New Year's Eve 2009......What to Post? Arabian Horses of Course

On New Year's Eve it seems to be customary to reflect on the events of the bygone year. With this being my third years of blogging, you'd think I'd have fallen into some kind of groove......but it looks to me looking back like I've posted a little bit of anything and everything........and there's that list of things still to post.......but I digress so I'll save that for another day.

With only 297 posts in 2009, I definitely dropped off a bit from years past. I still have not hit the magic number of 1000 posts but I'm definitely closing in on that milestone, along with an anniversary coming soon. I suppose I can let myself off the proverbial hook for the decline in numbers with the eighteen days I was on the road in the adventure of a lifetime as I attended the US National All Arabian Horse Show in Tulsa.

That's not the only landmark of the year, however. There was flooding on our farm this time last year. and some unexpected help because of that flooding Can You Believe It.....on the Arabian Horse Farm....Bigtime!

When we weren't covered in water from flooding, we seemed to be covered in snow. I took some beautiful pics of our farm buried under the white stuff.......even got started on posting some Sunday Stills because of all the opportunities that white stuff gave me to take pictures with my new camera.

There were times I got on a kick to write about training issues. Maybe it was because we were starting those young horses last winter the basics of starting horses was so on my mind. I even did a series on Long Lining
and I addressed Frame versus Function Ground work seemed to be an important topic and that's what those young horses got.......lots and lots of groundwork. They're still lacking in miles under saddle....but that's another story.

Sometimes my readers didn't know what was coming next. I made a big disclosure with I've Got a Secret and there were definitely some other unexpected critters who joined our lives. While I wrote We've Been Invaded! I really had no clue how that sweet little face would tyrannize our lives. More on Delilah, the Devil Dog I certainly will never forget when Sugar Comes to Rising Rainbow Arabians

The newest foal on our farm had to make his appearance right in the middle of the first horse show of the season. Foaling and Showing Rolled into One - The Story Begins The little bugger had to have a name which anyone who knows me knows it takes an act of Congress to get the right one Dare's Foal Finally Gets a Name! With this foal being an Arabian/Quarter horse cross there was all kinds of input from my readers about what that name said to them about what this horse should be.More on Doc's Name

Always a little humor finds its way onto these bloggy pages Friday Funnies - - Rules of the Barn Who could forget You Take The Horse; I'll Gladly Take The Dog

I posted video on a really bad driving wreck at a regional championships show. The Carnival of the Horse came to visit and there are lots of interesting posts there. And Les Vogt taught us about western bits with a video



Not to be forgotten my first ever Regional Top Five in a western pleasure class The Region 4 Championships......Select Rider AND my first ever Yearling Sweepstakes money winner. The Region 4 Championships....Big Day....Rhet's Class ............and we managed to do the latter one not once........but twice Region 5 Championships....... The Colt's Class...Placings , thanks to Rhet.

Just looking back over all this makes me tired> There are a lot of ups and downs in this year. It's no wonder I feel like I've been on a roller coaster ride.

For all of you who hung in reading to get here.............Here's Wishing ALL my blogging buddies a very Happy and Prosperous New Year!!

The Adventure Continues..........After Rhet's Class cont.........

The Adventure Begins

My search on the internet for feed stores hadn't shown anything within a reasonable range for me. The last thing I needed was to get lost out in the country somewhere. The thought of even having to deal with that turnpike on my own was enought to shut me down so I was heading back to the feed office at the horse show to see if something couldn't be worked out.

I'd stopped by the feed office earlier to see if they had any hay better than what had been delivered to me and all I'd seen at that time looked exactly the same. .Now as I walked up I saw a small flat trailer sitting off in the secured lot with what looked to be about a ton or so of alfalfa. I walked up to get a better look. While it wasn't the best hay I'd ever seen, it was sure better than what I had now.

I walked into the office and waited for the woman to get off the phone. Once she did I told her I didn't want to be a problem......... At which point she cut me off and snapped sharply, "THEN DON'T!" Even though I was taken a back by her customer service skills, I proceeded to say I couldn't feed my horses the hay they'd delivered earlier in the day.

Then one of the guys sitting on the other side of the room jumped in to tell me all they had was what was out there on that trailer. The hay was pretty coarse. He said he'd seen me looking at it just before I'd come into the office. Nodding my head I let him know I'd be more than happy to trade the hay I had for some of that on the trailer. The woman behind the desk agreed and I breathed a sigh of relief.

I rode back to the stalls with the bales of hay and found out on the way that this was the last hay they were going to have for the show. To be on the safe side I asked them to bring me three additional bales so I'd have enough to get me through my trip home.

When all the hay had been delivered, I apologized for the extra work I'd caused. It was then this guy told me not to worry, lots of people were complaining about that hay. He'd spent a good portion of his day picking up hay that people refused to take.

Between this experience with the hay quality AND being sold rice bran that I was told was stablized but was not, I'm thinking next time I better make sure I bring all the feed I need. If I bring one less horse, I can use that spot in the trailer to haul the needed feed. Then I won't have to rely on the show's contracted feed source.........and I'll have a lot less work. Heck, I might even get to see some of the horse show.

Once the feed situation was resolved, I began working on getting organized to move out. I knew I couldn't get my rig onto the grounds until the following day, but if I got all my stuff together now it should make moving out much easier.......and give me some time to watch some of the finals I really wanted to see.

Mostly I wanted to see the stallions.......the junior stallions that is. There were several stallions in that class I'd heard about but have never gotten the opportunity to see.

One of those stallions, Aria Impresoria, is out of one of my mare friends, GC Echlectica. Lexy, also known as Betty Boop to those who worked with her, was one of the last horses in training with my friend, Jean Frieday, before she retired from training horses. At that time I was working as a groom for Jean so I could learn the in's and out's of showing halter.

Jean didn't show Lexy to her reserve national championship in her three year old futurity class because she'd long since given up showing horses at that level due to the politics in the halter arena. But Jean conditioned and trained many a horse that won at that level with big name trainers catch leading those horses into the ring. Lexy was one of those. She was shown by Michael Byatt and now her son was being shown by Michael Byatt as well.

Putting the politics aside for the moment, Lexy has always been one of my all time favorite mares. I ask about her every time I see her owner. She was a joy to work with.......not the least bit crazy like some folks think halter horses need to be. Yet she could get jazzed up and be a great show horse. Not only that, but the mare has a beautiful smooth body and is a pretty mover. The kind of halter horse you could ride if you wanted........definitely my kind of horse.

I haven't seen this mare since her three year old year, I can only imagine how beautiful she has become. Since she's another one of those horses that matures late, what was seen during her show career, is nothing compared to the beauty she must be today..........so I was really looking foward to seeing this son of hers that I'd heard so much about.

I'd seen this colt as a yearling on the live feed for Scottsdale but there's nothing like seeing a horse in the flesh to really see it. Granted you don't really get to look up close and personal with the stallions like they used to do, but it's still a better look than video or a live feed.

Also in the class was the horse, Marhaabah, that had beat Rhet's father in the US National Futurity. Rhet's sire was reserve champion at US and champion in Canada. I'd seen the US class on the live feed as well so I was looking forward to seeing this horse up close as well.

Another horse, Starwan, I'd heard about but never seen was also in this class. He was owned by people here in Washington. I'd gone to their open house to see this colt right after they bought him only to find out he was gone to the trainer.

All three of these young stallions are by Marwan Al Shaqab. He is Rhet's grandsire. I wasn't only looking at horses of his breeding, however. There just happened to be a number of them at this show. Yes, I was definitely looking forward to the junior halter stallions. If I didn't see another class at this horse show, I was counting on making it to this one.

During these last couple of days, I also checked into traveling home with others from Washington. Although the weather on the direct route was less than ideal, I was thinking the additional 350 miles I'd added by traveling with Jesse was probably more than I could handle on the return trip. By this time, I was really dragging and the thought of driving straight through almost 1900 miles to California was not sounding good........let alone the additional 800 from there to my home.

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

Halloween at Nationals
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The Adventure Continues..........After Rhet's Class........

The Adventure Begins

Once I got back to the stalls, I talked briefly to Jesse about the yearling colt's class as well. Jesse felt that Rhet had given him everything he had to give and you can't ask anything more than that. It was obvious he was disappointed with the outcome but he had nothing more to say on the subject. Jesse just isn't one of those trainers who places blame when he's not done well.

Jesse did, however, have plenty to say about the scoring system. He does not like the system at all. His reasoning is because owners like me look at how their horses have been scored and decide to stop showing in halter. That's the last thing Jesse wants to see. He wants his clients to show their horses and have fun.

When it comes to Rhet in particular, Jesse believes I should continue to show the colt in halter and I should do some showing with him in amateur as well.. As a matter of fact he was talking to me about showing the horse at the Scottsdale show in February. There are Signature amateur owner to handle halter classes that Rhet is eligible for in 2010. My response to Jesse was I'd have to get a horse sold before the entries closed. I was in hock up to my eyeballs just making this trip.

Next I headed off to the show office to get copies of the halter scores for Rhet's class. While the scores had been posted during the class, it was just to chaotic trying to write them all down and still watch horses show so instead I'd just marked each horse's total score in my show program. Having this official record would let me really look at the individual elements each horse had been scored.

Only after I got the scores did I get up the courage to call Rhet's breeder, Chris. This is the first time a horse whose papers show her as the breeder has shown at the national horse show. (This reason I make this distinction she breed the stallion,Autumn Seance........but sold the pregnant mare and allowed the new owners the breeder designation.) That made Rhet's appearance at nationals all the more important to Chris. I wasn't looking forward to telling her the colt had gotten the gate.

My phone call with Chris was pretty brief. She was certainly disappointed but not surprised that Rhet had not done well. She had been concerned from the start that Jesse might not be "political enough" for Rhet to place. In her mind, at least, it was all about politics.

Chris did ask me how I thought Rhet looked next to the other colts. To be honest, I thought most of them looked far more mature than Rhet. While he hung in with them for size, he just looked more like a yearling. Also I thought many of those colts carried more weight than my colt. However, I thought Rhet's weight was good for a yearling and I wouldn't have been happy with him carry much more. The others were just beefer.......if you know what I mean.

There are lots of explanations for why this could be. I'm not going to go down that road. I don't know how some trainers accomplish getting a more mature look on a young horse and I'm not going to guess. What was important to me in this class was how these horses looked conformationally.....and how my colt stood up to the breed standard.

I will say the one thing that really bothered me about the class ( and most halter classes) was horses being allowed to stand up contrary to the rules. The correct stance for an Arabian halter horse as per the USEF rule book is "In-Hand horses are not to be stretched. A horse is considered not stretched if all four feet are flat on the ground and at least one front and one rear cannon bone is perpendicular to the ground."

I can't even tell you how many horses showed with both hind legs parked out behing them. Obviously this kind of stance affects the horse's topline....and you would think it would affect the score on the horse's legs. How can a judge tell if a horse's hocks are in the right place if the horse has both legs stretched out behind him??

My pet peeve, I know, but I want to ride these suckers when they grow up. Isn't that the point? Yet if we're placing horses whose hocks are out behind them in our breeding classes, will these horses be able to attain collection as adults?

But back to my basic complaint. How do you fairly compare a horse that has stood up correctly to one that has stood with both legs out behind? Yet that is what happens over and over in halter classes........and it wasn't any different in this class of Rhet's........and it wasn't just a horse or two. A number of horses that scored well and placed showed in a stretched fashion.

Once Chris and I had our little discussion about Rhet's class, it was time for me to find a feed store somewhere off the grounds. Again that morning I'd been delivered hay that wasn't suitable for horses.

I had three bales of hay left that I'd brought from home but I was hoping to save those for the trip home. With the added stress of the trip, I wanted my horses on their usual grass hay than the alfalfa I'd been forced to feed at this show. Besides three bales of hay wouldn't get me through the end of the show AND the trip home. I needed to find hay my horses could eat.

I'd tried asking around and no one seemed to know of a feed store anywhere near the show grounds. Next stop was the Hat Lady where they let me borrow their computer to do an online search. Thanks to MapQuest I was armed with a good map as I headed of the fairgrounds and down the road searching for the feed store I'd located on line.

The directions seemed relatively easy. I figured even someone geographically challenged like me could accomplish this task without getting lost. Imagine my surprise when I reached my destination only to find a block full of nothing but foundations where buildings used to be. There were big bins full of debris holding the remains of what used to be the feed store I was searching for.............. This could only happen to me!

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

After Rhet's Class continued.

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Another Fallen Officer

Officer Kent Mundell shot multiple times a week ago today while on a domestic violence call near Eatonville died this evening. With family, friends and fellow officers present, Mundell's life support was terminated and slowly the life drained out of this valiant man.

With this dramatic news comes the prospect of yet another funeral service for an officer in this state. It will be the third such service in less than two months. The cumulative effect of the losses of now six officers within this short span of time has taken it's toll on our community. The heaviness is almost palpable in the air.

I can still clearly see this officer's face as he stood on our porch sometime last year. Working on yet another drug case trying to keep our neighborhood safe Mundell was asking my husband and I if we'd seen a particular vehicle travelling the road in front of our farm .

Having met the man adds a surreal element to this event it is difficult to describe. While I didn't know him well, I was touched by his genuine caring and professionalism. Hearing that he had killed his attacker defending another officer and two private citizens despite being gravely wounded did not surprise me. It fits with the persona of the man I met on my porch that day.

Not only Pierce County but the law enforcement community as a whole and the communilty at large has suffered a great loss today. My heart goes out to his family, friends and all those who knew him well.

The Adventure Continues..........The Results........

The Adventure Begins

From the beginning of Rhet's class, Richard was texting me. He and Angie wanted to watch the class on the live feed but weren't trusting they actually had the right class. Once that was settled Richard tried to figure out what they were seeing in regards to horses and the resulting scores and there was lots of commentary comparing the colts to Rhet.

When Rhet entered the ring, the texting went up a notch. At the same time a couple walked up the stairs and decided to sit right down in front of me. They were talking about Rhet as they took their seats. They actually stood there for a moment blocking my view.

I was wanting to watch my colt but curious about who these people were and what they were saying about my colt. I didn't say a word to them just tried to hear why it was they liked Rhet while trying to answer Richard too. I was glad I'd ordered video of this class so I could see what I was missing between Richard's texts and the people in front of me.

Once Rhet exited the ring, most of the outside stimulation stopped. The people went on to a conversation about horse shows they'd seen in Europe and I began watching for Rhet's scores on the big screen overhead in the arena. Richard continued texting his predictions about how Rhet had done.

I'd been trying to tell Richard not to get all that exited. I was worried about this panel of judges and how they would see my colt. When the scores flashed onto the big screen, my fears were confirmed. They hadn't liked Rhet.

I texted his scores to Richard and then waited for his response. It took him a moment but when it came through it read, "You're kidding, right?? Once I confirmed it had not been a joke Richard went silent.

Those people in front of me couldn't believe Rhet's scores either. Pointing to the screen, the woman said, "What's with that?" as they both shook their heads. I glanced around the rail of the arena to see other reactions that were very much the same. There were definitely people, a lot of people, who didn't understand how my colt had scored in this class.

While I had been prepared for Rhet not to win a Top Ten from these judges, I wasn't prepared for how low he had been scored. Four of these judges had given Rhet scores near the bottom for the entire class and they were within a point or two of each other. The fifth judge had scored him right up near the top.

With the high and low scores being eliminated Rhet's score didn't even put him into the top ten of the fifteen horses that had already shown. It was over for us at this horse show, I knew Jesse was taking my colt back to his stall.

I was torn between running out to talk with Jesse and wanting to see the rest of this class. Even though Rhet wouldn't be taking home a prize I still wanted to see what his competition had been. I also wanted to know which horses would win those prizes so I forced myself to stay and watch despite the disappointment I felt.

With Rhet's scores blaring at me I had a new measure for the colts coming into the ring. It was interesting to compare scores against those given to Rhet when the colts were still fresh in my mind although it didn't change my understanding of the judging. The more I watched.........the more confused I became.

When it was all said and done there were five horses in the top ten that I would have placed there. That means, of course, that five of the horses I would have placed, walked out the gate, and five horses I wouldn't have used made a top ten. Sometimes that's how it goes at horse shows.

Richard was battling with his own disappointment. He and Angie had been convinced all along that Rhet could not only get a top ten but that he could win. That's how much they like him. For the longest time I didn't get a text message from Richard at all. When I finally asked him if he was still there, the response I got was, "Throwing things!!!!!!!!" I didn't hear much from Richard after that throughout the rest of the show or the trip home.

For those of you who had expected magic in Rhet's class, the magic was there when the horse was in the ring. It may not have been reflected in the scores but it was reflected in the eyes of many people watching him. With this big disappointment I was going to have to decide if that was enough for me.

This had been an expensive trip and I had made it because I believed that Rhet really had a chance at getting a ribbon. I wouldn't have spent that kind of money just to go play........I spent it to build some credibility for my farm. My mind was churning trying to figure things out.

I decided that I would try to find Jeff Schall. He's the big name trainer (BNT) who had evaluated Rhet as a two month old foal. It was partially my belief in his evaluation that had gone into the decision to bring my colt to nationals in the first place.

In a comment on one of my posts I was told I was misrepresenting what Jeff had said implying that Jeff had not been particularly impressed with Rhet at all. While I believed my assessment of his evaluation was correct, now was as good a time as any to see for sure. For me to continue with Rhet in halter I needed to know my thinking was not flawed.

It took me a while to track down where the stabling for Shada was located. Once I got there, the barn was closed because they were getting horses ready for the next session's halter classes. People were sitting around talking but I didn't see Jeff's wife or Jeff so I found a business card and left. Having a phone number was a good place to start.

As I walked across the grounds back towards the stalls, I decided I'd go ahead and call Jeff's number to leave a message figuring he'd be too busy to answer. Imagine my surprise when the someone answered the phone, "This is Jeff."

I told Jeff my name and that I owned the colt he had seen the previous summer at Dan and Chris's place. I identifies the breeding of the mare thinking that would help him place which colt I meant. Then I told him it was my understanding that he had liked this colt. Jeff quickly corrected me with this response, "I didn't just like him.......I REALLY liked him!"

I told Jeff that Rhet had been really trashed by the judges in the colt's class and I was feeling pretty discouraged. Jeff wanted to know what I meant by trashed so I told him Rhet's score and that I really didn't know what to do as far as his halter career with him placing so low in this class. Jeff asked me what I attributed that to........ politics, the colt didn't show well, whatever were my thoughts so we had a brief conversation about the colt's class.

I'm not one to jump to conclusions. I don't attribute everything that doesn't go my way to politics nor do I think that everyone needs to agree with me. All I really had in this situation was my opinion and who knows what that's worth in the big scheme of things. That's pretty much what I told the man.

Then Jeff told me that his colt, a unanimous winner in his region, hadn't done well with these judges either. The implication was Jeff didn't agree with how they saw these colts either. We talked some about Rhet's future in halter and Jeff coming to see the colt again..............

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

After Rhet's Class

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Merry Christmas with Mannheim Steamroller

Wishing you all a very merry Christmas!

Twas the Night before Christmas 2009

T'was the night before Christmas, and all through the farm,
The critters were sleeping, all safe, snug and warm.
The stockings were hung by the stall doors with care,
In the hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there.

Arabian horses nestled all warm in their beds,
While visions of sweet treats danced in their heads.
The weanling, the yearlings and even the twins,
The mares and stallions were dreaming of wins.

When out in the paddock there arose such a clatter
I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter.
I dashed to the barnyard to see what I could see
There in the moonlight.............how could it be?

It wasn't St Nick.... nor his team of reindeer
Not a sign of a sleigh nor an elf anywhere
Instead off in the distance I could see in the moonlight
A new holiday tradition that seemed so right

Up on the barn top all glistening and white
Was a magical horse in the crisp snowy night.
An Arabian horse with his head held aloof
Snorting and blowing up there on my roof.

Ears locked tight, his nostrils did flare
Black eyes bulging at all that was there
He looked like a vision all power and might
As he stood there surveying this farm in the night.

Flagging his tail and tossing his mane
Pawing the snow and blowing again!
Strapped to his back were bundles of red,
Filled with treats and toys for horses in their bed.

From the rooftop he bounded on down to the stalls
Leaving his presents for one and for all.
At each door he stopped and called out a name
Filled up the stocking and snorted again!

Heiress, Rhapsody, Dancer and Dare,
Legacy, Dandy, and of course..... Solidare
Andy and Pat, followed by Gypcy and Faye
Lucy, Faith, Lilly and Hope, who else could he say?

Then on to the twins, Trouble and Surprise
He's got to be finished before the sunrise!
Reflection and Rose, yet still more to see
Percy, Suede, Aana, Doc and Vee

In the next barn Echo, Scarlet, Louie and Tag
Then dear Rhet gets the gift from the bottom of the bag.
Before leaving the last barn, going into the night
This horse whirled around to check everything's right.

Twenty-nine horses, twenty-nine calls
Twenty-nine presents, no stockings too tall.
Each one filled clear up to the brim
Big ones and little ones, fat ones and thin.......

There were apples and carrots and peppermints too
Sweet things like cookies, then toys to chew
A treat for the kitties, and maybe MiKael, Lindsay and Dave
But first the humans would have to behave!

Then tossing his head and whinnying a proud call
This magical Arabian blessed one and all
He leapt in the air, climbed through the sky
I couldn't believe it, this horse could fly!

Over the rooftops, then he circled the creek
Still I expected he'd land in a heap!
But he flew even higher with no wings in sight
Springs on his hooves......could that be right?

Zig-zagging proudly up over my farm
Still snorting and blowing, it made my heart warm
I called his direction as he cantered out of sight
Merry Christmas to All and to all a good night!



I own a print of this artwork. The artist is Sprague and this work sure fits my descrition of a magical holiday horse. Don't you think??

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The Adventure Continues..........Rhet Shows........

The Adventure Begins

It was easy to see that many of these colts in this class were related. There was so much Marwan breeding and Valentino breeding, the colts were mostly dark bays with little white. These sires were definitely putting their stamp on their foals.

Somewhere along the line I lost count of how many horses had shown. I kept expecting Rhet would be the next horse..........and then the next......yet there was no sign of my colt. It felt like this class had been going on forever but Rhet was supposed to show about in the middle with his assigned slot number fifteen out of thirty-one.

By the time Rhet and Jesse did make their appearance through the ingate, I was beginning to think they'd missed the class. Even watching the video today, it seems like Rhet is much farther down the line than he actually was. I suppose it's having the horses occupy the ring individually that made things take longer.

Rhet came through that gate like the peacock he can be. The music playing was "I'm too sexy!" which Rhet might have appreciated but made me cringe. ....not really the image I have for this colt. (Maybe next time I'll have figured out a song that suits this colt)

The colt's tail was thrown over his back and he seemed to be floating at the end of the lead. Jesse circled Rhet at the entrance before he trotted the horse down the rail. The colt responded like he knew exactly what to do. He only broke into a canter once but quickly came down when asked. He didn't race out in front of Jesse either. That gave the horse the opportunity to strut his stuff all the way down the rail without interference caused by corrections.

Once at the end of the rail, Jesse circled the colt again in a big wide circle right in front of the judges before asking Rhet to walk. The colt came down easily as Jesse requested. Then walked across the arena on a loose rein staying right at the position off Jesse's shoulder that the trainer wanted.

The colt's attitude was great. He seemed to enjoy the low railing where he could see all the people sitting right there at their little tables watching him. There were no signs of fear of this crowd......his big attitude was evident. The colt thought he belonged in this ring showing off to all these people.

Before Jesse stood the horse up in the middle, he stopped Rhet by the rail to fix his forelock and his mane. The colt stood there in all his glory like a king waiting on his attendants to get him ready for an audience. Rhet was definitely in his element.

Jesse walked the colt out into the middle as the announce called out his number, his name, breeder, owner and handler. Then Jesse asked Rhet to strike his pose. Rhet responded like he'd been doing this forever. The colt stretched that neck of his up and out the whole forty miles long it can seem to be. Then he stood there watching Jesse's ever move.

In the past, Rhet has had problems with the number of people walking around him in center ring........but not this time. With five judges, a ring steward or two and a photographer, it seemed like there was a mob out there but it didn't bother Rhet. Other than moving his feet a step or two here and there the colt pretty much stood like a rock.

Not only did Rhet stand well but his face was expressive too. He kept his eye locked on Jesse and with that went his ears.........locked tight together right down to their cute curly little tips. The colt's nostrils flared and his eyes widened as Jesse changed his hand position. I think the colt showed about as much animation as you can get in center ring from a horse that's standing still........heck, the horse even held his tail up the whole time.

The judges moved around in all different directions at the same time. Rhet didn't let their movement take his mind of his job. The colt stayed locked tight on Jesse........even when one of the judges moved in close towards his face. Rhet didn't budge.

When the judges finished their inspection, they signaled Jesse. The man left the colt relax a second before turning him to trot out of the ring. Again the colt was fixed on Jesse. Every command he was there for. They trotted down towards the gate and made one final pass around the end before trotting out of the ring.

I couldn't have asked for this colt to show any better. Nor could I have asked for Jesse to do a better job. Now it was time to wait for the judge's scores.

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

The Results

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Surreal Distractions

I must apologize to my regular readers. I just can't seem to get this post about Rhet's halter class written tonight. It doesn't seem right to me to be posting about chasing my dream when there are two more law enforcement officers fighting for their lives here.

Since Halloween that brings the total to eight law enforcement officers who have been ambushed in our state. The sheriffs from this latest incident are fighting for their lives. One is stable..........the other one report said is on life support..........only time will tell. The shooter is dead, shot and killed by the officer who is reported to be on life support.

Last night's shooting was a few down the rode from my farm. Both my husband and I have met the two sheriff's who were shot and I believe I have met the man who did the shooting. One of the neighbor's interviewed by reporters gets manure from me each spring for her garden. It's all just too surreal.

Instead of writing about Rhet, I'm asking my readers to pray for these officers and their families and the law enforcement officers in this state. They're all really struggling right now trying to make sense out of this madness.

The Adventure Continues..........Rhet's Big Day.......

The Adventure Begins

In the past when I've shown Rhet I've always been the one to get the horse ready. Putting a show halter on the colt has been a challenge. so when Richie decided he'd be the one to get the colt ready for his national championship class, it was fine with me.

I warned Richie about Rhet's past behavior but he didn't seemed to be concerned. Rhet wasn't living up to his normal reputation anyway so chances were the colt would be good. He'd certainly behaved himself for me to bathe him. I'd managed to do that all by myself in a wash rack filled with horses. There was a time not long ago when that wouldn't have been possible. That bath in a private cubicle at Region 5 had been quite a trip. It was a good thing I had Dan there to help me.

Richie took Rhet into the ready room and worked on him like he was any other horse. He got the colt all slicked up with make-up while he was still wearing his stable halter.....something I'd never been able to do before. I had to be able to grab the colt's nose to get the darn show halter on over his poll. I think I held my breath as Richie reached to put the show halter in place but Rhet just stood there like an old pro. I couldn't believe this was really the same horse.

Since there were thirty-one colts entered in the class and the horses showed one at a time in the ring, the paddock announcer called the horses up in sections. That way they didn't have all thirty-one horses milling around out there waiting their turn to show.

Once the colt was ready, Richie took him up to the grooming stalls at R O Lervick Arabians. They were in the barn right next to the Pavilion where Rhet's class was being held. Since Rhet was to be the fifteenth horse to be shown, the plan was to hang out at Lervick's until it was closer to his turn. That way the horse could relax and not loose all his pizazz before he ever hit the ring.

With Richie taking total control over Rhet, I went ahead into the pavilion and watched the class. I wanted to see what the colts at this level all looked like to know how my colt fit.

At nationals for halter and the working horse classes there are five judges. However, the scores from the high judge and the low judge are thrown out and the horse is given the score of the total for the three remaining judges.

I had watched a few halter classes trying to get a feel for how the judges were calling things. Can't say that it really made any sense to me. The numbers seemed to be all over the place. I couldn't figure out what type of horse was getting a paticular score or if there was a type of horse they liked. I couldn't even figure out which judge might be the high or low for a particular horse. It would be interesting to see how things went in this colt's class.

With Jesse's lack of success up to now, I figured I'd be real lucky if we squeaked in and received a top ten. I already knew there was at least one judge in the ring that didn't think much of me or my horse. I just didn't know if or how that would reflect in the scores.

As I made my way up to the front doors of the pavilion my stomach was doing some pretty fancy flips. I wasn't sure if I should try to find a seat or head for the ladies room. Hearing the announcer call for the first horse, I took a chance making my way to the stands.

I didn't see anyone I knew so I found a spot I thought would give me a good angle to view all of these colts. I was really hoping to get a look at each horse to see how it measured up to my colt.

I don't know what the size of the Pavilion arena is..........but it's small. It can get pretty crowded in a riding class but it's nice and cozy for halter. Each horse is trotted in to a marker about two-thirds of the way down the rail. Then the horse is walked across the arena and a short ways down the other side before walking up to the judge. After the stand-up in the middle, the horse is trotted straight back out the gate it previously entered through.

Normally even thinking about trotting two-thirds of the way down the rail of an arena is enough to make my asthma kicked up. The size of this arena, however, make it look to me like I could actually handle that assignment. Of course, that was easy to say as I sat on the rail. I don't know how the trainers felt about the distance.

Some people think being towards the front of a class that is judged off individual numbers is a distinct disadvantage. I watched closely as the scores for the first few colts came up to see if that theory might hold water.
Even those early scores seemed to be higher than what I'd seen given at the regional level. Then when the scores of a couple of those early horses hit the 350's, I began to get even more nervous. Would the judges continue with these kinds of numbers.............or would Rhet score the same kind of numbers he'd scored at the regional shows..........only time would tell.

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

Rhet Shows

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The Adventure Continues..........Thursday's Fare.......

The Adventure Begins

With Legs not making the cut in our section and Gypcy getting scratched from her class, the only horse left to show was Rhet. His class was Friday morning, the second class in.

The colt was picking back up some of the weight he had lost on the trip so that part was good. BUT he was also growing hair........like there was no tomorrow. Despite the fact the colt had been body clipped and even gotten a super duper clip to his face, he didn't look like it. I just couldn't believe all the hair he had grown. Rhet was going to have to be completely re-clipped before he was ready to show.

I wouldn't have been concerned about it if it had been any other horse but Rhet. His manners may have come a long way since I first got him a year before BUT they still had a long way to go.

Rhet was not a good citizen when I clipped him on his legs or anywhere near the top of his head or near his pole. Heck, just getting a nice line down along his mane was a real struggle. I was afraid I was going to take off half of his mane in the process. I sure wasn't looking forward to doing this clip all over again.

The day before Rhet's class I came back to the stalls after breakfast to find Richie clipping Rhet. I knew Jesse wanted the colt body clipped again but I had no idea he wanted Richie to do it......... Yet, I sure wasn't going to complain.

Body clipping is a nasty, itchy job. Heck just writing about it makes me want to scratch. There's no way to keep that cut hair from getting into all the wrong places especially when wrestling with a colt like Rhet. I was glad to be off the hook.

Ritchie was using a small rope across the colt's lip the get the job done, just like I had to do, only Ritchie's rope was much longer. I had to add a lead rope onto the end of mine to reach around the horse. Ritchie just held onto the end of his rope and he could reach wherever he wanted.

I think maybe the tension on the rope might benefit from this.....but that's just a guess. The point is Rhet was being way better for Richie than he ever was for me. Either Rhet was doing some growing up.........or he just likes torturing me. I sure hoped it wasn't the latter.

Richie buzzed through that body clip in just a couple of hours. I don't think Rhet even tried to pick a foot up once during the whole process. He stood perfectly still to be clipped around and even in his ears. The colt sure wasn't being the bad *ss he's been in times past.

Later on in the day Ritchie did the show clip on Rhet's face. Although the rules no balding, razor was used on part of this clip and since Rhet was clipped just like all the other horses in his class, it makes me wonder if I don't understand the term "balding" correctly...........or if the rule is just ignored. Regardless.........Rhet was defnitely looking good.........and I was no worse for way. Not bad...................for a day of clipping............

Later that afternoon I took Gypcy over for Dennis Wigren to look at her. R O Lervick is the farm that bred her and they have been interested in seeing her since she was born. I also wanted to get an idea of what kind of a price

I should be putting on this filly in the current economy and Dennis was the perfect one to ask. He knows what they are selling horses of their breeding for and he'd know what would be reasonable for Gypcy.

Dennis was impressed with Gypcy. He thought she was big for a three year old. He also thought she was exceptionally pretty. When I asked him what he thought about price, he answered with, "What were you thinking?" Just what I wanted to hear.......but when it was all said and done and he'd told me his thoughts we were really on the same page. The starting price he would ask was higher than I had in mind. Dennis also thought that might help get her sold quickly. On my list of things to do when I get home.........get Gypcy listed on the AHA website.

The only thing left to deal with at this horse show...........Rhet's class.......

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

Rhet's Big Day

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The Adventure Continues..........Moving On.......

The Adventure Begins

I'm not the only one that didn't get a ribbon in my class. Jesse's rider didn't get one either. The rider he had in the second section also didn't make the cut and he was riding a national champion western pleasure horse. Both of Jesse's riders had had good rides as well. It just goes to show.........you just never know what those judges are going to be thinking.

For me, I knew going in these judges seemed to be interested in a draped rein far more than pretty movement and true gaits. The way I had watched them place classes before me was pretty much how this one was placed from what I could tell.

The other thing I'd noticed was horses that didn't have true gaits were right there in the thick of the ribbons.......but that's horse showing. You pay for that person's opinion for the day and in this case it's the opinion of three people.
Looking at the cards would have probably given me more insight into who was looking at what. I usually pay great attention to that as well since it helps me in making future decisions about showing to judges. At this show, I just didn't seem to get that done so while I know what these judges did as a panel, I really don't have a look at them as individuals. Something I regret for sure.

The way this turned out isn't going to change how I ride my horse. I still have the same goals. I want my horse soft with true gaits and I'll give it as long as it takes to get there. I believe eventually my strategy will pay off. In the meantime I've got a lot more work to do.

With my western pleasure class out of the way the only thing that really changed in my work load at the show was I didn't have to work Legs. Since I'd been working him three times a day, I figured I'd give him a couple of days off. Then I'd school him some more to take advantage of the environment at this show. It certainly was more intense than anything he'd be exposed to the rest of the year so I wanted to make the most of it.

By Wednesday the decision was made to officially scratch Gypcy from her class. While the filly had finally begun to pick up some weight she was nowhere near what she needed to be to show. There was no point in taking her out and showing her when she didn't look her best.

The sole purpose for bringing Gypcy to this show was to get her seen so hopefully I could get her sold. Scratching the class pretty much ended all hopes of that happening. I was really disappointed.

The only people who had seen the filly at all had been those from Texas who were stalled right next to her. They had fallen in love with this filly when they first arrived at the show. The woman recognized all the horses in Gypcy's pedigree and was wowed by them.

These people didn't make the cut in their class either so they were gone in just a couple of days. However, in that time Gypcy definitely stole their hearts........and when I say hearts, I mean the hearts of the entire family.

Theses people were interested in buying Gypcy.......but needed to sell a horse first. Before they left to return to Texas they made sure they had all the filly's information and knew how to contact me. Just their reaction makes me wonder if Gypcy had shown, maybe I'd have gotten her sold. Who knows maybe down the road something will come of it

With Gypcy scratched from her class, the only horse left to show was Rhet. The colt was picking up weight but still coughing although he seemed to get through schooling without coughing so that was good.

Jesse had a couple of horses to ride as well as a couple of horses to show in halter. Before Rhet was to show, Jesse had show all of them but one filly. In all of those classes Jesse didn't make a single cut. As good as Jesse's horses showed, it just didn't make sense he hadn't gotten a single ribbon. I was beginning to think that maybe this wasn't going to be the best show for us.

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

Thursday's Fare

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Life............and a little PT

Today I started physical therapy for an old injury (yes, it was a horse related injury. one I haven't posted about here yet.) and I'm a little out of sorts. Instead of not posting all together, thought I'd post a few of the pictures I took at the US National All Arabian Horse Show in Tulsa. Hopefully, tomorrow I'll continue with my posts about my nationals trip.

The Adventure Continues..........The Class.......

The Adventure Begins

With all the chaos in the warm-up arena I was glad to hear that final call for our class. When I heard those words, "Your gate is now open." I looked for the quickest, safest possible route to get my horse over toward the in gate.

Normally, riders are always hanging back not wanting to be the first to enter the ring but with all the confusion around us, several riders had the same idea as I. Instead of being the first to reach the in gate, Legs and I found ourselves about fourth as we headed through the short aisle way and into the arena.

The minute I got my horse aligned behind those other horses, his head raised up as he braced himself. Whatever relaxation I'd managed to achieve in the warm-up immediately left. The horse resisted my request to jog and maintained the higher stance. We entered the arena with Legs looking more like that parade horse Doug Stewart had mentioned than the soft round horse I'd been riding.

With twenty horses in this class, it would be a while before the gate closed. Since the judging isn't supposed to start until that happens, I had some time to fix this issue. Although I needed to do my fixing in as subtle a manner as possible. Judges can tend to carry their first impression on into their decisions. Still I was glad I'd have some time to school Legs down before the gate closed.

Just trying to push the horse forward into his face was not working. Instead of rolling over the horse was bracing and raising up before he'd roll over. Then that roll over would stop at the first sign of a release. Getting my horse to soften was going to take more.

Legs really is very good about moving laterally off my legs. I'd spent a lot of time in my schooling sessions working on that here but most of the time that was a two handed ride. Now I was hoping Legs would remember all that schooling and respond even though I was riding with just the one hand.

I was really glad I was wearing my spurs. I don't always ride with them. My first request for Legs to move into the wall the horse totally ignored. The second request I asked by applying pressure from my spur only to get something of an acknowledgement of the pressure without the movement I requested. For the third request I made sure I had a firm hold of the horse and I poked him hard. Legs responded with a small sigh and moved laterally off my leg.

It still took a complete lap of the arena before my horse rolled down over into the bridle where he belonged. Thankfully the gate had not been closed yet by the time we finally achieved this goal. It was halfway down the wall before I heard the announcer, Carol Lee, call out "Your gate is closed." Now it was time to see how my horse fit in with the others at this level.

I looked around the arena to see how the horses were spaced and to judge how Legs was rated next to the other horses. To my surprise there really were only a couple of horses jogging any slower than Legs and many of them were moving faster........even though a number of them looked like they were walking in either the front or hinds instead of a true jog.

Even though Legs was moving about the right speed, I felt like he'd speed up if I gave him the chance. That and the usual wanting to get long were always right there. I had to pick my horse every few steps just to keep him together but that's the way he's been for the whole season. It was not something new for this class.

They asked us to walk before they called for the lope. While the normal sequence is usually right from the jog into the lope, I was expecting this change. It's a common practice to throw the amateurs off guard. Legs and I had worked on both transitions so we were ready for either.

When they called for the lope, I took some extra time to set my horse up. I knew with a stressed horse it would be easy for him to take a wrong lead. Legs acted a bit frustrated with the extra hold I took before I asked him to depart but he took the lead correctly and he rolled forward into it instead of raising up and jumping off. It was a nice transition.

Once into the lead, Legs has the tendency to want to string out instead of staying round. This time, however, he stayed square beneath me and loped nice and slow............as slow as the horse knows how to go. Even though he needed to be picked up every two or three strides, I was pleased with how the horse was going. He was clearly giving me the best he had.

It was interesting to look around the arena and see how Legs compared with the other horses. I was surprised to see that many of these horses were loping faster than my horse. At regionals Legs had been loping the same speed as most of the horses, now he was one of the few going slower. It was good to see......especially this direction which is the horse's hard way of going.

The transition down into the walk was not the best. While the horse was round and didn't raise his head, he did jog a few steps before he hit the walk. Ideally the transition should have been a butt tucking movement right into the walk........but that would have to come another day. This was still a good transition for Legs.

It was the second way of the arena that was the ride that really got me. When they asked us to lope, I was at the back of a pack of about eight horses. I waited for the other horses in front of me to lope. I asked my horse to follow immediately. Then I watched those horses leave us.

Most of those horses were rounding into the corner and Legs and I had not hit the halfway point on the rail. I also noted that many of these horses were four beating as well. It was an impressive measure of how my horse is loping compared to the others in the class.

Not only was the lope slow.........it felt as smooth as glass. This was the lope I have been working so hard to achieve and here it was showing up in our nationals class. Even though I was still having to pick my horse up every few strides to maintain this incredible lope, I felt the pride well up in my throat. I knew we looked like we really belonged in this class.......even if we weren't on a draped rein. That day will come.

Our transition down from the lope into the jog was much better than the transition down from the lope the other direction. Legs stayed nice and round and hit the proper speed with the first step. Then he faltered a step or two but it was still a good transition for him. There was nothing about it that would take away from the glow of that amazing lope.

From there they called us immediately into the line-up. Instead of circling around the arena like the rest of the riders, I looked around at the position of the other horses and decided I would turn my horse in the corner and bring him back down the way we'd come. Legs tried to tell me I was going the wrong way with a little resistance at the request. Then he did what I'd asked on moved on through the corner rounding up nicely. I was glad I'd had the opportunity to mix it up so he wouldn't be out thinking me later.

I ended up in the line-up between two men. That may not sound like anything important but around the regions I ride we rarely see more than one man in an amateur class so I began looking around the ring and realized, there were several men riding.........probably a third of the class. When the ribbons were handed out, men took half of them.

and........NO, I did not get a ribbon. I've been saying all along I probably wouldn't unless the whole class fell apart. This class did not fall apart.

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

Moving On

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The Adventure Continues..........The Warm Up.......

The Adventure Begins

Much of the time when schooling in Tulsa I'd needed help to mount my horse. For some reason I was having problems with my saddle slipping to towards me if I tried to mount from the ground without help It didn't matter if it was someone holding my stirrup or if I borrowed a mounting block or small ladders left near the warm-up, either would work. Without this help I just couldn't get the job done.

Usually I don't have this kind of issue except on those rare occassions when I haven't ridden in a while. Then my joints get stiff and I can't seem to even drag myself up into the saddle. After a day or two of getting back into the routine and limbering my joints up, I do just fine mounting from the ground.

At Tulsa, however, I was riding in a different saddle. The only time I use my show saddle is at horse shows. Then I school in it too so I'm used to it by the time I ride my class. Besides, my show saddle is just not that broken in and it can use the extra miles. While I ordered it my very first trip to nationals and it was guaranteed to fit my horse, the saddle never did fit Dandy. I ended up putting it aside and have only recently been riding it again.

This saddle fits Legs pretty well so I only really began riding it when I began to get serious about showing Legs. I have not had this issue with the saddle slipping before Tulsa. I can't say I ever figured out why I was having it now. The one thing I knew for sure if I couldn't mount from the ground in my work clothes, there was no way I'd get into the saddle in my show clothes. The added restriction of those darn chaps are a killer when it comes to mounting.

As we made our way up to the Ford Truck Arena for our class, I was pondering this dilemma. I knew there'd be plenty of people around but it's not always easy to get strangers to help. With my horse being nervous about the area, it wasn't so easy to expect people would be willing. Most people don't want anywhere near a squirrelly acting horse.


I had decided that I wouldn't warm Legs up using the aperture. Changing from that to the full bridle would require getting off and then mounting again. Since I was already worried about getting help to get on, I figured only getting on once would be best. That would make this my first ride on Legs in Tulsa where I hadn't warmed up first with the aperture. Knowing the confinement of the device had helped Legs settle made me wonder what I'd get without it.

As I neared the warm-up outside the Ford Truck Arena a woman walked up to me asking if I was "MiKael." She introduced herself as one of my blog readers and we chatted for a brief moment. Then Dian held my stirrup for me so I could mount my horse.

It probably didn't seem like a big thing to Dian to assist as I mounted but it sure was to me. I had worried about looking less than graceful in the midst of my fellow competitors and I had worried about Legs taking advantage. Now with that out of the way I was ready to get down to the serious business of warming up my horse.

I had not spent any real time schooling my horse in this warm up arena since that day the horse had been scared by the water truck. I had meant to spend time here but just didn't get it done. Now I was wondering if I was going to pay for that mistake. There's just no way to know what a horse is going to remember..........and when.

The warm up was a zoo. There were so many trainers riding around intently schooling their amateur horses sometimes there were six horses abreast coming down the rail. Going the opposite direction was just as bad, there were clumps of horses spread across the rail that way too. Watching those horses meet each other was interesting.......but everyone managed to keep going and doing their thing.

Then between grooms, riders and friends standing in the middle there really wasn't room to cut short the arena to find a better position. It seemed like there were people darting in and out of the confusion all the time. I can't say I'd experienced this kind of congestion at all yet here at Tulsa......but it sure did remind me of the intensity of warm-ups in Albuquerque, even though I think those warm-up arenas were bigger.

I was not sure how Legs was going to deal with all this confusion. He'd done his usual spooking and snorting on the walk up the aisle way. Would he have flashbacks of that water truck or would he settle in and go to work? Would I have a calmer horse when I entered the show ring or would it be a big mess? There was only one way to tell. That was to get into the thick of it to warm up.

The horse started off a little tense. It wasn't the normal kind of excitement I feel before a class. It was more the same tension Legs had been carrying every since the scare but the horse seemed to be listening as I began asking to flex off of my legs.

I was trying to keep the horse out of the goofy traffic hoping to calm him some but it seemed like I was always riding straight into a pack of oncoming horses. Changing directions didn't fix the problem, there were just as many going that way. I was just going to have to figure my way to ride through this mess hopefully without running over anyone........and scaring my horse.

Legs seemed to be handling the traffic ok. Although I could still feel the tension, it wasn't building and his responses to my cues were good. I figured as long as I didn't let that traffic get to me, my horse would be as good as he could so I reminded myself to breathe anytime I got near those packs and I rode my horse.

I'd hoped there would be a brief respite from all the traffic when the trainers stopped riding to get their amateurs mounted up and riding. That didn't really work out because that process seemed to be more staggered than it happens at home. Then when the amateurs were really riding their own horses, it really did get a bit crazy.

Some of those amateurs lacked the confidence to ride in that kind of confusion just like I had done with Dandy those 14 years ago. That just made the warm-up even more confusing and a bit unpredictable. Both Legs and I were going to be glad to be heading into the show ring. Trainers wouldn't be yelling directions at their riders and we'd all be going the same direction and hopefully at the same gait. It was time to get on with the show..................

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

The Class

This picture of Legs and I in the class was sent to me by Dian. Thanks Dian!!

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The Adventure Continues..........D Day Arrives.......

The Adventure Begins

Schooling my horse three times a day at the US National All Arabian Horse Show was making my horse better with his issues in the ring. And I guess you could say we were making progress in that aisle way as well. My horse was still reacting to any little thing but he was containing his reaction to a more suitable response. There was still plenty of twitching but not nearly as many episodes of jumping right through the bridle.

The only real problem I could see was my horse was getting pretty tired. I was worried I was right on the edge of pushing my horse too far.....and I'd have no horse left for my class. I decided Tuesday morning, the day of the section cut for my class, to just ride Legs in the early morning......unless, of course, that ride didn't go well and I had something major to fix. Then and only then would I school my horse at the lunch break.

Since I was riding in section A, we would be the first class of the afternoon session. I wanted my horse to have a longer break from the schooling session to our "real" ride so maybe he'd refresh just a bit. That would also relieve some of the stress associated with cramming schooling and getting the horse show groomed into that short amount of time. The last thing I needed at this point was my horse to pick up any stress from me.

There was that other issue with Legs as well..........the chiropractor. While I hadn't been able to even tell that first day things got weird whether my horse was still sore or not, it became clear by the next day the horse was definitely having more issues with soreness. The horse definitely needed to be worked on by the chiropractor again.

That next session with the chiropractor revealed the initial issue had indeed been masking more problems. The horse had several ribs that were out and increasing soreness in his back and both shoulders. The pain from these things certainly hadn't helped our schooling sessions. Pain can produce trolls where there normally would be none.

The second session with the chiropractor led to a third. The horse was getting better but all of the extra schooling was definitely contributing to more soreness than would usually occur. I was hoping the additional acupuncture would help relieve some of that and make working more comfortable for my horse. Anything I could do to help quiet those trolls, I was definitely doing.

That early morning call of the alarm clock on Tuesday morning was not welcome. My brain just did not want to engage enough even to find the phone to turn the darn thing off. It seemed like forever before I could get my heavy eyelids to open. Once that happened, I did manage to get myself out of bed and up to the barn..

When I entered Legs' stall, the horse just looked at me like I was kidding. He was in no hurry to cooperate with me stripping off his clothes and he reluctantly followed me into the ready room. That deep sigh of his was getting to be a regular occurrence in the saddling process. I sure wished he get things figured out and give me one of those sighs up at the arena.

It was a busy morning in the Ford Truck Arena. I recognized a lot of the trainers riding horses that would be in my class. There were 39 horses entered in the program. This morning it looked like at least half of those horses were getting their "real" schooling session........but not Legs.

I just wanted a nice quiet ride. I still had no big goals.........just quiet. I wasn't going to look for any kind of drape in the reins. The horse just wasn't there yet. The plan was to ride the horse I had.........and the schooling session reflected that.

I actually think the horse was more comfortable with all those other western horses out there. Even if they weren't necessarily heading the same direction or doing the same gait.......at least they were rated pretty much the same. There didn't seem to be many english horses and only a sprinkling of hunter horses, we could pick a spot and pretty much stay with it despite the number of horses in the ring.

We did our usual flexing and bending. I tried to work off the rail a bit so I could push the horse laterally in the corners. Legs did pretty much everything I asked but I could still feel that tension that had been there for days. Still, the horse did what I asked.......so I kept the session brief and then we headed back to the stalls. Considering where we'd been four days ago, I thought we were doing pretty darn good. I was confident I could get the horse through the class without a major incident.........well.............as long as no REAL trolls showed up.

Once back at the stalls, Jesse's group was working on getting their horses ready to school. Jesse had two riders in my class. One would ride in the first section with me. The other would ride in section B. Watching them scurry around getting ready, I was sure I'd done the right thing getting Legs schooled early. Then giving the horse time to relax before he needed to be groomed up to show.

Once the horse was back in his stall having breakfast, I set off for the arena to get my own. Once there I even watched a few classes, relaxing for the first real time since I'd arrived. I was definitely working on C A L M........something that had been in short supply my first trip to nationals those 14 years ago.

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

The Warm-Up

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The Adventure Continues..........a Little Back Stage Drama.......

The Adventure Begins

I'd been out there on that darn ramp schooling for so long my new friend came looking for me. She was far more impressed than Doug Stewart with the "jog" my Arabian stallion was currently exercising. Although not seeing it from the ground myself I'm really not sure if it looked like a jog or that Spanish walk Doug had referenced. The point was we took forever out there getting that horse to walk.

Legs did finally walk. We walked up and down that ramp a couple of times. I wanted to be sure he really would walk heading toward the stalls before we quit. I sure didn't want to reinforce any thoughts about rushing back to the stalls. I had enough problems with this horse.

Once we did get a nice flat footed walk, I dismounted right near where I'd left the horse's cooler. For the first time since all of this began I heard a deep sigh from my horse in the proximity of that aisle way. I certainly hoped this was a sign that better times were to come but still I planned on schooling at the next break.

That's pretty much how it went from then until the day of my first class. I schooled my Arabian horse in the Ford Truck Arena at each break. Each ride got better and better but the progress was slow. It was only the day before my class when I finally decided it was safe to even try schooling in the full bridle.

In between schooling sessions with Legs, I cleaned stalls at least a couple of times a day and Jesse would have a schooling session with Gypcy and Rhet. It seemed like that was about all there was time for. I rarely got the chance to watch classes. If I did it was just one or two at a time and usually I didn't fit in more than a couple a day.

From the western classes I did see, it was clear to me that riding a horse on a draped rein was a big priority to these judges. Good movement and true gaits didn't seem to be nearly as important as the drape in that rein. I doubted that Legs and I make the cut with that kind of criteria. The only real chance we'd have would be if the rest of the class was naughty........not likely........but possible I guess.

It has been a while since I have attended the US All Arabian National Horse Show. It seemed to me the competition was deeper than I remember from years in the past. Not only was the quality of horses better but the extent of their training seemed to be more advanced as well.

As I've said before Legs and Rhet were stabled side by side at this show. The only reason I mention it again is by now, Legs and Rhet had become fast friends. Being able to visit through the openness of the top half of those stalls gave the horses the opportunity to play.

I probably would have thought it was cute if Rhet didn't have that darn cough and snotty nose. To see Legs and Rhet licking each other's faces and playing with each other's lips only made me worry about Legs getting sick.

I was pretty sure that Rhet was not contagious. After all he'd had this thing at home for weeks and not one other horse caught it. Yet I figured with my luck, Legs would be sick before we even got to ride his class.

That snotty nose sure didn't bother Legs. If Rhet was pushing his face up to the 2 by 4 mesh, Legs was right there loving on him. I tried to take pictures of this exchange between the two horses but each time I showed up with the camera, the horses turned to look at me and stopped playing. I never even got close to catching them.......but I can assure these two horses spent a fair amount of time sucking each other's lips.

The other thing that seemed to amuse my horses was playing with their clothing. With all the extra layers they were wearing there were lots of things to keep them occupied but hoods seemed to be the number one point of contention with each horse............and I can't say that I blame them. The darn things look more like some kind of mummy suit than something comfortable.

The new hood I bought for Rhet never did fit him that well. After about the third time of finding him standing lost in the thing, I finally gave up. I think the only reason I managed to get a picture of Rhet this way is he couldn't see me coming.

I put that hood on Gypcy and let Rhet wear hers. That worked better.........but not great. At least I didn't come in the morning and find Rhet banging into the walls because he couldn't see.

Gypcy did managed to get the hood into the same compromising position as Rhet. The mare just froze instead of trying to escape. When I found her "blinded" by the hood. She had her head dropped to the ground and just stood there. She didn't even move when I came in to help.......despite the fact her normal response to me is to flee.

But Hey! What the heck! Legs shouldn't be the only one getting all the attention. It only makes sense the others would find something to get their share. Someone remind me next time I think I need to take three horses to the same show, that I really need a groom. Keeping up with all their needs, let alone their antics was exhausting.

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

D Day Arrives
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The Adventure Continues..........the Show Goes On.......

The Adventure Begins

Climbing out of my bed at 5:30 in the morning to get my horse schooled before the first session would have been hard enough without the temperature dropping near freezing. With the wind chill factor the temperature was more like the worst Washington winter than anything I'd expected in Tulsa.

I managed to stay warm enough sleeping in my horse trailer. It was getting dressed that was the challenge. My clothes were so cold it felt like I was putting on icicles instead of clothing. I was immediately shocked awake as the first cold item hit my skin. Then I scurried to get my layers quickly so I didn't lose anymore heat than necessary. It was a rude way to start the day.

I don't think Legs was much happier to the start to his day than I was to mine. When I walked into his stall to catch the horse, the stallion headed for the farthest corner and glared at me. As I pulled his blankets off over his head the horse was shaking his head and I swear I heard a horsey version of "Brrrrrrrrrrrrr" roll of his lips.

Going up to the arena that early on a particularly cold day is always a bit quieter than usual. Even though people had classes, the cold weather just seemed to slow folks down. That made my trip to the arena with Legs a little calmer but only because with less people and horses there were less distractions to startle him.

I'd decided to see if Legs would handle the walk down that aisle way better if I rode him instead of walked beside him. I stopped near the two warm-ups next to the Mustang Arena to pull off his cooler and bridle the horse. Once that was done I looked around for a place that might serve as a corner for me to mount because there was still no way the horse was going to stand still without using some kind of boundary like that.

With his nose in a make shift corner, Legs stood ok for me to mount but he reached around to bite my foot once I was on. I can't even tell you how long it's been since he's thought about a trick like that. Poor Legs was still convinced this place was evil and I wasn't being a good mother. In his opinion it was my job to get him OUT OF THERE and instead I was making him stay.

As I turned the horse moving onto the path, the horse sighed his concerns. I worked him laterally off my legs all the way up to the Ford Truck warm-up arena. The horse got through this exercise ok but it was obvious he was still searching for those trolls. I was hoping we were making progress but I was soon to find out that was NOT the case.

Our ride in the Ford Truck Arena was pretty much just like the one the night before. The horse was tense but mostly stayed rated and did his job. Little noises would cause his muscles to twitch but he didn't jump out of the bridle although he did speed up a few times but came back to me easily.

Up to this time, I'd been riding the horse in the aperture and using two hands. Even with the response I was currently getting from the horse, I knew he still wasn't ready for me to change over and ride with just one hand. At this rate it would be a while before I was ready to even think about riding with the romel reins. We were a long way from being ready to show.

I was still schooling when the announcement came the tractor was on it's way. We made our way to the exit and worked our way past that tractor and towards the dreaded aisle way. I don't know if that tractor caused flashbacks of the first encounter with it and the water truck or what but my horse would no longer walk with me on his back. Maybe it was a form of the barn sour horse just wanting to get back to his stall. Legs started to jig.

Jigging is not something I have experienced with Legs often. He's just the kind of horse who always wants to give you what you want and he seems to know jigging is just NOT one of those things. Even when he's scared, anxious or impatient, jigging is not his normal way to get through it. Yet here I was with a jigging horse.

I decided that I wasn't going to take Legs off that ramp until he would walk. I had no idea it would take a couple of hours to get to that point.......but it did. So Legs and I just worked our way up and down that walkway.........over and over.................back and forth.............flexing and bending. At one point Doug Stewart saw us and commented it looked like Legs was practicing some kind of Spanish walk or parade walk. It was slow..........that was for sure........it just wasn't a walk.

I threw in as much lateral work as I could. If the horse was going to not do what I asked, I wanted to make his job as difficult as possible. Legs has his butt tucked up under himself about as tight as it could possibly get. I could hear him making small grunting sounds protesting at the degree of difficulty but he just wouldn't let go of that tension. His eyes darted right along with his ears...........sure something was lurking there just to get him.

I watched horses and riders come and go as rode their elimination rides in the Ford Truck Arena. It was interesting to see the tack and attire change as each new wave make its way past Legs and I schooling on that darn aisleway. We got more than our fair share of strange looks. I'm sure some even thought I was nuts........but we stayed..........until the horse walked.

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

A Little Back Stage Drama

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The Adventure Continues.........and Back to Schooling............and a little Gizer.......

The Adventure Begins

I didn't get much time to digest the enormity of the issues facing Gypcy and Rhet before it was time for the dinner break. I found myself hustling to get the Legs saddled and back to the ring in time to have a reasonable schooling session.

The trip up to the ring seemed to go just the same. The horse jumped out of his skin at every little thing. Legs was convinced it was not safe to be in that aisle way between the Ford Truck Arena and the Mustang Arena. Yet that was the only way to get where we needed to go. By the time I'd got him to the warm-up where I could mount, the horse already had sweat beaded up on his neck from the stress.

Once again I rode a tense horse into the Ford Truck Arena. I could feel the bow in his back and see his darting eyes. The horse was looking for something to get him but still trying to do what I asked.

It's not like these rides at Tulsa were like those I'd had at home. I was still trying to ride the horse I had instead of the one I'd hoped to have. Getting a relaxed horse was not going to happen in the time I had to school. Instead I was working toward responsive and not on the muscle. As long as I had those two things, I was calling it good.

Fortunately no big bad things happened to re-enforce the horse's fear. I'm not going to tell you the horse ever relaxed because he never did. That bow was still in his back when we departed the arena. We did, however, manage to school without major incident.

There's one advantage to riding a horse with a big bow in its back.......at least that back is round. Legs was also working hard to tuck his butt for protect from those invisible trolls .......another good thing for schooling. While it would have been ideal to have relaxation happening along with that kind of collection, at least my horse was round........and boy do I mean r o u n d.

Once out of the arena, I dismounted, pulled off the aperture, removed the bridle and covered the horse with a cooler. Legs was fine just standing for me although I could see he was still vigilant. The minute we stepped out into that aisle, everything changed. The horse was practically twitching as we moved down the aisle. In three schooling session there had been absolutely no improvement in his behavior.

By the time we reached the end of that aisle, both the horse and I were sweaty. As cold as that Tulsa wind was I ended up in my shirt sleeves. I was beginning to hate that walk as much as poor Legs. I was going to have to do something to improve this situation.

I thought about the difference between my horse in the aperture and walking him down that aisle way in a halter. I wonder if maybe I could get the aperture to work for me. The next day I was going to leave it in place and walked him down the aisle to see what I had.

I can tell you honestly, with three schooling sessions in the same day, I was beginning to drag.........and this was just day one. I decided Legs had improved enough it might be ok to skip another schooling session that night after evening classes ended.

I hoped when I resumed schooling the next day I wasn't going to pay a price for this decision. There was just no way to tell if I really was making lasting progress or not yet I didn't want to spend so much time schooling this horse that I had no horse left when it was time to show. For now I was going to take my chances and give us both a break.

By this first day of classes, I had finally moved my trailer down into the assigned parking lot. The show commission had personnel on a golf cart waiting at the gate to show people where to park.

At this late date I was surprised to have them escort me down the second aisle. I was praying for a spot not underneath one of those big lights and believe it or not, that's exactly what I got.

It was amazing looking around at this sea of horse trailers. They came in all shapes and sizes...but most of them were much newer than mine......and most of them were white. Yet, there sitting right on the same aisle was a trailer I knew must have a story. Oh how I wish I knew what it was............

I never did find who belonged to that trailer.........or you can bet I'd be telling you that story. You're going to have to settle for this picture and your imagination to fill in the blanks................ For me it sparks a smile and a determination I can relate to............

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

The Show Goes On

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