Championships......Moving Along

With all of the people I talked to about this situation, over half of them asked me what the rider of the horse had to say. I had to admit, I really didn't know. I suspected that she was oblivious. I knew the horse went through her leg regularly but didn't know if she knew why, or it was a common occurrence for her.

As I began to really think about how bad this all could get, I began to think about what kind of long term effect it would have on my dream. There just didn't seem to be much hope it would be intact if my stallion was attacked in the ring. With the struggles I've had over the last year because of a dropped cell phone, I could only imagine the damage done to a horse's psyche shattered in this way. And my horse would not be the only one traumatized if this happened in a class. My guess was any horses in the near proximity would be equally scarred and maybe even more than that, depending on how bad things got.

I felt totally helpless at the mercy of others to keep me safe. I'm not really one to sit by and wait for things to happen. It's more my style to be proactive but in this case I was having trouble figuring out what more I could do so I found myself thinking about what I would do IF it happened. Not just in the ring, but in the aftermath. How would I respond if this red stallion obliterated my dreams? Would there be recourse available to me?

I couldn't help but think about the equine disclaimer that is posted at just about every equine facility I know. "Due to the inherent risk of equine activities, an equine activity sponsor or an equine professional shall not be liable for an injury to or the death of a participant engaged in an equine activity......." I can tell you I've never considered my current jeopardy as a possibility while participating in activities with my horse. I couldn't help but wonder if this instance might just not fall outside the scope of these laws. Surely, owners, riders, and officials must have some responsibility to keep others around them safe against such danger.

The more I thought about this, the more I thought I really should talk to the owner of the red horse. If she truly was oblivious to the fact there was a problem, could she be held responsible for the actions of her horse? And maybe, just maybe, if she didn't get it, if I talked with her, she might just be able to contribute something in the defense tactics for our class.

The USEF steward had told me not to talk to the owner but the more I thought about it, that just didn't seem right. While I'm not big on confrontation, it sure seemed to me that the rider of the horse needed to be included in some of this discussion . I decided to talk to the show manager to see what he thought.

When I approached Russ Harris with my thoughts, he actually agreed with me. He thought it could be helpful to talk with the rider of the red stallion. He said the way I presented the situation might just be something the other rider could hear. If not, and she reacted negatively I was to walk away immediately. Then I should let him know and he would speak with her himself.

I felt a little bit better having something to do in this process. BUT the thought of actually talking to the woman about this whole mess actually made my stomach do flips. I've never been fond of confrontations and I didn't want this to turn into another mess. I wanted this woman to be on the same page with me..........interested in keeping all of us safe. I spent some time thinking about just "How" I was going to present this to her.

In the meantime the show was still going on around us. All of the kids at the barn who needed points got qualified. Our class schedule was beginning to look like it's own little version of a zoo gone wild. Keeping up with who was where when was a good diversion.

Also, there was Rhet to deal with. He needed to be schooled by Cheryl Fletcher for his halter class. That schooling needed to be worked in between her show schedule and ours which was not going to be easy.
Cheryl had come back to see him that second day of the show. He was testing the stall guard still trying to escape and really not wanting to be caught in the stall. I had to chase him around to catch him. Then wrestle with him to get the halter on his face. Cheryl was getting a good look at all of his little idiosyncrasies. The good thing was even after all of that she liked him.

Cheryl set up a tentative time for schooling the next day. When the time came and went I called her on her cell phone just to check in. Then I found myself hanging around just waiting, afraid if I left she'd want to school Rhet and no one was going to be able to catch him but me. Also, I was the one with the schooling halter and whip.

This scenario played over several time throughout the week but then I had expected that it would. Guessing what time classes are going to run is almost as bad as trying to pick winning lottery numbers. I think we got much closer with our times though, than I have ever gotten picking even one number on the lottery.

By the second time Cheryl came back to the stalls to school Rhet, she found him standing quietly (for him) in his stall with the stall guard down. The colt had finally settled in and was no longer threatening to jump over the door. Although he still was trying to sneak OUT the door whenever it opened.

The schooling sessions didn't last long with the very first one being the longest. When Cheryl stood in front of Rhet he just looked at her like "Who the heck do you think YOU are?" It didn't take Cheryl long to convince him, Cheryl was SURE who she was AND she was sure who Rhet should be. He's a smart colt. He didn't test her anymore. At least that part was going good.

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

The Talk

Visit Blog Village and vote daily for this blog with this link They are now measuring the rankings by votes out, so if you find my blog on the site, please click that link too to improve my rankings. TY

The Region 4 Championships......Pre-Show Day Two Part 2

After my horses were done in the morning session, I sought out the USEF steward, Marcia Mealey, and the show manager, Russ Harris. I have known both of these people almost from the start of my show career, Marsha as an exhibitor mostly and Russ as a show manager. In fact Russ was the show manager during my Ghosts of Horses Past experience.I felt pretty comfortable that both of these people were approachable on the matter of the red stallion stalking Legs.

I probably should mention that before I spoke to either of these people I had actually ridden two classes at this horse show with the red stallion. The second class had gone something like the first. Legs had been fine in the warm-up. Only when we lined up to go into the ring did the horse begin to get "hot." Each time we got anywhere near the red stallion, my horse got stronger. AND the red horse had actually mumbled at Legs as he went by.

Knowing the red stallion was now actually talking to my horse indicated to me that things were clearly escalating. I've spent enough time handling stallions to know hearing what they have on their mind is just NOT a good thing. If this horse was now talking, I didn't want my horse anywhere near him. Most likely the next thing on his mind was going to be jumping on my horse.

When I spoke with Marsha she seemed a little flustered. I could tell she'd never had to deal with a situation like this. We talked some about the issues of maintaining a level playing field and what things that meant we couldn't do. She was going to speak with another USEF steward to get her advice. She was also going to check out the next class that the red horse. In the meantime she directed me not to talk to the stallion owner.

The show manager was equally caught off guard. He manages a lot of horse shows and has never even heard of such a thing. Like me he was concerned about the safety of all in the ring. He, too, was going to observe the red horse in his next class to get an idea of what I was talking about.

The next thing I needed to deal with was finding a handler for Rhet. There was another Big Name Handler at the show but he and I have history.....not good history. Many years ago I got a letter from this man threatening to sue me for something I had not done.......but he'd heard it through the grapevine so it must be true. The whole issue has never been resolved. I was pretty darn sure this guy would/will never lead a horse for me.

My friend, Wendy, is friends with this man. She thought if she asked him, it would change things. But hate is a funny thing and it doesn't make way for friendships, no matter how long or how loyal. I went along with Wendy's plan so she could see how deep the problem was. She spoke with the handler and he told her he'd look at my horse.........and I guess you could say he did. He glanced other the stall guard and said, "Nope! I want to win!" as he turned his heel and walked off.

With that out of the way, I called my trainer friend, Eric Krichten. He suggested that I ask Cheryl Fletcher from Silver Aspen Ranch. I have always known Cheryl as a trainer of performance horses although I have seen her show a couple of halter horses. She and Eric were an item for a really long time and I knew he'd worked with her some on halter. I really wasn't sure what to think about having her for a halter handler for my colt. But then, I trust Eric.

Eric has only steered my wrong once and I doubt that was really his fault. He thought he was really helping me........but then that's a story for another day. So I decided to find Cheryl to see if she was interested in showing Rhet. She didn't even look at the colt when she told me she would. She was unable to school him for a day or two but she would come by to see him later that day.At least I could quit worrying about Rhet's handler for a bit.

I went back to the stalls to find Louie (Scandalous Image) having a meltdown. He'd gotten through his morning class with everything we'd thrown at him but now he didn't want to go back into his stall. The poor boy acted like something was after him in there. He was fighting to get out.

I went in to try and calm him to no avail. Poor Louie was having none of it. He wanted out of that stall and that was all there was to it. He even nipped at me clearly saying "Come on, Mom, save me!" and save him I did.

We pulled the horse back out of the stall and actually saddled him back up. Jessica would take him out around the fairgrounds to let him see what was going on around him. The plan was she would longe him first to let him settle a bit, then she would ride him around until he looked like he was over "it" whatever "it" was.

In the meantime horse show was going on around us. Most of the kids at the barn had classes to see if they could garner enough points to show in the regional championships. A couple of the adults had classes as well for pretty much the same reason. It was a hectic time back at our stalls.

After what I happened with Dandy and Louie not being prepared properly to show, I decided it was time to break out another white board. We listed the names of all of the horses cross referenced with the days of the show. Then each day was marked with what needed to be done with that horse for the day. This should help take some of the stress off of Richard. The kids could all check the board to see what was expected of them. Richard and Angie could check the board to see what still needed to be done. Hopefully no more horses would fall through the cracks.

Sometime later in the day, I saw both the show manager and the USEF steward. Both had watched the red stallion in his next class. All of the other horses, except one, had stayed far, far away from the red horse. Both officials assumed it was the rider of the red stallion keeping the horse away from other horses but not me. I knew all of the other riders had been instructed by their trainers to stay away from the red horse.

However, they did have a plan. Both the show manager and the steward were going to stay on the rail throughout the two classes I thought I shared with the red horse. The ring steward was apprised of the situation. It was his job to be sure the red horse behaved appropriately. If he saw any signs of stud like behavior, he was to inform the judge. Hopefully that would keep things from escalating out of control.

Even after the plan was devised, I seemed to still be gathering information on the red stallion. One night in the restroom, I had a conversation with someone who had seen the initial wreck. According to her the red stallion hadn't accidentally bumped into Legs but had actually been coming after him at that time.

Melanie from our barn had been right behind me when this had happened so I asked her again what she had seen. She pretty much verified what the other woman had said. From her vantage point it looked like the red horse had gone sideways like that to get to Legs.

I have to admit I still don't quite understand how that horse hit us that day. All I know is he hit us hard............so hard I felt the concussion underneath me before my horse jumped. I know there was but a split second in there but I definitely felt the difference between the impact and my horse's response. It has bugged me from the day it happened.........and to be truthful it still bugs me...........mostly because I just don't understand how he managed to get to us. I was looking where we were heading not where this horse was coming from. Because I don't know, I guess I feel more vulnerable to him "getting us" again.

So the questions went on with people who had seen the red stallion anywhere near my horse. It surprised me how many people actually believed this horse was coming after Legs. It just seemed so implausible to me, my denial didn't want to let go but it was getting harder and harder to not be frightened. I began to think about what really could happen if this horse got out of control. What would happen to my horse? What would happen to me? What do you do if your horse is attacked by a stallion when you are riding it? Do you fight back........or will that make it worse? The very thought made my stomach turn. Again, I thought about going home.

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

Moving Along

Visit Blog Village and vote daily for this blog Here They are now measuring the rankings by votes out, so if you find my blog on the site, please click that link too to improve my rankings. TY

The Region 4 Championships......Pre-Show Day Two

Later that night I ran into Ingrid Bentzen in the restroom. Ingrid is a licensed USEF steward so I talked to her about the situation with the red horse. If anyone would know what kind of protocol I should follow to get help to assure my safety in the ring, it was Ingrid.

Fortunately, Ingrid already knew about the red stallion and she had seen a couple of his rides making her aware of some of his behaviors in the ring. With many amateur riders in her barn, the trainer had been briefing them to stay away from that red horse both on the rail and in the line-up. With the added information about his particular behavior in regards to Legs, Ingrid instructed me to speak both with the show's USEF steward and the show manager.

The person responsible for each rider's safety in the ring is the judge. In the case of the regional classes it would be the call judge's responsibility. The problem in this situation was by the time the judge would know there was the kind of issue we had here, it would probably be too late to protect anyone. The judge would be watching how the horses would performing NOT on the look out for inappropriate stallion behavior. Whatever plan the show officials came up with would have to keep the judges in the dark in order for the adjudication to be fair to all exhibitors, even the woman riding the chestnut horse.

First thing the next morning, I was distracted again. Louie didn't make it into the ring to school before the morning session. While that might be OK with a seasoned show horse like Dandy it wasn't a good thing for the first class ever at a horse show by a young green horse like Louie.

Not only that but neither Dandy nor Louie had been show clipped. Their classes were close together and only about midpoint through the session. The heat was on to get both Dandy and Louie braided and clipped before it was time to send them into the ring.

Poor Louie didn't know what hit him. The horse had two people working on braiding with another two working on the clipping. He was surrounded by frantic people trying to get him ready in time for his class. The horse tolerated it pretty well but it had to affect him. The tension in the air was so thick you could have cut it with a knife.

I have never been good at getting horses ready in a relaxed manner. It is my biggest stressor at a horse show. I'm fine with the actual showing but I have this fear about not making my class. This morning's situation had me pinging off the walls..........it wasn't just one horse of mine, but two that were in jeopardy of missing their classes.

In the process of trying to engineer getting everything done, my daughter and I ended up butting heads. I was looking for particular hands to help and they had gone for coffee. The day before getting coffee had taken these same people an hour and forty-five minutes. I didn't want to count on their return to get the help I needed. My daughter on the other hand thought it wouldn't be a problem. Me not being willing to trust that seemed unreasonable to her and the next thing you know she was yelling at me like I was one of her children. I'm sure you can imagine that didn't set well with me.

Conflict is one of those things that I avoid. I hate it. Having things escalate as they had only added to the tensions for me. I already have enough unfinished business between my daughter and me. I sure didn't need anymore piling up. It was looking more and more like home was where I really wanted to be.

We did manage to get both Louie and Dandy into the ring. Nana hadn't gotten a lesson on Dandy before she had to show her first class and it was an equitation class, not her strongest suit. Despite that she did manage to earn the points she needed to show in the regional championship class.

Louie was not show clipped but he did get his muzzle and bridle path done. Richard also managed to get the feathers from off his fetlocks while Rachel did a quicky job on his ears. Poor Louie, I still can't believe all the things we threw at that poor horse.

Louie trotted into the ring like a star. He did have a few issues being unsteady in the bridle. But considering his lack of schooling in the arena before the session, it made sense he might be concerned about some things out there.

I think that Cody was rattled by all the stress getting he and the horse ready as well. It was not his best job of riding the horse either. I'm sure the kid's stress filtered down to the horse. Louie didn't earn the points he needed to qualify for the regional championships but he looked amazing for a horse with so little actual ride time.

The interesting thing about this class was the reaction of the people on the rail. It didn't take long before they were talking about the bay horse with less than ninety days under saddle. Richard was pummeled with questions and handed out a fistful of business cards. Louie may not have earned enough points to show another class but we had three parties interested in making appointments to come to the barn to visit. The question was would any of those actually happen.

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

Pre-Show Day Two cont.

Visit Blog Village and vote daily for this blog Here They are now measuring the rankings by votes out, so if you find my blog on the site, please click that link too to improve my rankings. TY

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

Making my way back to the stall, my mind raced with the possibilities. Could it really be this red stallion was after my horse? It just didn't make sense to me. I'd never heard of such a thing at a horse show before. It was going to take more information for me to figure this out and what I should do.

At the same time I had horses to show. Remember four of them had come with me to Salem for this horse show. Dandy and Louie both had classes in the morning session and there was still lots to do to get them ready. There was also Rhet's handler to track down so schooling for the colt's class later in the week could begin.

As I tried to keep focused on the tasks at hand I also found myself searching for information trying to make sense of this situation with the red horse. Each person I came across who had witnessed anything to do with the red stallion I asked questions, lots of questions. Slowly a picture began to emerge of a rider unaware and a horse with an agenda.

Included in these witnesses was Jay Goss, the show photographer. It was actually when talking to him that things finally began to make sense. I told him about the previous incidents. He's the one that put them together. It looked to Jay like this red stallion was carrying a grudge against my horse. For the first time, it made sense. Something about the instinct of horses that explained this whole thing.

Unfortunately such behavior in stallions is not fleeting. Once a stallion decides another stallion is his enemy, that will never change. Any time the horses are in close proximity the stallion will be driven by his agenda. In the wild such a stallion would drive the other stallion off or kill him. The question was how would this behavior exhibit itself in the show ring. The only thing that was certain, things were escalating. I needed to do something to be sure my horse and I were protected in the ring.

On the same trip up to the arena where I'd spoken to Jay Goss, I also finally picked up a show program. Rhet's breeder had been bugging e about the number of horses entered in his class. Imagine my surprise when I found my handler, Terry Holmes, was listed showing two colts in that class.

My focus immediately changed to this new problem. I knew looking at the name of the other owner that I was going to be the one without a handler. They were long time clients and there was no way an unknown breeder like me was going to get the priority. I sure didn't have the money to get involved in some kind of bidding war for services even if it should come to that.

I'd tried calling the handler earlier in the week. He had not returned my calls. Now I was thinking I knew why. Instead of trying to call him again, I had Richard make the call.

Richard made two calls before he ever got a response. The first one he just left his name and number telling him he was calling for a client. In the second message he used Angie's name as well. Terry Holmes called back almost immediately after that one. Angie's name carries weight in lots of circles and Mr Holmes had been the one to show Midnite Eclipse to his wins in the open division.

Unfortunately, my assumptions were true. Terry Holmes was not going to lead my colt in the colt's class. Not only that he had no memory of ever talking to me. I guess next time I hear sounds like a bar in the background, I'll pay closer attention. Whatever the reason for his lapse in memory, I now found myself without a handler for Rhet's class.

The way things were shaping up, I was thinking about going home. I sure didn't want to be riding in a class to have my stallion attacked by another stallion. Nor did I want to be leading a colt like Rhet into a class where whose on the end of the lead can affect the outcome. It was looking to me like this regional championship wasn't meant for me..........

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

Pre-Show Day Two

Visit Blog Village and vote daily for this blog Here They are now measuring the rankings by votes out, so if you find my blog on the site, please click that link too to improve my rankings. TY

The Region 4 Championships......Pre-Show Select Rider The Aftermath

Upon exiting the ring I was looking for Richard. I wanted to know what he'd seen that had caused him to warn me. All I knew was that red stallion had been coming up behind me. It would take more information for me to understand why things kept happening when I rode classes with this horse.

If you've ever been at a horse show, you know the horses exiting the arena usually bunch up just outside the gate. There are lots of different reasons the riders and horses do this. Some are talking with their trainers. Others getting their horses tails put up. While still others might be just letting down for a brief moment before moving on.

Me, I'm usually just waiting for the others to move so I can head back to the stalls. It's not often I come out of the gate looking for anyone. All I want is to get my horse put away and out of those clothes.

But this time was different. I wanted details from anyone who had them. I wanted to know what happened in that ring that I hadn't seen. I wanted answers.

One thing about showing with the crew from Richard's is they tend to be very supportive. If they're at the show and don't have a class, they're at the arena on the rail for the classes of others in the barn. After the class they move to the out gate to greet the horse and rider. Luckily for me that meant there were others I could ask about what they'd seen.I wasn't prepared for the answers I got.

It seems that the red stallion had been positioned farther down the arena when we were asked to lope after the time out. That rider asked her horse to lope immediately while I had waited for the horses in front of me to move off. That gave the stallion the opportunity to catch up with Legs and that's exactly what he did. When Richard cried out my name, the red stallion had closed the distance between us and was making an attempt to reach out to grab Legs by the tail. Richard's observation of the horse's intent and his quick response had saved both Legs and I from a really bad situation..........being attacked by the red horse.

With this information my mind raced back to the words "that red horse is following Legs." I'd heard that statement like it was a joke after a couple of classes. Yet it had really been something serious. Now that I was open to the information more pieces began to fall into place. My mind still reeled with the information trying to make some sense of it. What in the heck was this all about? Was my horse being stalked in the ring by another stallion? And if he was, what did it mean and how was I going to deal with it?

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

The Aftermath part 2

Visit Blog Village and vote daily for this blog Here They are now measuring the rankings by votes out, so if you find my blog on the site, please click that link too to improve my rankings. TY

Pet Peeves at the Region 5 All Arabian Horse Championships

Having just returned from the Region 5 All Arabian Horse Championships, I thought I'd be writing posts about the happenings at one regional show or the other. Instead I find myself filled stuck on my pet peeves of the previous week.

I am so tired of all of the "I can't"s and the "politics" excuses for lack of success in the show ring and the industry. I know I've ranted on this subject before but blaming the industry for one's lack of success is not only futile but destructive to the industry as well.

I can't even tell you how many times in three days I heard people complain their ride was perfect but the didn't do better because of politics. While that may have been their perspective, it certainly wasn't mine.

Watching classes with the same critical eye that I ride my own, I saw plenty of flawed rides and very few amazing ones. Because the imperfect ones were so prevalent those amazing ones jumped right out and pretty much grabbed everyone around.

I saw an amateur rider who trains her own horse WIN the open show hack class. And YES there were other horses in the class.........plenty of them.
The amateur's horse was a beautiful free moving wonder. No other horse in the class came close to that picture of grace and harmony we all strive for yet many never attain. It was amazing to watch.You can bet this woman put her time in and examined each and every one of her rides to attain such a milestone with her horse.

According to many a feat such as this just could never happen in the Arabian industry. Yet it did. The amateur with no political connections beat all of the seasoned, politically connected trainers out there.........and beat them soundly.

This is NOT the first time, nor will it be the last, I have seen such a thing happen. Yet I heard all of those complaints about political judges and "I can't compete with that" excuses. Which is exactly what they are, excuses for not achieving.

Instead of taking responsibility for one's own short comings, placing the blame on others.......and in this case, the industry. It's a wonder that anyone participates at all with all of the negative crap that flies around at some shows.

That's not my only pet peeve from this horse show. The second one was equally as frustrating. Why can we, humans, not give others the room to live life on their own terms instead of ours? What makes us think we know more about what is better for someone than they do?

The whole concept of believing that we some how understand life better than the other guy is indeed a fatal flaw of mankind. It rears its ugly head and wallops many a relationship right smack up against the head blowing it all to bits.

In terms more specific to me there is nothing more infuriating than others deciding how many horses I should own. Granted I have a real herd. I have always dreamed of owning a herd of Arabian horses like this and I couldn't be happier. What makes them think it is any of their business how many I own or if I am breeding or selling horses?

What matters is how I am caring for those horses and that I am making responsible breeding decisions. I'm pretty sure the same people don't go up to a Harold or Dolly Orr or a Roger Lervick and ask them such questions. So what makes them think they have the right to do so with me? If you figure it out, let me know. In the meantime, I think I'll work on my breeding plan for next year.

I don't know if it was the moon, something in the food at the exhibitor's party or the heat but this horse show seemed to have more than it's fair share of naysayers. I'm really glad to be home so I can get back to the business of pursuing this dream of mine.



Visit Blog Village and vote daily for this blog Here They are now measuring the rankings by the number of votes out, so if you find my blog on the site, please click that link too to improve my rankings. TY

Off to the Region 5 All Arabian Horse Championships

I'm just about ready to depart for the Region 5 All Arabian Horse Championships at the Evergreen State Fairgrounds in Monroe, WA. The planning for this trip has been such an on again off again kind of deal that I can't even believe it's real. If it's not, I imagine I'll wake up some time today and be home before this ever gets posted.

It seems really odd to be going off to a horse show without my Arabian stallion, Scandalous Legacy. He is such a big part of my life and I have worked so hard to finally get the horse moving correctly leaving him behind is hard. However, with the entries for one single class for Rhet costing $335, there's just no way I can take Legs too.

After taking four horses to the last horse show, only showing one will probably feel like a big relief. Yet part of me will be sad that Legs is still home instead out showing off his stuff. I'll be thinking about the rides I would have had given the opportunity.........but the plans are for the All Arabian Horse National Championship Show in Tulsa, OK. I'll have to console myself with that thought. In the meantime my focus will be on Rhet and giving him the time he deserves so he puts on a great show and brings home a big prize. Secret Envy strikes me as the kind of Arabian horse that would love to wear roses around his neck.

The picture above is Angie on Midnite Eclipse and Karen Jensen on Flame Danzr D. Both garnered top five honors in the amateur owner to ride hunter pleasure division at the Region 4 Championships.




Visit Blog Village and vote daily for this blog Here They are now measuring the rankings by the number of votes out, so if you find my blog on the site, please click that link too to improve my rankings. TY

Wordless Wednesday

Visit Blog Village and vote daily for this blog Here They are now measuring the rankings by the number of votes out, so if you find my blog on the site, please click that link too to improve my rankings. TY

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



Visit Blog Village and vote daily for this blog Here They are now measuring the rankings by the number of votes out, so if you find my blog on the site, please click that link too to improve my rankings. TY

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

Just a couple of days before we'd left for the Region 4 All Arabian Horse Championships Richard and I had yet another discussion about my horse and his lope. Richard was telling me how awesome the horse looked while I was complaining about how bad the horse felt traveling to the left.

We'd had this discussion before but for some reason this time Richard began to see what I'd been trying to tell him all along. Although the horse looked like he was travelling square, there was no way he could be. Everything I felt was telling me otherwise. The horse was dropping his outside shoulder instead of truly engaging.

The very next day Richard put Legs into the long lines for the sole purpose of getting to the root of the problem. He ran the lines in a special modification to leave the horse only one way to go.......and that was square between the lines.

To Richard's consternation the horse just stood there with his nose on his left shoulder......stuck..........! The horse had no idea he could move underneath himself in this manner. Richard applied pressure to make the horse move but he still just stood there, unable to move. If he couldn't drop out through the outside shoulder, he just couldn't move into the bridle at all.
It was a long session but the horse finally began moving into the bridle. Richard changed his position in and out of square to open the horse up to move at all. Eventually Legs began to get it and began his first true square strides into that bridle. This was only the first step in this fix.

It's not unusual to make this kind of change in how a horse is going only to find the horse now can't do something else. In this case I suddenly found myself with a horse now picking up the incorrect lead when travelling to the left. If I didn't set him up to get the correct lead just like a baby horse , the odds were Legs was going to get it wrong. I hadn't had to deal with this in who knows how long. I was going to have to "remind" myself to ride this new ride.

In the warm-up arena before my first class I was presented with another issue as well. That chestnut stallion that had run into Legs was also warming up for this class. I was going to have to keep a watch out for him as well as remember to take my time and carefully set my horse up for his left lead. It sounded simple enough.........

My horse had been fairly relaxed in the warm-up. Not as relaxed as he'd been when I'd schooled at the break, but relaxed enough I thought we were ok. It wasn't until we lined up to enter the arena I found myself with a horse on the muscle. Legs wanted to enter the arena jogging at the rate he'd been jogging last year.

It took me part way down the first wall to bring the horse back to me. I just couldn't understand what had changed. Legs had rarely shown any signs of heating up going into a class. Something was bugging him that was for sure but he was trying his best to give me what I asked although, once again, I found myself riding with a rein much shorter than I'd been schooling with at home.

With the shorter rein my horse looked more like it was me choking up, than it was him being strong. He has a way that he goes that looks incredibly soft even when it isn't. Since this was the select rider division, I figured my ride would be competitive as long as nothing weird happened.

I guess I should know better than to even allow myself to think such things. While the jog stayed nice, slow and ever, then it was time to lope, I took my time setting the horse up and he loped off correctly but then almost immediately behind me I heard thundering hooves. A horse galloped by me out of control so I sat down hard bringing my horse to a "whoa."

Almost immediately a timeout was called. The other horses in the class stopped as well waiting for the resolution of this issue. In all honesty I didn't really see how that horse was stopped. I just know that it was and the rider asked to be excused. Then the class would be resumed and we'd probably be asked to lope once again............

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

Select Rider Part 2



Visit Blog Village and vote daily for this blog Here They are now measuring the rankings by the number of votes out, so if you find my blog on the site, please click that link too to improve my rankings. TY

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



Visit Blog Village and vote daily for this blog Here They are now measuring the rankings by the number of votes out, so if you find my blog on the site, please click that link too to improve my rankings. TY

The Region 4 Championships......Moving In

Sometimes it seems that life is stranger than fiction. That's pretty much how it felt at the Region 4 All Arabian Horse Show in Salem Oregon. From one day to the next, I didn't know what was going to happen next.

It started off with the first day we arrived. Our stalls were located in the old race horse barns on the far end of the facility........right exactly where we wanted to be. The next to last row of barns right next to the restrooms.

The barns are typical of their era. They are constructed of cinder blocks with dutch doors. I've always thought it was nice the horses could hang their heads out and see what was happening around them. That is until Rhet.

Right from the start the colt was NOT happy. Being in a strange place wasn't his idea of fun and those half doors.........well they seemed perfect for jumping. Considering that he had easily jumped out of the palpation chute at the vets just a couple of days before, I wasn't taking his threats lightly.

I started off by closing the top door thinking if he had a while to adjust to the new surroundings he'd settle down. So while we unloaded all our gear and set the tack rooms up, Rhet could be heard screaming his displeasure at being locked in this cinder block stall.

Every now and then I opened the door to give the colt a chance to redeem himself but Rhet was having none of it. He was not a happy horse and he had no plans of staying in that stall so I closed the upper door again thinking the colt would eventually get it figured out and settle.

In addition to getting moved in, I needed to make a trip to the tack store. We'd finally gotten around to trying a hunt saddle on Louie only to find we didn't have a girth small enough for the young Arabian horse.

The tack store wasn't going to be open the next two days and Louie had a class on Monday. That meant despite the work to be done at the stalls, I had to leave and get Louie a girth.

Melanie drove me since my truck was still fully loaded, not to mentioned hitched to my trailer. She had forgotten her boots and needed them for her classes as well. It was kind of funny the two of us setting off together since both of us seem to be geographically challenged. We did manage to find the tack store ok though. Then we rushed back to help finish with the set-up.

The first thing I did was check on Rhet's status in his stall. The horse just about knocked me down as I opened up that top door. It was pretty clear that closing him totally in was not going to be the solution to this problem.
Melanie and I loaded up again and headed back to the tack store for a stall guard. Hopefully the additional height provided by adding the stall guard over the top of the lower door would keep the colt in. Hopefully he wouldn't be silly and do something like rearing and get his feet stuck in the guard but the way things were going I didn't really know what to expect.

When we returned with the stall guard and the six eight bolts it took to install it, I put a halter on the colt and held him while the stall guard was installed. Once it was in place, I turned Rhet loose. Then stood back to see what the colt would do.

The stall guard was adjustable and we'd tightened it up so it hung snugly across the opening. I don't think it took Rhet more than a half hour or so to figure out he could throw his weight into that stall guard and cause the guard to loosen. The sagging stall guard provided Rhet with a low spot in the middle not much above that lower door. Readjusting the guard was only good for about five minutes once Rhet had figured out what it took to loosen it.

Thankfully, the humans were one step ahead of the horse. The next diversionary tactic was taken by my son-in-law, Ray. He took a piece of baling twine and tied the two buckles snugly in place. Then when the horse leaned on it, the stall guard no longer gave.

Unfortunately, Rhet was not to be out done by any humans. Within a couple of hours the horse had figured out how to untie the baling twine. The first one, I thought was an accident and I retied it. Within about fifteen minutes the horse not only untied the knot on the top set of buckles but he had moved down to the second set as well. Rhet was hell bent on escape.

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

Part 2



Visit Blog Village and vote daily for this blog Here They are now measuring the rankings by the number of votes out, so if you find my blog on the site, please click that link too to improve my rankings. TY

Details on Conditioning

Before I go onto regionals, I got questions about the conditioning process including the diet. I thought I'd answer those right now so they don't get lost in the shuffle because I can sure do a lot of shuffling here sometimes. Seems like I'm always trying to catch up on something.

We started off working the youngsters in a small round pen. As they got used to the process of lunging we gradually increased the size of that round pen. Currently I'm working them in a sixty foot in diameter round pen.

We work five minutes at the trot and the canter, both ways of the pen. That's a total of twenty minutes a day. I like to start out one direction on one day and then the opposite direction the next. Since the horse tires and works less hard the last part of the workout, this change back and forth helps build a balanced horse.

It had been my intention to pony the horse up and down hills the last six weeks before the show. This would really help build up over the topline and puts a nice finish on things.

The last time I did this with a yearling, I ended up with a beautifully conditioned horse. The only problem was I had no foot I could trim. Ponying wore the hoof down and I had the blood vessels right at the surface of the sole. I wanted to do a bit of shaping for the show and didn't have the foot to do it. Shoes or protective boots would protect against this.

My farrier didn't really want to nail shoes onto either of my yearlings........not to mention that I doubt at this time we could have nailed shoes onto Rhet. The other option was to glue them on but there was no guarantee we could get the horse to stand still long enough for the glue to dry. Putting protective boots on this colt didn't sound like a project I wanted to start each morning with either, so I passed on ponying this time around.

However, the whole thought of ponying Rhet behind Dandy must bring up some wild pictures in your mine. I know it does mine! I'm sure Dandy breathed a sigh of relief when I made the decision to skip the ponying. If there is a next time, I think I'll get a muzzle for Rhet first.

Normally I feed my horses grass hay. There are studies that suggest that alfalfa feed in conjunction with well water is what causes enteroliths Since we're on well water, I try to avoid alfalfa all together. Studies also suggest that alfalfa is not an ideal feed for horses. Since most of my herd are youngsters, I try to stay away from any feed with protein content as high as alfalfa since high protein consumption is linked to many of the growth deformities seen in young horses.

Now having said that along comes Rhet who was raised on alfalfa. Getting this horse to eat enough grass to get his weight up was a joke. I tried half alfalfa and half grass but that didn't work either. Currently he is on free choice alfalfa. I would guess he's consuming three flakes a day.

In addition to that he get a half a five gallon bucket of a chopped oat grass/alfalfa mix with molasses. I'm afraid I don't know the weight of my feed scoops but I use the standard feed scoop. Rhet gets a scoop of crimped oats, a scoop of Omelene 200 and a scoop of stabilized rice bran........all mixed in together, twice a day. AND I watch his legs like a hawk for any signs of growth deformities and changes in his growth pattern.

The things Rhet wouldn't eat were grass hay, crimped oats by themselves and beet pulp. I ruled out products like Grow Colt by Farnam because I couldn't use the Omelene and the Grow Colt together because of problems with over feeding some things. Since I couldn't get Rhet to eat any feed without mixing in the Omelene I needed to stick with what worked. Also I didn't want to feed straight Omelene because I was worried about that pushing his growth. I didn't want to push it, I just wanted to keep his weight up during the growth process.

So far so good. Rhet's weight is good and his growth seems to be the same. While he's a big boy, he hasn't taken any abnormal huge spurts. He's actually growing quite evenly.

I also played around some with trying to get him off the Omelene and the chopped oat grass/alfalfa product to see if cutting out the molasses would cool him out some. The result was I had the same hot horse only he dropped weight so I went back to using both products.






Visit Blog Village and vote daily for this blog Here They are now measuring the rankings by the number of votes out, so if you find my blog on the site, please click that link too to improve my rankings. TY

I've Got a Secret...............Halter......We Hope!

To many doing halter is considered to be easier than showing performance. I've even heard comments about trainers doing halter because they can make the same money for far less work. But I'm here to tell you that getting a horse ready to show halter can be just as intensive as any performance horse can be when it comes to dealing with young horses.

Trying to condition a yearling that is growing like some noxious weed can give me fits. I've put many months of work into getting a horse ready that never hit the ring. Because they are changing so rapidly it's hard to second guess Mother Nature to get the "right" combination that turns out that fit star.

The more you feed youngsters, the bigger their bellies want to grow.......or so it seems. That is if you can even get them to consume the amount of feed it takes to put weight on them. I guess part of the reason for that is foals and even yearlings and sometimes two-year olds are more susceptible to round worms. The preferred rotation for worming may not be adequate in young stock.

I know here on my farm we worm the youngsters once a month. The foals get half a tube of the yearlings a whole tube. (The exception to this would be the wormer Quest which should absolutely always be given strictly according to weight AND NEVER NEVER to a thin horse!) But even religious worming doesn't guarantee that "hay belly" will not happen. Sometimes it really is caused by HAY!..........a lot of hay!

Rhet and Scarlet both started off with hay bellies as did the other yearling we conditioned this year. The bellies on Scarlet and Rhet responded well to the conditioning program. Within a couple of months they had nice trim tummies......but both had ribs showing. The third yearling required extra worming to finally get his tummy tucked up where it belonged.

Rhet just happens to be one of those horses that burns calories just thinking. I swear he doesn't have to do a thing to drop weight. Trying to get the horse to consume enough calories to keep up with his work and his growth was an utter nightmare. I tried every trick I could think of and more to no avail. His diet has had so many changes no one here can keep up.

Finally I resorted to stabilized rice bran. I started off slowly and built up. Rhet was getting as much rice bran a day as an endurance horse would get...........but his weight finally began to improve.

I wanted to go to the Region 4 All Arabian Championships with extra weight on him. I figured that way when he got stressed out about being in a strange, new place and dropped weight he would still be carrying enough weight to show. I didn't get to that goal but by the week before we left for the show, his weight was looking "acceptable" for the halter arena.

By the time we got the weight fixed, I figured the hard part was done. But then that last week before the horse show had it's own set of trials all connected with Rhet. I posted right before I left for the show about the situations with Rhet here. First there was My Injury followed by The Horse's Injury..........mmmm, Injuries! I figured by the time I got the horse onto the trailer and we were headed for the show the worst was behind me.

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




Visit Blog Village and vote daily for this blog Here They are now measuring the rankings by the number of votes out, so if you find my blog on the site, please click that link too to improve my rankings. TY

Wordless Wednesday

Visit Blog Village and vote daily for this blog Here They are now measuring the rankings by the numbe of votes out, so if you find my blog on the site, please click that link too to improve my rankings. TY

I've Got a Secret...............Halter

From the beginning of my time showing Arabian horses I've managed to see past accusations that politics plays a role in how classes are placed. I've found other reasons for classes turning out the way they have in the performance arena. However, when it comes to halter that's just not been the case. When all is said and done I find myself, like so many others, believing showing halter seems to be a very political proposition.

To me that meant if I was to have a high powered horse and wanted it to do well, I would need a high powered handler. So way back in November when I first got this colt I set about finding a handler who would be political enough to win with my colt, yet one I could trust.

I had no doubt that a tough handler would cause problems with this colt. There just is no way this colt could tolerate being abused without turning mean. Not that I would stand by and let someone abuse my horse but stuff happens..............and once it does you can't take it back. I needed someone I could trust to be kind and still get the job done and I needed it now.

Because so many people do believe that halter is political and takes a big name handler to win, it means those handlers get committed very early in the season. I knew if I hadn't found a handler before the Scottsdale Show in February, the odds were I would have trouble finding one at all.

The other difficult side of this coin would be I just couldn't afford, nor did I want to, send my colt out to be trained. The plan was to train and condition the horse myself and find one of the "big guns" of halter to catch lead the horse for me.

My first pick to lead my colt would have been my friend, Eric Krichten. However, since Eric has gone to work for Cedar Ridge Arabians his contract does not allow him to catch lead horses. However, I did talk to Eric to see who he might recommend.

The first name on my list was Jesse Saldana. I have watched Jesse over the years at the Region 4 All Arabian Horse Championships show many a halter horse. His horses have always looked comfortable out there in the ring. Also in the past few years, Jesse has climbed up the ladder and begun receiving top tens at the national level. A colt like mine could bring Jesse that first national championship title in halter, or so I thought.

Since Angie and Richard are good friends with Jesse I asked Richard to approach the man about leading my colt. Right from the start he seemed very excited about the prospect of leading Rhet. We sent off pictures and pedigree and Jesse agreed he would show the horse for me at Region 4 UNLESS.............the owner of the colt he already had in his barn wanted to show at Region 4.

So we had Jesse double check with the client. Her plans were to take her colt to the World Cup held in Las Vegas. She had no plans to show at Region 4 so Jesse was free to show Rhet at the Region 4 Championships in June.

Well, the Arabian Breeders World Cup was held in Las Vegas in April. As it turns out Jesse Saldana's colt didn't do well at that show. Not long after it, Jesse's wife called Richard to say that Jesse couldn't lead Rhet after all. The client had changed her mind and wanted to show her colt at the Region 4 Championships.

Finding another "big name" handler at this late date was going to be tough. Region 4 had not been "the place to be" in the last few years. Meaning it had been years since the show was flooded with big gun halter handlers. I wasn't even sure where to start so again I called Eric.

Eric's advise was to call Terry Holmes. Eric thought even if Terry wasn't coming to Salem he'd know who was and be able to help me get in contact with them. It sounded like a good plan so I called Terry.

I didn't reach Terry but left a message. He got back to me not long afterwards and I told him what I needed. Terry said he was going to Region 4 and he didn't have a colt. He said having been to my farm and seen my horses he knew I was a good judge of horses so if I thought this colt could win he'd be glad to lead him. We were set...................I breathed a sigh or relief and we went on preparing for the show.

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

Halter.......We Hope



Visit Blog Village and vote daily for this blog Here They are now measuring the rankings by the number of votes out, so if you find my blog on the site, please click that link too to improve my rankings. TY

MizScarlet and Her Rhet

So now that you know the flashy MizScarlet does indeed have her tall, dark, handsome Rhett, it might be fun to share with you a bit of their history together. Right from the start when Rhet came to Rising Rainbow Arabians, Scarlet was his companion whenever the colt was turned out and also when we first began conditioning. They also were stalled right near each other.

At this time the then weanling filly, Scarlet, was going through her own issues. Mad over being weaned, she wasn't co-operating either acting more like the untrained colt than the responsible filly she'd previously been. Regressing back to the willful days right after her birth, Scarlet wasn't wanting to be caught nor wear a halter. That meant turnout was tricky....getting either one of these weanlings caught could be a real trick.

For leverage to get them caught, I was turning these two weanlings out together in the small paddock in front of my house. The small area gave them less area to escape being captured when it was time to come in. I also knew I could use their attachment to each other as a tool to catch them.

Sure in the beginning I had to have help. The first few times they were out it took three of us to get them into a corner. Once there, with halters already on, it was fairly simple to catch Scarlet. The colt only allowed himself to be caught thinking if he didn't he was losing her. But, hey, it worked. That's what mattered.

After a week or two, it only took two of us to catch the weanlings. One for each horse but Scarlet was always caught first. The colt would position himself on the opposite side of the filly thinking he could avoid us. Without a halter there was no way I could have caught the little bugger.

For conditioning I hauled both Scarlet and Rhet over to Richard's in the same load. Rhet always had to be worked first because I couldn't trust tying him to the horse trailer while I moved horses around if he wasn't tired first. Scarlet always rode right next to him.

Scarlet and Rhet were definitely an item, it seemed like they were inseparable. When the two horses were out together, you never saw one without the other. They moved around the paddock like they were joined in by some hidden force. When one got into or out of the horse trailer Rhet always acknowledged Scarlet. It was hard to imagine they'd ever be separated.

Then suddenly in late spring Rhet got hormonal. The two now yearlings were turned out together in the usual small paddock while the farrier was here resetting some shoes. When we finished a horse, I always checked Scarlet and Rhet to be sure things were OK.

It was when I was bringing the last horse into the farrier that I heard the commotion. The previously quiet yearlings were now racing around the paddock. Rhet was trying to mount Scarlet and the poor filly was frantic trying to escape. Both horses were dripping in sweat.

I dropped Dandy off for the farrier then headed to the house to get help. I knew in the heightened state there was no way I could capture these horses on my own. Rhet's days turned out with Scarlet were definitely over.

It was another couple of weeks before I had to change his stall location as well. He'd been living in the midst of mares without much notice. Then just as suddenly as he'd decided to jump Scarlet, he turned into a little horn-dog in the barn. He couldn't walk down the aisle without talking and blowing up into this big snorty stud colt. That particular barn aisle is very narrow and really not conducive to dealing with naughty colts so Rhet had to be moved.

Rhet's new stall was in the first barn which houses two stallions and a mare. Rhet could have cared less there was a girl right next to him, all he could think was that his beloved Scarlet was gone. He cried for days............and dropped a ton of weight. He was obsessed with Scarlet.

Scarlet, on the other hand, couldn't care less. I think she was glad to be rid of the little monster.........just like her namesake, Scarlett O'Hara, the filly had put Rhet totally out of her mind.

To this day, he still looks for her. If Scarlet walks by the barn, Rhet always speaks to her. It a soft rumble of recognition, "That's Scarlet, she's my love!" I'm pretty sure the day will come when Scarlet appreciates that sweet talking.............but for now, it's a one sided relationship. Rhet is left worshipping Scarlet from afar............

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

Halter



Visit Blog Village and vote daily for this blog Here They are now measuring the rankings by votes out, so if you find my blog on the site, please click that link too to improve my rankings. TY

I've Got a Secret.........It's Finally Out!

Now it was up to me to get the horse into the ring before the secret was out............only that didn't happen. Someone close to the breeder leaked the information and within a week, the word got back to me. Someone I knew had heard from an outside source that I had this colt. I immediately called the breeder to let her know the grapevine was discussing the whereabouts of my colt.

As it turned out, she knew how the story had been leaked. It had actually originated with someone looking at another horse the breeder owned. These people knew of the colt and were asking questions. Their curiosity about the colt led to a source close to the breeder who told the story........but at least I was off the hook.

Once the word was out, I was no longer obligated to keep this secret until the horse hit the ring. That's when I began posting about him here.

Up until that time I had planned on showing him at the Daffodil Spring All Arabian Show so that I could fulfill my part of the bargain. Since the colt was not ready to be shown at the time and I no longer had to show him to talk about him, I passed on that show and set my sights instead on the Region 4 All Arabian Horse Show Breeder's Sweepstakes Yearling Colts Class.

Conditioning the colt had started months before. He was beginning to get in shape but I struggled with getting weight on him. The colt is so "hot" he just burns the calories breathing...........I swear. If anything was to stop this horse from hitting the ring it was going to be his weight.

As far as teaching him to stand up, this colt was a quick learner. The only real issue I could see was going to be getting him to "Whoa!" when he was excited. So part of his schooling was setting up situations that made him not want to listen. If I could get him to stand with all kinds of distractions, he should stand in the ring with a bunch of strange colts around.

It was about this time that the breeder finally decided to come for a visit. She wanted to see how he was developing. Just because she didn't want to be saddled with a colt didn't mean she no longer cared about how he turned out.

It was during that visit she asked me about his name. We'd only discussed the possibility of me changing it once.......and that was when she'd told me she'd prefer that I didn't. In a later phone call she'd said he was mine I could do what I wanted but nothing definite had ever been said about changing his name for sure.

I had planned on telling her during this visit what I had done but she beat me to it. Asking shortly after she arrived at what I'd finally come up with for his name. When I explained to her about all of the colts named Eragon, she immediately understood why I'd made the change............and as it turns out she really like the name I'd chosen. I can tell you that was a relief. The last thing I wanted was to have her upset with my decision.


From here the story really begins...................

MizScarlet and Her Rhet



Visit Blog Village and vote daily for this blog Here They are now measuring the rankings by votes out, so if you find my blog on the site, please click that link too to improve my rankings. TY