Memorial Day........Seeing a Fallen Soldier Home

I can't think of a more fitting post for Memorial Day than this article from the Washington Times. GETZ: Seeing a fallen soldier home It was published on May 28 just in time for this Memorial Day weekend.

As I read the post, I couldn't help but wonder how many have remembered this holiday weekend is about remembering those who have lost their lives in the service of our country. Over the years the celebration of the holiday eroded into remembering all of our lost loved ones. Not that that's a bad thing but don't those who give their lives for our freedoms deserve to be honored all on their own as this holiday was originally intended.

That erosion, however, was not enough. This holiday has succumbed to being more a celebration of the coming summer and the play season that about honoring anyone. It's an excuse to party and complain about the weather if it doesn't cooperate with one's plans.

It's too bad that many of us in this country have lost sight of the price so many families have paid for our freedoms. We can party and forget about our troubles for a while because of this great country we live in. We can also forget about war and it's cost because we rarely see those wages on our own soil.........thanks again to those who protect us.........and give their lives for us.

I, for one, believe the way to celebrate Memorial Day is in memory of those who have paid the ultimate price for my freedoms and for their families. This timely writing from Ms Getz exposes the selfishness of many Americans while paying touching tribute to the cost this family has given for us. I hope you'll take the time to read it and that this Memorial Day has been as memorable for you as it has for me.

Note:Thanks to the friend who forwarded me this link in an email. The fact this email reached me within only two days of the publishing of the article gives me hope there are some Americans out there who haven't forgotten the price our military pay for our freedoms.

The Morgan Show.......... A Little Mystery......

Part 1

The second "personality" of the horse show showed up in my view on Saturday afternoon. The first time I remembered seeing this face was in the show office asking about the particulars of the exhibitor's party. There was to be a potluck as part of the festivities and he was wanting to know how could participate and what they should bring.

I remember at the time registering some sort of internal warning signal about this guy. I can't tell you why that was, just that it was there. He seemed polite enough but somehow he struck me as being out of place at a horse show. The alarm bells were dually noted and logged away for later use.

Not long after his departure another of the "personalities" from the show arrived on the scene. This woman I knew from past shows, a political time bomb waiting to go off. I knew to steer clear of her antics if at all possible. On this day she was muttering about "one unhappy exhibitor" but not really addressing anyone in particular. I recognized the lure as the bait it was and passed on being manipulated in such a manner.

Before long the woman returned. This time she was more direct telling me there was an exhibitor who needed to speak with me. I took a deep breath and followed her outside curious to see what kind of drama was going to unfold.

Outside on horseback was an angry woman. She reported a man was "racing" through the barn area in his car. When she'd told him to slow down, he told her to "get her f***ing horse out of my way." Now the car was parked off to the side of the warm-up arena. She described the man and and told me he was "hiding" from the angry woman. The woman who'd retrieved me from the show office had the license number written down on paper for me.

There's always problems with parking on the fairgrounds. The facility does not want vehicles parked except in designated areas. The only exceptions to this rule must have permits. They even have an attendant in a gate house near the entrance to the facility.

The purpose of that attendant is to keep out restricted vehicles. However, sometimes the attendant is proactive and sometimes NOT. At this particular show the attendant was not all that proactive from what I could tell. Instead of keeping restricted vehicles out, he'd put up barriers to block off areas that were being used for parking by those unwanted vehicles.

I let both women know I would deal with this man and how I would go about it. First I checked for a parking permit. If the vehicle had one of those I could track down the source of this driver. If not, I could have the vehicle towed if it wasn't removed immediately. That should take the offending driver out of the area where horses, riders and spectators might be at risk of careless driving.

There was no parking permit sitting on the dashboard of the offending vehicle. As I returned to speak with the two women, I passed the man I'd seen earlier in the show office. He did not look to me like the man that had been described earlier. I just made another mental note, there's "that" man again.

I rejoined both women still in front of the show office. By now the rider had dismounted. She was still fuming and clearly being fueled by the political time bomb. As I was explaining to them my options, the angry woman said, "There he goes!" I looked over to see two young men walking by neither of whom fit the description I had been given.

Now the woman was even angrier and pointing down the road. Then I saw a silver car turning the corner. The woman told me that was the man she was talking about. I didn't see enough to tell how fast this man was driving. I still had nothing but the statement of this woman that the driver was going to fast for the conditions BUT the car was off the grounds and that was a start.

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

The Morgan Show.......... A Little Stress

Part 1

I did have "people" issues during this horse show. There always seem to be those. I just never know what the specific issue will be but someone will not be happy and the buck stops with me.

That makes me a target for angry people even when I might have no control over what has them pissed. I still must stay within the confines of the rules of the governing organizations and of course the facility so it's not always within my power to fix some things.
Most times people will calm down with a simple explanation. Just having someone hear their complaint, even if it can't be fixed, is enough for them to feel understood. Others aren't willing to accept that and can take it out on me or even others at the show.

As a show manager, USEF gives me the tools to deal with exhibitors who might cross the line. I try to be fair and even allow people to vent but at the same time I don't want to be abused either.

Sometimes people haven't read their rules so they don't realize that they can be barred from a competition for disrespecting officials, any officials. Depending on the allegations, USEF members repercussions can go as far as actually barring membership from USEF and participation at USEF events for inappropriate behavior at horse shows.

The range of unacceptable behavior can be anything that might be considered unsportsmanlike as well as disrespecting officials or rules. Once an exhibitor filed charges against another for harassment at a show. Even throwing a ribbon in a trash can because one is miffed it wasn't good enough, can have repercussions if show management sees such behavior.

I have never actually brought anyone up on charges nor have I threatened to do such but I would it the situation warranted. Mostly I've been able to talk people down by getting them to see the other side of the situation. Sometimes, however, that is not enough.
There are those people who want what they want and they don't care about the rules. Because they cannot get their way they are going to make someone, anyone miserable. Those are the people the rules are designed for, to keep such people under control and apply consequences if they act out. Sometimes it can be a fine line between how much I "take" as a show manager and when to draw that line in the sand.

One of the move in nights before the horse show started, I came across one pretty angry exhibitor. About the time we were trying to close up the show office, she came in insisting lights be turned on so she could lunge horses in the covered warm-up arena.

At this facility none of the lighted areas are designated lunging areas. I realize that can be a problem sometimes but it is not withing my power to authorize lunging in places not approved by the facility. I told the exhibitor this and pointed out what areas she could use to lunge.

She still insisted that didn't work for her. She wanted to lunge in a restricted area, the outdoor covered warm-up arena. Her horses had been travelling in the trailer for six hours and she believed they should be lunged and lunged now. To meet her needs she expected me to accommodate her no matter what the rules. When I told her that wasn't possible, she snapped at me she would never be coming to this show again.

I wish I could say that's where this stopped but it isn't. I ended up with this exhibitor taking her anger out on me for a good three quarters of an hour from start to finish. Not something fun, that's for sure, but also not something I have to tolerate.

I followed the exhibitor outside and over to the covered warm-up. There someone from her party was working a horse in lines in the restricted arena. I had to tell them the horse must be removed from the area immediately. From there it pretty much went down hill.

I think the person working with the horse got rattled because in trying to get the horse stopped the horse partially reared acting like it was considering flipping over. The angry exhibitor took over getting control of the horse which couldn't have helped that horse much . Then she proceeded to untack the horse before it was removed from the arena. The whole time she continued venting at me.

I stood there listening but not responding to her tirade. To be honest I was trying to decide when enough was enough. The way she was behaving was anything but respectful of my authority or my presence. Personally I believe she strung out how long it took to get the horse out of the arena so she could continue to vent at me.

I did not write this exhibitor up for her behavior at the horse show. I certainly would have been justified in doing so. In all my years of horse show management experience, I have never experienced an exhibitor who has knowingly gone off on me in such a manner.

I've had a couple of exhibitors get started down that path until they realized who I was. Then they apologized for their behavior and made a hasty retreat. It was obvious those exhibitors understood they were walking a fine line.

This woman I don't think has a clue that line is even there. If she does, then she really doesn't care that it exists. She clearly didn't care about anyone but herself. I can assure you if she crosses that line with me again, she will be learning what the consequences can be. I was willing to give her the benefit of having a bad day once, but it won't happen again.

I have no intention of enabling her bad behavior so she can inflict it on other show personal when she doesn't get her way. It's hard enough to get people to work on horse shows as it is without having the threat of dealing with such circumstances. Once confrontation like this would stop most from ever working on a horse show again.
For me, I was glad my horse was there. After this confrontation I went into his stall and groomed on Legs until the tension finally left my body. I know managing horse shows will be stressful but this kind of stress just isn't supposed to be part of the deal. Now that I was in the middle of it, I was really glad I had the best stress reliever I know there on the grounds to help me through it. Otherwise it would have been a very very long horse show.

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

A Little Mystery

The Morgan Show.......... A Little Something New for Legs.....

Part 1

Getting up at 5:30 was getting pretty old by Saturday morning. When my alarm went off I felt more like pitching it across the room than getting my b*tt out of bed. The snooze alarm is not my friend. It only makes me meaner. I swear I'm better off just getting up and going for it than trying to catch an extra forty winks.

The only thing that made the early hour feel not so daunting was knowing I would get to spend some time with my horse. This far into the show I was really realizing the advantage bringing my horse had been. I was definitely a lot less stressed and there had certainly been enough tests to have be tied up into one huge knot. Instead I didn't feel stressed at all.........just plain tired.

By the time I got to the fairgrounds my mind was already buzzing about the footing. I was really hoping that the fixes I'd made the day before were going to be it. Footing can change so drastically with a simple weather change, I didn't really know what to expect.

Legs was napping when I got to his stall. I guess he was exhausted from this show too. Even though he hadn't done the kind of work he normally does at horse shows, I think the commotion all around him and those loud speakers blaring class calls and announcements all day wear the horses out too. He looked up at me when I opened his stall door with a look that read, "You've got to be kidding!" I had to put the halter on the horse and cluck several times to get him to his feet.

Funny how he can be dragging one minute and tossing his head at me the next. When we walked up to the arena, the little bugger flipped his head and even half reared not wanting to enter the arena. This time I knew his reaction was more about wanting to do something different, that really being afraid of entering the arena. With all the commotion of the show, I hadn't allowed the horse any sight seeing at all. Something this horse really likes to do!

My ride was short and sweet. I think I took longer warming the horse up than I actually did riding. The footing felt great underneath us and the horse seemed to have resigned himself to keeping "it" together when asked to be collected.

I felt comfortable letting the paddock announcer's daughter ride my horse in this "spooky" arena would go off without a hitch. I was thinking we'd get that done at the lunch break and then maybe if she wanted to participate in the ride a fiver at the exhibitor party she could use Legs if she wanted.

As usual, those plans got pushed aside. We had trail classes scheduled at the end of the afternoon session. The show committee had hired a trail course designer who not only designed the courses but brought all the stuff and set the course up. Then riders could school their horses on the course (and get tips on how to ride these particular courses ) for 5 bucks a go. That meant it wouldn't be until after trail that S would ride Legs.

I know that Legs had started off being a little goofy about this arena. I also know from past experience that Legs is usually just fine when I put a kid on him. Doesn't matter how much experience the kid has, Legs usually goes into caretaker mode. I was counting on that here.

S does have experience riding. She just doesn't have her own horse. She has experience showing and has done pretty well. I just didn't know how the way she was taught would mesh with what Legs knows.

The way things turned out the exhibitor party was going on before we actually got to Legs. That meant they were using the show arena for their party games so S would be riding Legs in the outdoor arena where the trail classes had been.

I'd had S tack the horse up while I finished up with trail. Immediately afterwards, the trail course designer and her partner began dismantling the course while I warmed Legs up in the other half of the arena. That all seemed to be going ok so I went ahead and put S aboard my horse.

It took a couple of times to get her stirrups right. What she thought was good turned out to be too long and Legs wasn't quite sure what to think of S in the saddle.

I don't know if she was nervous or tense because it turns out the horse's cues were totally foreign to her. It started off with my horse going high headed more like a Morgan horse than rolled over looking like an Arabian and it took some work for her to get him rolled over where he belonged.

I think part of that had to do with her hands. She held them high like she was riding an English style horse instead of down lower. Then when I told her how to get him to lower his head, she'd catch him just as he'd start to drop confusing him. It was just a little error in timing but she hung in there and eventually got it.

All the while she was riding, that trail course was coming down. Legs seemed to be paying attention to the moving trees, poles and such as they were being moved into a dark horse trailer right near where we were schooling. The horse was still listening to S too but I could tell he had concerns about the noise and stuff.

At one point S asked the horse to lope. Just as she cued him, the man inside the horse trailer dropped some poles. Legs began to buck.

I don't know if it was the clashing poles or if S over cued the horse but either way it wasn't a "I'm going to dump you kind of buck" as much as it was the "spring being over tightened" looking kind of thing. I watched S's face as I told her what to do and the kid did good!

She wasn't frightened. She just pushed the horse on through as I instructed., pulled him into a small circle and spanked him for protesting no matter what his issue was. Then she came in and shortened her stirrups yet again, another two holes, no less. With the horse bucking she could tell the length was still much longer than helpful.

S didn't try to lope the horse again after that but she did work him at the walk and the jog. She figured out how to move him laterally off her legs and she finally got him going looking just like an Arabian horse. Both his jog and his walk looked just like they should and were well rated. The horse looked relaxed as did the rider.

Her mom told me later her friends had all been watching her ride the Arabian stallion. Mom thought S was stressed that she might make a fool out of herself in front of them.

I don't know what her friends thought but I thought she did a great job of adapting to riding a horse trained totally different from anything she'd ever ridden before. In the end the horse was looking just like he should. That would never have happened had S not figured it out.

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

A Little Stress

The Morgan Show.......... Wrapping Up Friday.....

Part 1

Luckily for me the evening maintenance man knew exactly what he was doing. When I told him the current issues with the arena, he told me what to do before I could get the words out of my mouth. We were on the same page and that meant it was more likely to get the job done and done right. I was looking forward to getting this problem solved once and for all.

Again I had the paddock announcer let the exhibitors know the ring would be closed down a bit earlier for maintenance before the start of the evening session. That way if anyone really needed to get into the arena to school they'd know it had to be done immediately instead of waiting until the last minute before the evening session was to start.

There didn't seem to be any rush up to the ring. I was hoping that wasn't because people hadn't heard this announcement but then I've noticed that the Morgan horse trainers don't seem to spend the amount of time schooling before sessions like the Arabian trainers do. If this had been an Arabian horse show, the trainers would have been scrambling to make sure they got their schooling time.Maybe that goes back to the breed thing and Arabian horses having keener senses that cause them to react to things other breeds of horses don't seem to notice.

Then on the other side of that coin I see the Morgan horses seem to to hotter in the ring than the Arabians. Maybe that's because a lot of those horses are not schooled before each session in which they have a class like the Arabians so they haven't had the chance to "see" what might be or not be there.

It's always interesting to me to see what the differences are between the different breed shows and to wonder what might cause them. I sure it's not all about the breeds of horses themselves. People and their personalities must play a part as well.

There were no complaints about this early close but then I suspect that's because there's a lot of "dirt" to school on at this facility. Since the weather had dried out, the outdoor arena was good to go and I'd had it unlocked to take up some of the slack caused by my closing the arena down early. When I looked outside, I did see a few horses out there schooling in the sun.

I monitored the work in the arena making sure it wasn't going to take longer than the time allowed. I pride myself in running a tight ship with classes starting on time. There's nothing that stresses exhibitors out more than an unpredictable schedule.

At one point it looked like we were really pushing the limits getting this kind of work done between sessions. It was a good thing the man on the tractor knew exactly what he was doing. The judge and her ring steward were standing at the gate ready to walk in as the tractor made its last pass around the arena.

The evening session sailed along pretty well. A couple of times I checked at the gate, it seemed like exhibitors were lagging back instead of coming up when called. Other than that this judge seemed to be moving the classes through pretty well. We were finished with the evening session before it was dark.

I made a walk through the barns while the show secretary wrapped things up in the office. Even though this show has hired night security to do checks of the barns every two hours, I like to know that things are as they should be before I leave for the night.

The last place I stopped was to check my horse. I gave him his grain and some good scratches and told him about my plans for him before leaving for the night.

Earlier that day I had offered to let the paddock announcer's daughter ride Legs. The teenager had been lamenting about not having a horse to ride so I'd offered up Legs. My thoughts had been we'd get it done at the lunch break. Mom hadn't mentioned it to her daughter because she wanted to be sure that I was serious. Then I was hoping we'd get it done at the dinner break but my work with the footing didn't leave us enough time for then either. Now I was telling Legs it was going to have to wait until Saturday.

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

A Little Something New for Legs

The Morgan Show.......... Footing and My Horse

Part 1

I arrived at the Evergreen State Fairgrounds at 6:30 Friday morning. The first thing I did before getting my horse was to go visually check the arena to see how it turned out after it's makeover from the night before.

The footing looked good from the rail but I also went out into it to check it more closely. I did some bouncing and I kicked at it in several different places checking for spring. Particularly I looked at place I knew had been more hard than others. From what I could tell it appeared to be good by that measure as well.

It was only after I got onto my horse and began working down the rail that I could feel the footing still left lots to be desired. Funny how it could feel plenty springy with me walking on it, yet jogging on horseback it felt totally flat.

At the lope the issue with the footing was even more obvious. There just wasn't enough spring in the dirt to hold up enough for even a few rides let alone a whole session. It would take some digging to add more loft into this footing. The question was how much.

There's a fine line between too deep and not enough. The other thing is different events can require different footing and even different disciplines can have different footing needs. If you keep the reiners happy, the pleasure horses will have fits. At least I didn't have those issues to deal with since we had no reining classes at this show. Still in my book the footing situation is one of the most important issues to taking good care of the horses. It was imperative to me that this situation be rectified.

For the first time I realized the advantage of having my horse at the show to ride. It gave me a clear idea of what the footing must feel like to my horse. This important perspective to the quality of the "dirt" definitely put me on the right path to resolving my footing issues.

Before I finished my ride I made sure I checked all portions of the arena. I wanted to know exactly what it was like in all areas so I could direct the fairgrounds crew as what fixing was needed where. The rail was the obvious issue because of the amount of traffic it gets but the fix for that wouldn't necessarily be a good fix for the rest of the arena.

When I exited the arena I went straight over to the grounds crew to tell them what I needed. I got an estimation on time for the project. Then I went back to the office and got the paddock announcer to begin letting the exhibitors know the arena would close early for maintenance so they'd know exactly how much time they had left for schooling before the ring closed.

There's nothing as an exhibitor I hate more than thinking I have time to school only to get there to have the ring closed early for maintenance. Not being able to get needed schooling time in is a pain in the you know what. Hopefully with announcements that scenario would be avoided. The arena would get fixed and the exhibitors would be happy all around.

After the arena was finished, it really didn't look much different on the surface than it had looked first thing in the morning. I knew it was different because of the depth we'd dug up but if it was enough I wouldn't know until a whole session or riding classes had "beaten" it down.

The half of the first session of the morning was in hand classes. Between halter, dressage suitability and horsemanship classes, the footing on the rail was not going to get much of a test of how it would hold up. The few performance classes remaining would affect it but probably not enough for me to have the answers I needed.

I listened closely as the first performance class came in. There was definitely a difference in the sound of the horses' hooves hitting the dirt. Exhibitors comments through the morning said the footing was good still the big question was would it hold up.

At the break the grounds guy asked me if the footing was good, I let him know what I knew at the time. Still the issue was would it hold up through a whole session of performance classes. I let him know I would know more by the conclusion of the afternoon session. In the meantime we would take our usual "fluff" type drag before the start of that session.

It's funny how much I can detect by just listening. I think sometimes it has to do with my not great eyesight. My body seems to have compensated by enhancing my other senses. My hearing, smell, taste, feel and even my hearing are on past normal and into beyond. In this situation with the footing I could tell about 3/4 quarters of the way through the afternoon session that the footing was not good enough. That old familiar thud of hooves pounding on the rail told me all I needed to know.

By now there had been a change of shift for the fairgrounds crew. I didn't know if I had someone competent to fix the arena for me or not at this point. I was wishing I'd trusted my gut and done more work on the footing at the lunch break but I'd have to call maintenance to see what I could find out.

At the end of the session the judge and ring steward came into the office for a brief moment before they went off to dinner. The ring steward overheard me moaning about the footing so she popped in with her two cents worth. According to the ring steward it was too deep in the middle and had been since the morning session.

The judge had been complaining about it from the first potty break out the back side to the rest rooms when she'd had to make her way through it. If it was tough for her to walk in, the odds were it was definitely too deep. Information I could have used a lot earlier.

I have to admit this is one of my pet peeves about horse shows. If you have a problem, let someone know. It can't be fixed if no one knows you're having an issue. It's one thing to complain to others who can't do a thing and another to tell someone with the authority to make things right. If you expect it to be "right" you must tell those who can make it so.

Now, I'll admit there are show managers and the like who do not listen to what the exhibitors have to say. To my way of thinking those people are not very good show managers if they aren't tuned in to what the exhibitors need. So instead of keeping your mouth shut because you've run into such management, consider the possibilities that there really are lots of show managers and their staff who DO LISTEN so they can make their shows better. To my way of thinking that's what keeps shows healthy..........good customer service. Don't you think?

Had I know about the depth of the center ring at the lunch break, I could have had this whole footing issue resolved once and for all. With this added information, it's too deep in the center and too hard on the rail all I needed was to dig the arena up crosswise and pull some of the footing from the center out to the rail. It was an easy enough fix and the horses could have had the benefit of it a whole session sooner, IF I had only known.

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

Wrapping Up Friday

A Mare.......A Van...........and Life

Saturday morning I put a mare on a van headed for Wyoming. You'd think I'd be doing a post about that mare and why she was leaving here. That had been my intention at some point since having her leave here sure did tug at my heart strings but sometimes life jumps up and smacks us right in the face so our story goes a different way than we intended.

I called to let the new owner know the mare safely loaded and was on her way to her new home. I ended up leaving my message with an answering machine. When I didn't get a call later, I thought it was odd. This woman was so excited to be getting this mare with her increasingly rare bloodlines this silence was uncharacteristic. Other than an occasional thought here and there about the lack of response, I spent my time wondering how my mare was doing on her trip.

Last evening the phone rang with the distinctive ring that tells me the call is long distance. I thought maybe it was this woman, Sherri Graves. She is a breeder of Arabian horses but looking down at the number it wasn't her. I answered to phone to a male voice asking for Rising Rainbow Arabians and me.

When I confirmed my identify, the voice on the other end tole me he was the brother of the woman who was to receive my mare. He said that Sherri had an accident and was was hospitalized. That's right, hospitalized! The man's voice was shaken. I could hear the worry in his voice.

The man wanted the particulars about the delivery of the horse that was coming to his sister's farm. All he knew was there was a horse arriving sometime. He had no idea any of the details and he wanted to be prepared since he is taking care of things for his sister while she is laid up.

I began asking questions. What had happened to Sherri? Yesterday she was injured by a horse. He didn't know the particulars of what happened. Nobody did.

The woman has severe head trauma and is currently in the hospital in a medically induced coma. They had to take measures to relieve the excess swelling of her brain including adding a drain.

The doctors expect to keep her in a coma for at least a week. It will depend on the swelling whether they add or subtract from that time. They also expect she will be in the hospital at least a month if not longer depending on her status. Other than that they have no idea what to expect about Sherri's recovery.

I know enough about head trauma to know what that means. There are so many variables with head trauma. When Sherri regains consciousness they'll have a starting point but there still will be lots more questions. Only time will tell what lies ahead for Sherri and her family.

I might add a few years back a trainer friend of mine had a severe head injury. His treatment was much the same as Sherri's. His recovery took months but he did get back to training horses. Even is on a video preaching the importance of wearing a helmet.

Just a few days ago I read a friend's blog post about the death of a friend's thirteen year old daughter. The girl died in an accident schooling her barrel horse. Somehow the horse fell and rolled over on the girl killing her.

As I heard about Sherri, my thoughts turned to my blogging friend, this girl and her family too. I don't know if it just feels like there are so many more tragic things happening to people involved with horses or if it's the internet making us all so much closer that we hear about them now.

What I do know is it makes me think about my own mortality and that of my family. . It's hard not to think from time to time about "what if."

Your thoughts and prayers for Sherri and her family and for my blogging friend, Linda and her friends, as well, would be appreciated.

A Sad Day

The Morgan Show.......... Dressage Day Schooling....and Footing

Part 1

Once the dressage court was removed, I had the arena drug before horses came in to school. I'd noticed that even with only 27 dressage rides the rail was sounding hard.

That was one of the things that had frustrated me the year before at this show. I had not had that kind of trouble with the footing packing on the rail at the Puyallup facility in most of the shows I managed. Some of the Arabian shows had had three times as many horses as the Morgan shows. Figuring out how to keep this footing lively was going to take some work.

By the time I did get my Arabian horse into the arena, they were working on decorating the gazebo in center ring. Legs is used to trucks and horse trailers so that kind of commotion didn't bother him one bit but some of the Morgan horses in there for schooling didn't know what to think of vehicles in the arena.

Legs still had not resolved his belief there were trolls living somewhere inside that building. Maybe they were living amongst the truck and trailer but on the rail, in the bleachers was a different story. His reactions were smaller than our previous schooling but it was obvious the horse wasn't over "it."

I was able to do lots of stretching before we even began any collected work. Legs didn't resist dropping his head for anything other than maybe getting a better glimpse at another horse. I was relieved to see we'd reached that point in an arena I believe is the scariest one in our area.

Riding amongst the Morgan horses gave me a more accurate look at the differences between how these horses are shown next to the Arabians. The Morgan western horses are higher headed and allowed to be on a rein with much more contact than the Arabs. Also, the rate of each gait is much slower for Arabian horses. Morgan horses at the lope were lapping us right and left.

While it's true that Legs is now slower than most Arabian horses as well, the Morgan horses going by us were noticeably faster than what the Arabians would have been. I realized as I watched had I been training my own Morgan horse, I would have reached my goals (at least at this level) much sooner because these horses are not required as much collection as an Arabian horse might be.

Guess for me, that's been one of the reasons I've wanted to show Arabian horses all along. I love the challenge presented by the added collection of the Arabian horse.

Over my twenty years of showing I have seen the number of trainers able to attain this goal rise from just a select few to a much greater number. Sure there are still those Arabian horses that are not truly carrying themselves, trying to act like it's the same thing, but the number who are actually "getting it" has risen dramatically.

My ride did not last long. My horse settled in quickly. I was able to work on getting the horse just a little rounder as well as working on that issue Legs has sometimes dropping his shoulder at the lope. It was the first time since the Daffodil show that I'd actually gotten the chance to push forward in our training. It was a good feeling.

Even with the drag before schooling began, I noticed the rail was better but I wasn't sure it was going to hold up to performance classes. There would be a lot more stress to that footing on the rail with more horses travelling over it than the solitary and more circular warm-ups of the dressage riders. I was going to have to get with the fairgrounds crew to see what we could do to improve this situation.

Since this was probably the only evening of the show there weren't going to be evening classes, I made arrangements for someone on the show crew to monitor the night's schooling so I could get probably my last dinner of the week and on to bed early.

Before I left the fairgrounds I talked with the maintenance crew about the footing issue and we formed a plan of how to work the arena that night. I would check it in the early morning to see how it turned out. Then if it still needed more work, there would be time to get it done before the morning session started.

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

Footing and My Horse

The Morgan Show.......... Dressage Day

Part 1

There had been a question about whether it was appropriate for the dressage riders to be schooling their horses on the outside of the court before official schooling began on Wednesday morning. I could understand that some horses would need the opportunity to look at the court before they were asked to perform but adhering to the rules is my primary obligation as a show manager. Doing it in a matter that is fair to all exhibitors carries equal weight.

Once the question was brought to my attention, answering it correctly was the only fair way to go. There would be no Technical Delegate (also known as the USEF Steward) available until just before showtime Wednesday morning so it was up to me to find resolution in a timely manner. It wouldn't help anyone to know the answer after the schooling opportunity was gone so I was scrambling through rulebooks trying to find the answer.

What I found in the USEF rulebook was no reference to schooling before the session at all. There was a reference to schooling before each ride but that didn't cover my question. No reference meant there was no restriction so I allowed the arena to be opened at 6:30 AM for the purpose of dressage riders only walking their horses outside the perimeter of the court.

With a dressage representative from the show committee scheduled to monitor that schooling, it meant for that morning, I didn't need to be at the arena until when the show office opened at the posted time of 7:30.

That was my only morning to sleep in for the entire horse show and believe me I planned to take advantage of it. I don't know what it is about horse shows and plans but this one didn't work out either. I ended up awake so I wound up at the horse show early.

It was a good thing that I did because when I arrived the show steward had arrived and right behind her was our dressage judge. The schedule had been changed because of a decrease in entries and no one had bothered to inform either of these officials, a faux pax for sure. I explained to each our official starting time. The judge went off in search of a Starbucks and the steward went back to her car to stay warm.

It's probably good to mention here that while I school my horses using dressage techniques, these Morgan horse shows have been my first experience managing dressage classes. I participated one time in a dressage schooling show but that's it for my dressage expertise. There are lots of little nuances about the sport that I am learning from a managers perspective.

For those that might be wondering why I don't ride dressage even though I school it, it has to do with two things. One is my depth perception is skewed because of my double vision and those 50 meter circles terrify me. I can ride beautiful round circles, it's getting them to fit the measurement that spooks me.

Then there's sitting the trot. My back hurts just looking at sitting that trot. I know that sitting the trot isn't required at training level but then training level is probably way past my horse's skill and I wouldn't be happy riding him less than his skill level to accommodate my aching back.

Number three reason, and probably the most important to date is it would require new tack. My tack budget is currently slim to none so I must be content making necessary replacements only, not buying tack for another discipline BUT that doesn't mean the day won't come that I try dressage again.......only time will tell.

Another thing I'd like to mention is the weather just out and out sucked on dressage day. We'd had everything from snow, sleet, hail, sideways rain, thunder and lightning the night before and more of the same was scheduled that day.

When the dressage judge arrived, I knew immediately she was our judge. I could tell by the way she was dressed. She was wearing a lovely white fitted spring dress with some kind of black pattern on it. Her outfit was topped off with a matching hat that consisted of a pillbox type crown with a large flat brim. The edge of the brim and the band were trimmed in black.

It was elegant and indeed springlike while our facility felt more like mid winter. I couldn't help but feel for our judge although I understood her desire to portray the elegance of her sport. I was hoping she'd make it through our 27 rides without freezing to death.

Once the judge was in place at the far end of the arena, I got a call from the scribe. If I recall the judge wanted the volume of the music turned down. I made sure the problem was fixed and we moved off towards the first ride.

The first rider entered the arena right on time. Before she had exited the arena there'd been a call to the office. It turns out the horse was disqualified for jumping out of the court. Something I had missed. The information was passed on to the appropriate people so the rider knew what was going on then we were on to the second rider.

There was another call from the scribe asking for the TD at the judge's table. At this point I was beginning to think that maybe dressage was going to be labor intensive on this blustery day. It turned out the second rider was disqualified as well for using a whip that was too long. That rider needed to be notified as well so she wouldn't make the same mistake on later rides.

Later I heard the second rider borrowed the whip because she didn't have time to go back to the barn to retrieve hers. She's just assumed it was appropriate and assuming had cost her scores.

From this point dressage was off and running and I didn't hear much more about it other than a question about the length of break. We were running a few minutes behind. The judge opted to shorten her break to keep us on schedule. Once that was confirmed the information was passed onto the exhibitors and it was all good.

Keeping exhibitors apprised of what's happening with the schedule is always a good thing. I like to have the hours the show office is going to be open posted as well. That way exhibitors know where they stand. Even if they don't utilize the information, it's been available so any issues that might arise around scheduling are of their making.

Most of the horses not showing in dressage arrived that day while the dressage classes were underway. This year's show turned out be be down by ten horses and for some reason it felt like a whole lot more than that. Move in day just didn't seem nearly as frantic as it had the year before.

Maybe that's because I knew what to expect. Then more trainers had sent representatives in the day before to ready stalls for horses. By the time the dressage rides were over most of the pleasure horses were moved in. That meant I'd have time to school my horse once the awards were done and the dressage ring was dismantled.

Can't you just see what Legs would have thought about that white dressage court sitting right smack dab in the center of that spooky arena? Too bad I didn't get that done!

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

Dressage Day Schooling and Footing

The Morgan Show..........a Second Ride

I never did get Legs passed feeling like a coiled spring beneath me. The horse did, however, get to the point he was doing what I asked. I worked on getting the lope nice and slow and keeping the jog true and about the time I began putting it together I got called to do "my real job" for the week.

I decided that I would just tie my horse up in his stall and let him chill while I took care of exhibitors. I knew the work would probably be one big spurt and then it would be just little stuff the rest of the day. Once I got through that spurt I could ride Legs again. I knew by that time there would be other horses in the arena.

When I tied Legs in his stall there still wasn't a single horse that had moved into that small barn. By the time I retrieved my horse for another ride, the barn aisle was buzzing with activity and Legs had horsey neighbors. It was easy to see the horse was happy to no longer be alone.

Going back into the arena was met with mixed reviews from my horse. Legs was relieved there were other horses in there but already convinced there were other bad things there too. Getting aboard was not as bad as the first time but still I didn't have the relaxed horse I normally ride.

The difference in his attitude was enough that I began with my normal workout. I let the horse drop his head clear to the ground stretching out his back as we walked across the arena. A handful of times he started to "pop up" out of that relaxed walk but he dropped back down immediately when I asked. Still I could see the worry on his face, I knew not to take for granted his issues with this arena.

Just like in the Puyallup arena, the horse seemed to dislike the same places on the rail. He didn't like the far end of the arena nor near the mid point of the far side. Then there was that midpoint on the near side that might just catch his attention too, just not as often as the other two. Funny how they can get an idea in their mind and it'll carry over into a new situation.

There was one point on the far end where the horse did a big leap followed by a couple of pretty healthy bucks. I remember thinking the exercises I have been doing to improve my core strength must be working by the way I managed to stay with my horse. I looked around to see in anyone had really noticed my silly Arabian stallion impersonating a rodeo horse. If anyone noticed, I couldn't tell. Everyone seemed to be having their own issues with horses in this arena.

I remember last year on this day I saw a rider hit the dirt. I was told it was a common occurrence for this particular rider but I'm still not really sure what that means. Looking around it seemed possible I would see riders in the dirt again this year. I was just hoping one of those riders wasn't going to be me.

After that one big incident Legs came back to me much easier than the earlier ride. It wasn't too long at all and my horse was loping as slow as he can go on a relaxed rein and keeping himself together better than expected. With just a little more work at the jog, I decided it was time to reward his good behavior and quit. There'd be plenty of time to school the horse the rest of the week.

I toyed with the idea of riding him one more time on that day but then decided I didn't want to burn me out. As stressful as managing horse shows can be I didn't want to push my limits and then pay for it the rest of the week.

Move in days put a lot of mileage on my feet. It seemed like I'd just get back from the farthest barn and there was another reason to go back out there. Whenever I got the chance I stopped by Legs to see how he was managing with his new neighbors.

On one of those checks I found him watching the neighbor hang drapes. She's hung a 2 x 4 across the stall front to attach the drapes to and was using a pretty noisy stapler to attach the drapes. Legs had his nose right up to the corner to get as close to the action as he could be.

The trainer was getting a big kick out of the horse's curiosity. She laughed as I approached and commented about Legs not being afraid of all the racket. I'm pretty sure Legs was dispelling more myths about Arabian horses because it was clear his behavior was not what she'd expected from THE Arab horse.

Legs looked like he was enjoying the entertainment. He couldn't be bothered to come visit me. His nose was still stuck up in that corner trying to get a hold of the corner of her drapes.

I was hoping he wasn't going to figure that out because I knew if he did he'd be dragging that section of stall drape right into his stall. From the looks of it she had just enough of an edge to tempt the horse but not enough of one for him to get into any trouble. Once I was assured he couldn't cause any trouble I was back on out to the far barn.

When things finally slowed down, the show secretary and I closed up the office so we could go to dinner. It's not normal to get to eat at a reasonable time during a horse show so we wanted to take full advantage of it while we could.

I had an ulterior motive for wanting dinner at a reasonable time. There's a restaurant in Monroe that has a dessert that I crave BUT sugar after 7 keeps my up all night. If I was going to get to indulge dinner needed to be at the real dinner hour.

Once we arrived at the restaurant I had trouble figuring out what I wanted to eat. I probably just should have started with dessert and skipped the main course but I finally order some "real" food but only because I could hear Dr Oz or some other TV health guru telling me I should.

I only ate less than half my food and then dove head first into the dessert. Thankfully the show secretary shared one with me because the serving size is probably big enough for a family of four. What is this dessert that makes me salivate just thinking about it? Marrionberry crisp ala mode...................... nummy..............

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

Dressage Day

The Morgan Show..........more on the Lonely Arena

Part 1

I did think for just a moment that maybe I should call the show office and ask the show secretary to come hold Legs for me. I knew the horse would stand if I got help but I didn't want do that if I didn't absolutely have too. As far as I was concerned the darn horse should stand for me to mount no matter what was bothering him so I headed him back to that corner and we tried again.

His second protest the horse still flew out of the corner but this time Legs did not rear. His backward movement looked something like a stock horse that has just come to a sliding stop moving directly into a perfect back. Dirt was flying every which way. The horse was sitting on his hocks as he defied me once again.

If I hadn't had a firm hold of the reins, the horse would have been gone. I had to scramble to block his retreat. Then I headed the horse back to the corner trying to reassure him as we went. Sooner or later I thought he'd figure out there really was no cause for concern but that was just wishful thinking on my part.

This time the horse tried to take another tack to escape this time. As I headed him straight into the corner he moved laterally away from me. Then he turned his head away from me trying to leave.

Pushing his b*tt into my space is not one of those behaviors tolerated from my horse. As it swung into my space I smartly cracked it with my bat. Legs jumped straight into the air as if something unexpected at "got him." I couldn't believe how silly he was being over an empty arena.

It's not like the horse hasn't been in other empty arenas before. Most of the time we actually school by ourselves. Over the years I bet he's been in a dozen or so different arenas without horses and he's never behaved like this. I suspected this was all based in his belief there were no other horses around anywhere AND the fact this was a "new" arena.........to him anyway.

Back in the corner we went, I managed to get my foot into the stirrup and was nearly ready to throw my leg over the top when the horse began to leap. I grabbed his neck stabilizing myself, screamed at him to stop and smacked him firmly on the neck. The horse did as he was told but it was still clear he was not happy. That head of his was shaking side to side telling me he didn't want to do things my way.

I managed to get myself into the saddle. My foot found the stirrup. I righted the saddle back to the middle as the horse tried to move off. Again I thumped him on the neck as "WHOA!" exploded from my lips. Legs stopped again but I could feel the spring coiling up beneath me.

I reached down to pet my horse on the neck. I lowered my voice to a melodic reassuring tone to tell the horse he really was ok. As I adjusted the reins I put my right leg against his side to bend him in a circle. Legs responded by moving laterally off my leg before walking down the rail.

Normally I like to start off a ride with some downward stretches. Still feeling that coiled spring between my legs, I decided loosening my reins and trusting my horse were probably not advisable at the moment. Instead I moved him in an alternating lateral movement down the rail. forming a zigzag pattern.

My horse was relaxing ever so slowly. Ever little creak of the building or clunk from the setting up vendors caused the horse to erupt. I hadn't really expected to school for trolls on this trip but that's exactly what I was doing. Legs was convinced there was something dangerous lurking in this building.

It's time like this I think I should feel old. My sixty three years should be enough to tell me situations like this are better left to the younger set. That's not, however, how they make me feel. Instead I feel in my element, strangely in control and competent. There's something about working through such issues with my horse that make me feel alive and whole.

While Legs was worrying about what was going to get him, I was enjoying the challenge of the ride. After the first time around the arena it was pretty easy to identify those spots that were going to be issues. Once Legs had been frightened in one area of the arena, he was convinced it was not safe to be in that area again. That meant I need to be sure his focus was on me when we came to those spots instead of looking for trouble.

In the beginning of this ride there were a number of pretty animated demonstrations from my horse telling me there were things to pay attention to that I was missing. It's not that Legs tries to dump me and take off when he gets scared. He just wants to get out of there. The intensity of his protestations are directly related to the amount of his fear. Explosions of sorts controlled by the confines of the collection I am asking for.

Because the horse is confined within a frame, all the energy of an eruption must go somewhere. The result is usually a leap straight into the air followed by equally intense movement forward. The horse hits that barrier provided by the bit and gathers all his courage to comply despite his fear. Sometimes there's a buck or two in this process but it's never about dumping me, it's more like a backfire because of too much compression in his engine.

The first couple of laps around the arena saw many of those eruptions. It was something like that work in the aisle way at the US Nationals last fall. I was surprised at the commonality between these two incidents in the behavior of my horse. Even though there was a lot less going on here, my horse was clearly as concerned about this new situation as he'd been with all that commotion in Tulsa. I was grateful for the unexpected opportunity to work through this issue maybe once and for all.

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

The Second Ride

The Morgan Show..........The Lonely Arena

I didn't have long to think about Legs. The groom for the Spokane horses arrived needing a pallet of baled shavings and electricity dropped. To be honest, I just didn't think about the fact that there would be no other horses in that barn.

When I went off and left Legs he was quietly munching his hay like he hadn't really thought much about the lack of horses either. Over the course of that day I didn't see much to indicate anything had changed. It wasn't until the next day when I took him out of the stall to ride him that I became aware Legs was a bit concerned about his surroundings.

According to the contract the door to the main arena was to remain locked until noon Wednesday. I had the trainer with the Spokane horses pushing to get in there and I'd given her that 12 o'clock time. I really thought she'd be ready to school at that time as hard as she was pushing to get in earlier. Also the arena was only going to be available for a few hours before the dressage arena was set up. Anyone wanting to school had to get in there in the afternoon or wait until after dressage the following day.

Despite that fact there really hadn't been many horses moving in on Wednesday morning. Knowing how people tend to move in I figured I'd have plenty of time to ride Legs before the next "wave" would arrive of those people moving in after their kids got out of school or they got off work. I tacked up my horse and headed off for the arena just a little bit after noon.

Poor Legs still had not seen nor really heard any horses on this facility. All the horses that had arrived had gone to other barns. The horse didn't seem to care until I began walking towards that big, quiet arena. The trainer who had pushed so hard to open it earlier was nowhere in sight. We were alone going into this scary building my horse had never seen before.

Just outside the building Legs planted his feet and began to shake his head. Knowing he was defying me by not going forward the horse was convinced he knew better than me. A gesture at his hindquarters was not enough to move the horse forward. The more firm I got the more insistently Legs shook his head at me. He was clearly saying, "MOM, it's NOT safe!!"

I had to smack him on the b*tt with the crop to unlock those planted hooves of his. Even at that the horse went forward reluctantly. The whole time he studied me looking for some clue I had relented so he could flee. The horse did NOT want to enter that arena.

Knowing this horse as I do, I figured he wasn't going to stand still for me to mount. Remember I don't believe in lunging so this was a very fresh horse whose resolve I was testing. The best plan of attack was to take the horse to a corner to climb aboard.

Legs didn't think much of that plan. As we got close to the corner he put on his brakes again. Even though walking to the corner, the horse's back legs went deep underneath him as he nearly sat on his b*tt trying to avoid anymore forward movement. All the while he's still shaking his head at me, 'NO! NO! NO!" with maybe a little "You can't make me!" thrown in.

Again I had to resort to the bat to get my horse moving. I finally got him into the corner but he tried to flee when I reached for the stirrup with my foot. I was beginning to think I would need someone holding my horse if I planned on getting in the saddle at all. Legs got a firm scolding and I tried again.

This time the horse flew backwards and even reared before I ever got near him with my foot. The now usual head shaking was going on as he continued his backwards escape. I had to get behind the horse and pop him with the bat to stop his retreat.

This was a new one on me. The only explanation was the horse was scared. He just does not behave like this. Still I was convinced I would ride him in this arena even if there wasn't another horse in there. Even on those rare times when Legs has not wanted to be mounted, he has always gone to work as soon as I threw my leg over him. I was counting on that happening again.
There were vendors setting up their booths on the perimeter of this arena so Legs and I were not the only ones in the building. But Legs didn't seem to care about the fact other people were around, he clearly was worried about the lack of horses.

The thought he might dump me in front of witnesses began to cross my mind. I sure hadn't brought my Arabian stallion to a morgan show to have him misbehave. The last thing I wanted was some kind of weird incident but my faith in my horse was stronger that that voice telling me to be careful about making a fool out of myself........and my horse.


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

More on the Lonely Arena

The 2010 Morgan Show.......Taking Legs

I've learned a lot since my adventure at the Morgan Show last year so getting ready for this year's show was quite different. Knowing exactly what's expected of me both by the show committee and the head office of the facility made getting organized a lot easier than last year when I was flying blind.

One of the unstated requirements of the facility had turned out to be they want someone from the show committee on the grounds at all times exhibitors might be schooling horses. The logic behind this request was they want the lunging of horses to be monitored so no one does this (or ground driving either) in areas not designated for that purpose.

Since the main arena is open for schooling at 6:30 AM, that duty fell to me. Knowing that sitting around twiddling my thumbs is not only not my style but pretty darn stressful I came up with a plan to give me something to do at that early hour and relieve stress throughout the horse show.

Several months ago I approached the show chair and requested a stall for my horse. My plan for this show season had included the Canadian Nationals which is held in August. Taking two weeks off training to manage horse shows was adding another form of stress so getting to school my horse at both shows would help take that pressure away too.

Not that taking my horse along to a show I manage doesn't have it's own kind of issues. There's so much to do having to take care of my horse too could become an issue but I was counting on those quiet morning hours to deal with my horse and knowing Legs he wouldn't cause any kind of problem the rest of the time. I just wanted him stalled up close to the show office so I could check him from time to time.

Both show committees accommodated my request. In addition the show chair asked her trainer if my horse could be stabled with them. That way I knew I had eyes on my horse if anything out of the ordinary should happen. Legs was definitely going to the Morgan show.

Monday afternoon the chiropractor worked on Legs. He'd done something funky to his lumbar region a couple of weeks before so this recheck was squeezed in before our departure to the Morgan show. The timing was great because our first day at the facility wouldn't accommodate riding in any form. Legs having the day off fit in perfectly with the plans.

Tuesday morning early Legs and I were on the road heading to the Evergreen State Fairgrounds in Monroe. I hate driving in rush hour traffic but I needed to be at the fairgrounds by 10. There were horses arriving from Spokane and I needed to have baled shavings available for the local woman who was readying the stalls before those horses arrived.

Upon arriving at the fairgrounds I checked in at the administration office and got the appropriate keys, parking permits, RV parking forms and five walkie talkies. I went over with the staff exactly which areas were designated lunging areas just to be sure I had things straight. I also met with the show chair and got copies of the stabling charts.

Then we headed off to the barns to get my horse settled before I had to go to work. The show chair showed me which stall was to be for my horse and then we went off to the show office to go over things. Legs was left in the trailer still munching on his breakfast.

Once I was done in the office I set about getting the stall ready for my horse. I hauled in shavings, water and hay. Then I went to get Legs from the trailer. He looked around the facility with a quizzical look on his face. I knew he was wondering what in the heck I was getting him into this time.

Legs has been the first horse to arrive at a horse show before. However, it has not stayed that way for long. Usually it's only an hour or two before he sees or hears another horse as people begin to move in.

The horses coming in from Spokane were going to be stabled in another barn. That meant it would be at least twenty-four hours before Legs even knew there was another horse in the area. About the time this occured to me I was wondering if this plan had been wise after all. How was Legs going to do hold up in this echoey vacant barn all by himself.

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

The Lonely Arena

Names..........Mares...........and Solidare.........

I was asked in the comments about the name for this new foal and that gets my brain going in all sorts of directions. Anyone who knows me knows I have this thing about names. It can take me months to get to the right place for a foal born here.

Each horse has a story that goes along with the name. Some are simple like Storm and some not so simple like Doc

How Rhet got his name was pretty complicated but then anyone knowing me would know there definitely was a meaning there just hearing the name. Rhet's registered name defintely tells the story of how he came to live with me. Understanding how he got his barn name must first go to the filly's story of how her name came to be Scarlet Once that name was in place it seemed like fate that the new colt's barn name would compliment the fateful pair. More on the Secret Name

The colts of my third foal crop had an assortment of names.
Then there are so many stories about names I haven't even posted yet.

Sometimes on their own the names of foals have become categorized with a particular mare. Bey Aana's foals, aside from that first red one that Dave and Lindsay named, began in a vein of the difficulty it took getting her first foal. Somehow from there we'd gone on into the P's. Chase to Pursuit always made sense and Persuasion for the smooth, suave red colt did too. Then Lindsay picked Patriot for the holiday he was born on. You can bet if Aana ever has another foal it will have a P name.

Lilly's foals after the loss of the first colt got onto a vein of their own. Hope was followed by Faith, I'm sure you can see where that was going. The second colt was a mirror of the first so he carried that first colt's registered name even though his barn name was changed but any more foals after this will certainly go back to that theme.

Since themes are the thing you might be wondering what kind of a theme might have developed with Solidare. Her first foal was named after her bloodlines since they mean so much to my breeding program. The "Dare" line of mares are found on both sides of the pedigree in foals with Legs and Solidare as their parents.

AFter that first foal we somehow managed to get off onto a musical theme. Although Rhythm got his name from his irregular markings it fit his movement as well which is fluid and easy, even melodic. Dancer was named because of her movement too and before I even realized we had Rhapsody. A musical theme was definitely taking shape even though it was unintended at first.

So what to do........what to do about Solidare's last foal. Since it is her last foal I was thinking a tribute to the mare might be in order. Instead of the usual Scandalous as the first part of the name, I have been considering using the mare's name instead.

I told my friend, Wendy, my thoughts. She thought my "creation" sounded like it should be a filly instead of a colt. What do you think of Solidares Last Dance? Colt name?? Filly name?? Or maybe there's something else that might fit for a foal from this mare.......

Solidare's Foal's First Outing

Normally I wait until a foal is five days old before any kind of turnout. Because the vision of newborns isn't all that good, I find waiting this time avoids problems with them running into wire fences or taking a swim in the creek or pond although newborn vision didn't deter Legend those years ago.



With the issues surrounding Solidare and her new foal, I didn't rush to put the two of them outside either. I was worried about the usual newborn antics feeling the first real freedom. Solidare would have difficulty trying to keep up and I sure didn't want any more damage done to her already compromised back legs.

The weather wasn't co-operating either. I didn't want to take any chances or either of them getting a cold. With this colt acting like a dummy foal and not really doing much but eating or sleeping at first, I didn't want to chance he might stumble into some kind of trouble because of his lack of interest in his surroundings. There were lots of things to consider.



As the colt got stronger and began acting more normal, I knew the day was getting closer when he would finally see outside that stall. Still I waited on weather and forming some kind of plan to deal with Solidare in case her baby made her frantic exploring his new world.

Our spring has been more like winter making our fields pretty muddy and slick. Solidare doesn't need slick with her issues either so inside they stayed until this last week.Finally we had enough of a break in the weather to dry things out enough to make the front field safe for Solidare and her colt.



I expected the colt might not want to step outside into the unfamiliar because I have had new foals refuse to leave the safety and comfort of their stalls. That was not the case with Solidare's colt, however. He didn't think much of the halter or lead rope but following his mom outside he didn't give a second thought. He was outside on the concrete pad in front of the stall in an instant and in another one he was following his mother into the grass. The only thing this colt was worried about was getting to far away from his mother.



True to his "dummy foal" status he did not race around acting like some kind of fool which most colts do on their first turn out. Solidare's colt was cautious and stuck close by his mom. There was no running around at all. Just quiet exploration within a foot of two of mom. He never did get any farther away from her than what you see in these pics.

Ambassador

I have been schooling my horses mostly at the Frontier Park in Graham since things went south with my former associate. The way the facility is laid out the arena is right across from the play area designated for small children.

Many times those kids are intrigued by seeing horses working in the arena. Sometimes they are even able to get their adult companions to bring them over to view the horses from a closer perspective.

Whenever I see that happening, I try to make my Arabian horses accessible to any children interested in getting up close and personal with them. It doesn't really matter which horse I might be working. All are appropriate ambassadors for the breed.

Since our weather has turned from the spring-like days of winter to our current winter-like days of spring, I haven't been able to work as many horses each day. Mostly I find myself working in between cloud bursts and even thunder storms to get the job done so many times I have had to focus just on Legs. Getting the horse finished is my top priority.

That means that Legs is left to carry the banner of ambassador alone. Not that he minds, the horse loves small children and even the attention of any adults who might wish to shower him with affection. He is a ham as well and sometimes shares a bit of his horsey brand of humor with them.

Mostly people come over when I am riding the horse. When I see they are determined to get close, I usually will take the horse over to the rail closed to the approaching people and invite them to come closer. I think Legs appreciates the brief respite from work as he stands soaking up all the attention he can get.

One day during the last week of April I noticed a woman and small child standing up on the small hill that overlooks the arena. I was untacking Legs after our workout. The woman was pointing in the direction of my horse trailer. Then I saw her lift the small child to get a better view.

The sky looked promising for a brief reprieve from the coming rain so I decided I would lead Legs over to our usual position inside the arena on the rail. As I approached with the horse, the woman and little boy moved closer down the hill. When I got right in front of them, I told her it was OK to come closer if the child would like to pet my horse.

The pair quickly responded by coming the rest of the way down the hill and joined us on the rail. It was obvious from the start this particular pair was familiar with horses. I learned the woman had been raised with them and her brother is a farrier.

The little boy,Jacob, stroked Legs in a manner that suggested he was familiar with what horses likes and don't likes too. By his size I think the child was somewhere close to 4 years old, yet he moved slowly and stroked only the muzzle, jowls or the side of the horse's neck. Legs was attentive to both the woman and the child standing quietly like the good ambassador he usually is.

During our visit, another older couple approached with two small children in tow asking if they could pet the horse too. The first pair excused themselves making room for the others to get closer. The man and 2 1/2 year old boy named Jake and maybe 4 year old girl, Alicia (I think), came up to the rail while the woman stood off to the side on the small bank of stairs that come down to the arena.

The little girl held a stuffed animal in her hands. It was made of that long scruffy looking fake fur that seems to be the trend. Legs was intrigued by what that thing could be trying examine it closely with his muzzle.

The little girl wasn't quite sure what to think of Legs trying to get close to her stuffed companion. She wasn't frightened of Legs but she didn't want her sniffing her prized toy either. She tried moving it away and Legs still pursued it with his nose. Finally I suggested she give it to the woman who wasn't standing close enough for Legs to reach it anymore.

While the little girl took the stuffed critter over to the woman, the little boy climbed up onto the fence and reached over and grabbed Legs by the head. He leaned into the horse's face with both arms stretched out around the horse's jowls laying his chest and head onto the front of Legs' face and squeezed a big bear hug. As he continued to lay on the stallion's face in that manner, he began kissing Legs on the bony part above his eye.

The stallion didn't move a muscle. He stood there quietly with his head down low and a soft look in his eye as this child continued to hug him in a way most horses never would have tolerated. Even when the child relinquished his hold, the horse did not try to pull away. He continued to stand with his head dropped to the child's level while this little boy explored with his little fingers every crevice of the stallion's face.

Now I know from personal experience how painful the exploration of my face can be by the probing fingers of a two year old. I know they don't mean to........but the little suckers pinch.........and the way I watched Jake's fingers work, I knew he was pinching Legs, yet Legs stood there quietly throughout the inspection.

The child explored every part of the stallion's face. He explored inside and outside the horse's ears and nostrils and more than once I saw stretched skin in those sensitive locations. Legs never flinched nor did his expression change. He was content to stand there for as long as the child wanted to be that close.

Legs and I stood there for a while visiting with these strangers. Eventually the woman came closer and spoke to me about her dream of owning a horse someday. In the course of our conversation she asked me why it was that I had chosen the Arabian horse as my breed of preference.

It seemed to me the fact she'd asked me this question at all suggested she didn't know much about horses. I'm pretty sure any "real" horse person would have understood the display she just witnessed with Legs and the two year old was indeed the answer to that question.

Instead I answered in terms I thought she might get. I told her how the Bedouins raised the Arabian horse in their tents right along with their families. How their selection process hadn't just included the characteristics of a great war horse but an individual that could be trust to live amongst the family. Over the years this selection created a horse with an affinity for a relationship with humans unlike any other horse breed on the planet.

I told her how some Arabian horses who have been raised with a particularly close bond with humans have been known to wither up and die if that bond was lost. It is this desire by the Arabian horse for a close personal connection with their human companions that speaks to me.

I don't know if Jake will remember this moment in the park but I know that I will never forget. Watching Legs with that small boy hugging on his face I knew I was witnessing the best of Bedouin breeding, a glimpse into the soul of a horse relinquishing himself to the will of a child. I was not surprised by the behavior of my stallion on that day only frustrated I didn't have a camera to capture the precious moment.

I've heard tales of the examination in a similar manner of the top ten halter stallions by a blind woman one year at the US Nationals although the woman was not said to have hugged any of the horses' heads. I've always known these horses are capable of such tenderness with humans and I've experienced some private moments with Arabian horses as emotional for me. I just never expected to witness such an event with a strange child in such a public place. What better ambassador for the breed could there be?

Daffodil................The Judges

Part 1

I must say when I made the decision to stay talk with the judges I really had no clue how long the rest of the classes would take. I hadn't really looked at the schedule so I didn't know that reining classes were scheduled directly after the rest of the afternoon session either. Had I know that I might have thought twice about hanging around.

When I did find out about the reining classes, the afternoon session was already well underway. At least I knew there wasn't much chance of tons of reining rides because our number one reining trainer was gone to regional championships at Scottsdale, Arizona. I figured if Jeff Lee was participating it would probably be just one horse because in all my years of showing that's been his norm.
There was the one amateur I'd seen trying to school Sunday morning. If she rode all the qualifiers that she were open to her and the corresponding championships that would be 4 rides at most for her. Even if Jeff had the same, it would probably be eight rides max. If the afternoon session wrapped up quickly eight rides didn't sound like all that much.

What they sound like and what they actually turn out to be always seems to be different. It was after 5 before that last ride happened and by that time it seemed like I'd been waiting for most of the day. I guess since my day started at 5 AM it probably was most of my day. When that last horse exited the arena I was really hoping the judges were right on her tail.....but they weren't.

Not being a patient person can get me into trouble sometimes. My inclination was to just bag this whole thing but logic won out. It would be silly to leave now even if I had another fifteen minute wait.

I took deep breaths trying to get some of the tension out of my body so I didn't scare the judges off. I'm pretty transparent about my feelings and sometimes people read more into what they see than what I'm feeling in the first place so it was important my stress not show. I didn't want it interpreted as something else.

As the judges approached the steward walked in and approached Josh Quintos. I had asked to speak specifically with him because I knew I could approach Lewis McKim on my own after we were done talking. I guess the steward told the judge I had a question so he came towards me already with a midset that the conversation had specific parameters.

In the past I've learned that specific parameters in a conversation like this can be limiting. I've gained more helpful information from judges when they I've left the door open for them to tell me their random thoughts. Starting off the conversation with "Thanks for coming to our show, I've really enjoyed myself" can lead to all kinds of things I wouldn't have thought of asking.

Still in this instance it seemed to be ordained. The judge spoke first asking for my question and I stuttered at what specifically I wanted to know. I really wanted to know more than IF he thought I should attempt to show at regionals but whatever those other things were got lost.

I started off saying, " Regional entries are due and I'm not really sure if I should enter. I don't want to go if my horse isn't not going to be competitive. What do you think?

I could see the judge's mind race for a moment. Then he asked me my horse's number. In the early years when asked that question I've felt like I was doomed not to get an answer. I mean, heck, if they can't remember you, how are they going to remember the horse?

All that talk about politics winning classes is based on that whole belief that judges are looking at riders and picking their friends or business acquaintences and not really looking at the horses. Yet in my years of asking questions of judges most judges have asked about my horse's number and most have remembered my horse correctly by that information. Josh Quntos was the same.

As soon as I relayed our number, the recognition crossed the judge's face and his head nodded in acknowledgement. "Are you thinking about select rider?"

"Well, I know my horse needs to be more committed to the bridle so I'm not really sure. I'm qualified for both divisions. If I go, I'd probably ride in both."

Another nod of the head followed by "Pretty horse, pretty mover. His speed at all gaits is good. I'd like to see him use his neck just a little more and he could be using his shoulder a little better. You can easily fix that in two months. I think you should go for it."

From there we talked a little bit about the horse's injury and the path I had taken to get him fixed. In the course of that conversation I learned that Josh Quintos liked Leg's head carried at this height even though lots of western horses carry their heads low. I also learned he liked that the horse could walk the way he did and stay committed to the bridle.

As for his evaluation of what needed to be fixed, we were on the same page there too. I felt that my horse was a bit "flat" and sometimes he was a bit bumpy which I knew was about that shoulder. I'd only had the one ride that got ruined where I hadn't had problems with those things. I found the conversation with the judge to be validating of where I am AND where I'm going.

Once that was done, I moved on to speak with Lewis McKim.
As I walked up to Lewis he stopped what he was doing to give me a hug. It's not really what I was expecting but it certainly felt good.

I don't remember if I've mentioned that I know Lewis McKim. He was a client at Feature Farm back in those days I worked as a groom. I've seen him on and off over the years and I consider the man to be a friend even though I don't see him except at horse shows. After the last couple of years I've had being told that people do not like me OR my style of horses, it was nice to have such an experience that said otherwise.

I asked Lewis if he remembered Scandalous and he remarked, "Of course, I do!" in a manner that suggested he had great respect for my mare. I told him Legs was her last foal and I could see he understood the name Legs carries as he nodded to my words. We had a warm conversation that didn't really get into specifics about our time at the show. It was clear right from the start that Lewis approved of both my horse and the way he is going.

I briefly told Lewis how Scandalous had died. He knew Malachite too so I knew it would be of interest to him to hear what had transpired between these two dynamic horses. Then I asked him about the fate of the amazing horses he's owned that I have known. It was nice to catch up and even nicer to be reminded that I do have friends of power within this industry.


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Daffodil................The Select Rider Champion

Part 1

We were close to where the first wreck had happened and something caught my horse's attention again. Legs tucked his b*tt and jumped forward two strides before rounding back up and slowing down. My heart sank at another class ruined by those imaginary trolls. Still I learned a long time ago you never quit riding because of a mistake, I worked the rest of the ride just like I had worked the first.

Obviously my horse was not frightened like he had been that first spook of the show. His heart was not pounding out of his chest nor was he jumping out of his skin at each new sound. Still this mistake had been a big one in my eyes but the horse seemed to settle back in like it hadn't happened. I was happy for the improvement. Progress in any form is good.

We had to lope through that same area again as we made a complete lap around the arena at the lope. The horse didn't seem to mind. I did keep him off the rail so I could push him off my leg into it to keep him focused. Legs went through like nothing had happened. Still I was relieved when they called for the jog. I was hoping to get by with only one incident in this class instead of several like that first day.

When the announcer asked us to jog and come into the line-p the horse made a pretty transition down while I had a mini debate about which route I would take into the line-up. When given the opportunity I had been taking a reverse into the line instead of travelling all the way down the rail and into line. Mostly I was taking the shorter route trying to avoid more mistakes.

This time the long route won out. I figured I had enough of the horse's attention to get him down that rail and past the judges one more time without him searching for trolls. I knew if something unexpected happened, I'd probably loose him again but I figured at this point the odds should be in my favor with all the times the unexpected had managed to seek us out.

Whether it was the odds and finally some luck, it turned out my choice to take the long route didn't blow up in my face. We made our way down the rail in one final pass before both judges before we jogged into the line up without incident.

I was relieved to have reached the line up without further trouble but I figured my success in the select rider class, at this show anyway, was toast. I stroked my horse's neck while the judge checked bits and curb chains. The photographer took line-up shots while the judges finished their cards. I panned the audience looking for familiar faces still stroking Legs. I think both of us were glad this show was over.

Once the cards were in, I listened to see who had won this class. I hadn't seen enough of the other rides to know who could be in the top slot. I hadn't seen anything that said anyone but me had had a wreck either but then, just like the judges don't see everything that happens in the ring, the exhibitors and the spectators don't as well. I had no clues who this champion might be.

I knew I must have missed something when I heard my number called out as the unanimous champion. I jogged my horse over to the point on the wall pointed out by the photographer's wife. I figured by her expression she had seen what we'd done. I asked her quickly if she had and she nodded commenting, "obviously they didn't and that's what counts."

Graciously accepting awards one doesn't think one has earned is part of horse showing I've also learned. Sometimes you win when you think your shouldn't. Other times you don't when you think you should. Many believe that it balances out in the end. I don't know if that's true but arguing with the judges isn't really an option so Legs and I did the next best thing and posed with our awards.

We had our picture taken with championship ribbons and our "loot" as a friend called it. To be honest I've never had a ribbon hung on me before and that's where the second one went......up on the top of my chaps wherever the award giver could find to hook it. Then she took her position holding up the awards so the pics could be taken.

After that we waited for the other awards to be given so we could make our victory pass down the rail and out the gate. Legs wasn't really sure what to think of being the last one out of this class. He's used to all that hooping and hollering at the end..........just not for him. He jigged a bit right before we hit the gate until I laughingly called him a silly boy. He knows those words mean he's making a fool out of himself..........and he stopped jigging and let lose with a deep sigh.

Later Colleen told me there were several wrecks in that class and mine was minor compared to the others. I'll have to trust her on that I guess because there was nothing I had seen. Either way, Legs was the unanimous western pleasure select rider champion for Daffodil and that was cool..........wreck or not! That's our first unanimous championship and I hope there will be many more.

I had already decided that I wanted to talk with the judges. With all the breaks of gait and troll searching I was feeling insecure. The toll of the last couple of years seems to have shaken my confidence and the happenings at this show hadn't help that much.
The best way I know to tell if my perception is right about my horse is to ask the judges. I've been doing it all of my show career. Input from judges has been an important source of feedback for me. Even with the success in the championship I decided I was going to hang around until the end of the show and talk with the judges. With regionals fast approaching I had decisions to make and all the ups and downs had me confused about whether I wanted to go show or stay at home.

I remembered John Rannenburg last year had encouraged me to show at regionals but I also wondered about loosing my select rider status. One more top five at the regional level and I will be out of that division. Since it doesn't look like I will make nationals of any kind this year, I wasn't sure if I should be doing that.

Both the Canadian and US National Shows have added select rider to their schedule. Since select rider status is determined at the start of each year, it didn't make sense to lose it and not be able to advantage of that division at the national level. I had a lot to think about and the input of both judges would give me valuable input in making that determination.

For those who don't know the protocol for speaking to judges, it's appropriate to speak with the USEF steward to request time to speak with the judges. That can only happen once the show is ended. Then the steward approaches the judge to see if the judge will speak with the exhibitor. Once permission is granted the exhibitor can then approach the judge.

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