TNJ........... A Little Weekend Stewing.........

Part One


That Friday night I read the letter and the settlement offer from BG and WF's attorney over and over. I read it silently. I read it out loud. I read parts of it to friends. Everyone I shared it with thought I should jump at it but that's not how I saw it.

The only good thing about it as far as I was concerned was that I got my horse back. The rest of it was just a bunch of legalese designed to make them look good and to put an end to this thing without costing them anymore than they'd already paid.

By now I had a real sense of what my relationship with BG and WF had cost me, my family, my business and my horses. I knew enough to believe if it was possible to go back and do the whole thing over, I would not. It would never even have been a consideration knowing what I know now. All this thing did was cost me, period.

It had cost me and my business two years of my life, two years of my horses lives too. Not only were the horses two years older, the ones he had worked with were no longer clean slates. I had wanted horses safe to ride and what I got were horses with issues. We had gone backwards, not forward. That 20/20 vision of hindsight had changed my view of BG and his talents. My horses clearly reflected the new perspective. I was left with the mess to clean up from the damage he had done and I was just angry enough to want to see that he paid for what he'd done to my dream. The real question was that even possible.

Looking at this settlement offer, I knew what I would do had I not had a lawyer at this point. I would have countered this offer. I wanted BG and WF to take some form of responsibility for messing with me and my herd. I would have been willing to take the risk they might decline and we'd go to trial. For me, a decision made in court would mean definite vindication. There would be no BS claiming they were in the right in the legal documents. There would be a judgement according to the law.

At this point with my realization that BG's own accounting sheet disputed his claims, I was very comfortable that I could win at trial. All those warnings that court is unpredictable just didn't seem realistic considering how poorly WF and BG had concocted their story. By now I was clearly seeing the visual aids it would take for the court to easily get the picture I saw. I knew I could create them from my evidence and I was willing to take the risk I would win at trial.

The only problem with that was that I now had the attorney in my corner. While his expertise was much welcomed, it changed things now with a settlement offer on the table. Any kind of counter that might have been palatable to them would be devoured by attorney's fees so there was no point.

Also, I had to consider the possibilities of never being able to collect damages even with a judgement and the new element of attorneys fees. While getting a judgement complete with damages might sound good, collecting on it could definitely be something else. If I couldn't collect from BG and WF, I needed to be prepared to be coming up with attorney fees myself. Although I already knew my attorney was prepared to work with me on how I got that done, I needed to be aware of how long that obligation might be hanging over my head and how stressful that might be as well.

Even considering that, there was one very big stumbling block for me in this settlement offer. A confidentiality agreement was included as part of the settlement. The way I read the clause it was about the actual settlement agreement. However, if there was any room what so ever that it could spill over into the other details of this case, I was not interested. It was a matter of principle to me that I be able to talk about what BG and WF did in this case. I would take whatever risks I must not to be bound to secrecy about this whole mess. They'd been telling their side of the story for months and I wasn't going to be deprived of telling mine.

I scanned the settlement offer into a pdf file and sent it off in an email to my attorney. I explained my concerns to him and waited for the weekend to end so I could consult with "my legal counsel" before I made my decision. I already knew from this man that he would be ok with me continuing on principle because so far that's all he'd been able to see was my principles and that's why he'd taken my case. If I wanted to continue on despite the settlement offer, I expected it would not change his offer of help one iota.

I knew the attorney would explain to me there is a court rule that says if a settlement offer is declined, even if that party wins at trial, they must pay attorneys fees for the losing side if the final order does not exceed the amount of the offer. I had no fear of this clause because it was clear with damages I would have no problem satisfying that requirement.

While at this time I didn't know how to compute the damages to my business and my horses, I was confident that my equine attorney knew exactly how to go about getting those numbers and substantiating them for the court. Getting a larger settlement from the court than their offer would be easy enough on damages alone without even considering the triple damages for fraud and unfair business practices. I had more than enough evidence to easily prove both of those causes of action as well as the others I had to file in my amended complaint.

It wasn't until late Sunday that I realized it was Labor Day weekend. Then I was a bit panicked about this whole situation because I had thought I had two days to touch bases with my attorney. I knew having only one business day to make contact with him could be difficult. I had my mind made up if I did not have his input about the confidentiality clause, I would turn down their settlement offer.

As the time ticked away, I found myself continuing to read that letter over and over again. Doing so fueled the fire driving me to hold BG and WF accountable for what they did. I knew the clause "my clients will have to pursue their own discovery requests, responding to yours, and additional costs will be incurred which will of course be avoided if the case settles........" was designed to intimidate me so that I would settle but if their attorney thought the idea of them making discovery requests scared me, she couldn't be more wrong. Once we were locked into the discovery process, there wasn't anything that would give me more pleasure that finally showing my hand. I was actually looking forward to it.

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

A Little Expert Perspective....

This little tank is Scandalous Legend. At the time this pic was taken he was just about a month old, if you can believe that. That white in his nostrils isn't a marking, it's milk.

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Questions about Rachel and Grandma and an Arabian Horse

When I began this series, I think we all had high hopes. For me it didn't matter what the horse accomplished it was about building a relationship with my granddaughter and my daughter. I thought we had common ground to work with and things would be different this time.

I had hoped that Rachel would use Dandy the same way that I did.... to learn great things and become a competitive rider and an accomplished horsewoman. Unfortunately I don't think Rachel is ready for that challenge. She is unable to hear what I have to teach about this horse even though no one will ever know or understand Dandy quite like I do.

Originally when I began working on this particular post it was my intention to suspend the series Rachel and Grandma and an Arabian Horse for a while...........probably indefinitely. When I did the first draft I wrote "That three-way partnership has been suspended" but the truth is it never really got started. Then, today, Richard told me he thought that would be a shame. That others out there struggle with their barn relationships and the problems that we're having might be helpful for others to hear about.

So what do you think? Should I go with my first thought or listen to Richard and post about the issues that keep arising between me and my daughter and granddaughter?

This picture of Scandalous and Dandy was taken when he was two days old. It was his first trip outside to play. This picture hangs in my living room.

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Rachel and Grandma and Arabian Horses at the Daffodil Summer Show.....a whole herd of them! Championships

In the afternoon session Rachel and I both had western pleasure championships. There's video for two of the three classes so I'm not going to go into details here. The first video is Rachel and Dandy in the junior owner to ride western pleasure championship. The second one is me riding Legs in the amateur owner to ride 40 & over championship. Legs and I placed 5th out of 7 in our class. Dandy and Rachel won theirs.

Rachel's class on Eclipse was nearly the last class of the show. Rachel and Eclipse won that class. Then afterwards Angie had Rachel stay up at the gate with Eclipse to talk with the judge. That's something that Angie likes to have her kids do.......but then so do I. You can learn a lot by talking to the judge.

I'm not exactly sure what Rachel and Angie talked about to the judge. However, I do know that bless Richard Petty's sweet little heart, he told Rachel that he really liked her other horse. Since Rachel had been taking Dandy for granted, this comment from the judge opened her eyes to the fact that maybe she really should be appreciating this horse. I know that comment did have an effect on Rachel and for that I am grateful.


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Rachel and Grandma and Arabian Horses at the Daffodil Summer Show.....a whole herd of them! Halter

Part 1
I know I've said that Dandy really isn't a halter horse. What goes along with this is he's never had a great amount of attention paid to teaching him to stand up for halter. Rachel had some lessons with him from Crystal Baker but the horse was never a fan of the process. He just didn't like it much and was resistant to say the least.

Rachel reassured me the horse did know how to stand up but that he would not trot. However, that's not what I found when I stood in front of the horse and asked him to come towards me and set his feet. The horse looked back at me like I was from outer space or speaking a foreign language. Walking backwards in front of him, I raised my hand (the cue for him to whoa) and the horse just kept right on walking. I corrected him with a quick shank and told him whoa while the horse looked back at me with this puzzled look on his face. It was clear this halter class was going to be a trial.

I decided right then and there that all I was going to ask of this horse was to set his feet and to look at me. There was no way I was going to spend any time teaching Dandy to use his neck for one class that he was probably going to place last in anyway. All I wanted was for him to stand still and use his ears. We were going to look like we didn't belong out there, but that was tough. I wasn't going to humiliate my poor horse anymore than I was already.

Now if you've done any messing around with halter horses, you'll know that getting the horse to use his ears can be a real pain. But thanks to Mike Neal and his halter clinic http://risingrainbow.blogspot.com/2008/03/baby-boomer-learns-arabian-halter-meet.html , I've become really good at it.

I stood in front of Dandy and raised up my hand. When he didn't look at me I jumped right at him and chased him backwards. It only took one time and Dandy wasn't taking anymore chances. Each time I raised my hand his ears darted forward as his eyes locked on me to see what I was going to do next. That was it..............we were ready to show halter.

The transition from trail to halter was a whirlwind of activity. The horse not only needed to be untacked, the sweat marks from the saddle had to be fixed. Of course, because the clock was ticking, those sweat marks took on a life of their own. They seemed to spread instead of get smaller. I thought we'd never get them cleaned up.

Not to be outdone by a horse, I had my own issues left over from trail. Trying to make my "hat hair" look fresh and bouncy for halter was about as stressful as dealing with Dandy's sweat marks. Remind me to never follow trail with halter again, will you?

We not only had to get Dandy transformed for halter, we had the other two horses to get ready as well. The tricky part was getting the right halters on the right horses and making sure the horses were all at the ring when they were supposed to be. Finding time to school each horse before their class was out of the question because our classes went geldings, mares and then stallions.........one, two three..........boy, was I nuts!

We made it up to the ring in just enough time to double check that Dandy still remembered how to set his feet and give his ears. It seems that about the time I raised my whip to ask for those ears, I heard my name called over the loud speaker as the first exhibitor to enter the ring. I wondered how I'd managed to earn that honor (sarcasm, in case you're wondering) when I remembered that now the horses enter the ring according to their age. At 18 it was no wonder that Dandy was first.

So we walked into the ring as instructed. Then we began trotting at the cone.........and yes, the horse did trot. We were supposed to trot around to the ring master which was half way around the ring............... too far for me and my asthma, so we just trotted until I figured the judge was no longer looking and then walked the rest of the way. I'm pretty sure that Dandy was OK with that decision. Probably the only one he was happy with though.

Part of the new scoring system has the horses judged at the walk. So in the beginning of each class the exhibitors in mass are asked to walk their horses around the ring. Once all the horses have walked past the judge, they are asked to reverse.

While we were doing this walking, I walked past a group of my friends. One of them made a comment about me not usually showing Dandy in halter. I quipped about him being too old and at least twice the age of any other horse in the class..........to which my former friend, Steve Bryson, responded, "Well, so are you!." Wait until I get my chance to get even with him.

When Dandy and I were called forward to show to the judge, I walked the horse forward, stopped him in front of the judge and asked the horse to give his ears. Then I turned to the judge and said, "This is a good as it gets. We're only out here as a favor for a friend.........and believe me, she owes me big time!"

The judge, Richard Petty, laughed and said, "It looks like he's enjoying it ok" as he looked at Dandy.

To which I replied, "Believe me, he's let me know that he's not appreciating this much. He'll be happy when he gets the carrots he's been promised....but probably not until then."

With that we trotted off towards the rail and headed on down to the far end of the arena to watch the rest of the horses show. The humiliation was over..........well, except for the placings. Imagine my surprise when the horse wasn't last at all. That's right..........Dandy ended up placing 6th out of 7.

In the next two classes, Hope was second out of two and Legs was first out of one. Hope tanked on me (wouldn't give me her ears or any expression) which was probably understandable considering her lack of schooling. Legs on the other hand, showed really nicely. It was a shame there weren't other horses in the class. Looking at his scores I think he would have done well.

So I survived my 7 classes in one session. Looking back at it, while it was wild and crazy it was also really fun. I'm not so sure I'd put Dandy through the humiliation of halter ever again, but looking at his scores, it was clear that Richard Petty seemed to like him. His scores were actually higher than Hope's................and she has multi championships in halter.

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

I actually had video of this halter class but it was too long for YouTube to accept. If I can figure out how to edit it down, I will post it so you can see Dandy's expression. He really was put out by this whole thing. I think he thought I lost my marbles over this one.

Just for the record, after this was all said and done, Angie didn't get all the points she needed for Eclipse. I think she's planning on coercing me into doing this again. Wanna make any bets?

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Rachel and Grandma and Arabian Horses at the Daffodil Summer Show.....a whole herd of them! Trail

Part 1

While I got dressed in my show clothes, Rachel and Colleen got my horse bridled up and heading out towards the show arena. Then while I walked the course, Rachel actually warmed up my horse. The first time I even saw the pattern for that class was when we walked the darn thing with the judge...............and just for the record, I thought he was as confused as I was!

I barely got into the saddle atop my Arabian horse when they called me to the in gate to show. I was still trying to run that darn pattern over through my head wondering if I had it right as we rode through the gate. Poor Dandy wasn't going to have much chance to shine with a befuddled rider with no sense of direction....then add in my really bad depth perception.........but the ride was on. Dandy and I were doing our first trail classes in at least 5 years.

I don't know if I've mentioned this before Dandy is a phenomenal trail horse. The only thing that holds this horse back from winning all the time is me. I get in his way and screw up his timing. I'm the one that needs lots and lots of practice. The horse is a natural.

So to go riding into a class with no practice and little warm-up really isn't a problem for this horse. If he could read the courses, we'd be impossible to beat. My dyslexic approach to trail makes it a lot more interesting however. I never know what to expect..........well, except for the fact I know the horse will give me his best and the horse never really has a chance to shine.

This morning sure wasn't any different. I did get him pointed the right way. I also managed to stay on course through the whole class. I did misjudge the rate of speed we should be approaching the obstacles in and I screwed up "the line" a time or two which resulted in stumbles or clunking poles for the poor horse. Our first ride ended up with a score of 62, I think. And we placed fourth out of five.

Since each of the 4 rides had a different course, I really didn't get much chance to adjust for my errors with my depth perception. I did get better with my speed on some of the obstacles and the horse kept giving me all he had. We did manage a score of 68 in one of the classes. Which was not bad for our first outing. The best we placed was third.

I think the best part about riding trail was that my horse loves it. His ears are up and his eye bright. It was really fun for both of us regardless of the ribbons. With what I was doing to the poor boy by dragging him into halter, it was a good thing we started off the morning with something that he likes.

To be continued........

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Rachel and Grandma and Arabian Horses at the Daffodil Summer Show.....a whole herd of them! Sunday Morning

Part 1

I don't know what got into my head or for that matter what I could have been possibly thinking (or maybe even if I was thinking at all!) when I entered classes for that Sunday morning session because I entered 7 classes. That's right........you read 7 classes in one session on Sunday morning.

That might be the norm at some shows where horses get ridden over and over in class after class but it just doesn't happen at the Arabian shows. The only exhibitors that show in that many classes in one session usually turn out to be the professionals who have all kinds of help and are used to that kind of pressure. Yet it's still the exception and not the norm.

I guess because the first 4 of those classes were trail classes it just didn't seem like that many classes to me. Any reasonable trail class would consist of a 2 minute course. Riding 4 of those would only amount to 8 minutes of riding not counting the warm-ups of coiurse. That seemed reasonable to me and I've done it before although that was years ago.

The remaining 3 classes were halter. I originally had entered Hope because Rachel didn't want to show her. I guess I thought it might be fun to show myself now that I feel like I finally know what I"m doing. Also there was the new scoring system and I really wanted to see how that worked from the inside out and how my horses fared under that system. With that thinking I decided maybe I'd enter Legs too. But where did the third horse come in?

Well, are you sitting down? That third horse was Dandy. I'm pretty sure you must be wondering what in the heck I was doing showing an 18 year old gelding in halter. Had I lost my mind? Well......I was wondering that myself. But the truth is I was doing it as a favor for a friend.

Angie still needs about 3 points in halter for Eclipse to earn his Legion of Excellence award. (That's where you see a +// appearing at the end of an Arabian horse's name. This is the highest achievement award that can be given to an Arabian horse.) It's been difficult for her to earn those final 3 points with the horse getting older (he's 12) and small class sizes.

I'd suggested to her that stacking the class might help in this endeavor. By getting the kids in the barn to show their geldings in the class that would make the class large enough for Eclipse to earn the points he needs. None of those geldings are halter horses (and Dandy was one of those geldings) so it should be a shoe in for Eclipse.

The problems came in when the class turned out to be an AOTH class.....Adult Owner to Handle. That meant that Rachel couldn't show Dandy..........so that left only me. Since Angie had already paid the appropriate fees, I was left to me if Dandy was to show. Also one of the barn geldings didn't have an adult owner to handle so Dandy's body count was essential. Talk about pressure!

I agreed but insisted that Angie was going to owe me..... BIGTIME. Poor Dandy, what will I do to him next??

Like all of this wasn't enough for one morning I told the show manager that I would help them set up for trail. Sure, I've done it for them lots of times in the past, it's a peice of cake. But this was different. First off, someone else designed the courses, not me.........and this time I was actually showing in trail.

As if that wasn't enough to make my morning nuts, I was also drawn as the first go in the very first class for trail. That meant I had no time to spare. The course setting needed to go promptly and smoothly so it got done well before the posted starting time. If that isn't a set up for Murphy's Law, I don't know what is.

Even though the courses had been available the night before the classes, I had not gone over them. I'd figured the show manager would have copies of the different course available for me at set-up. That was my first mistake........assuming anything that made sense. Things only went down hill from there.

I had asked Cody from our barn to be there in the morning with Rachel and me to set the courses. Since he's ridden trail too and did quite well I figured he'd have a feel for how the courses should flow. That knowledge would be helpful for setting up as well.

The problems came in when they only had one course available for me to see. The show manager and his crew figured since all the obstacles were the same that should be enough. They didn't understand that the way those obstacles were to be navigated over the different courses also affects how the distances between them should be set.

For me working under conditions like that was really stressful. I'm a perfectionist and I don't like to be involved in things that are sloppily done. Not taking into account all uses of an obstacle is sloppy......very sloppy. It makes for poor flow from obstacle to obstacle and doesn't give the exhibitors the opportunity to really show off what they know. Instead they're forced to stumble from one obstacle to another with no balance or rhythm......definitely not my style.

As I tried to wade through this mess and make it work, my stress level went up by leaps and bounds. By the time we were finished setting up these obstacles, the riders were beginning to assemble to show........and I wasn't even dressed to show yet............it's a good thing my horse was tacked up!

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

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Rachel and Grandma and Arabian Horses at the Daffodil Summer Show.....a whole herd of them! finally resumed..........

Part 1

It's been a while since I've posted about this show with too much other stuff happening here. With readers wondering how things turned out, I thought I better pick up where I left off before I began any new saga......besides...........we go to another show this coming weekend. I thought I really should get the last one wrapped up before I show at another.

We left off with my Arabian stallion in his first class getting frightened by commotion on that rail. The only good thing about this mess was that I had three classes this evening. Even though the first one had not gone well, I would get two more chances to get the horse "through" his fear of that ring.

The next class was the adult amateur to ride class and it was only about four classes after the amateur owner class had been. I did school my horse in the warm-up arena a little bit during the time between classes but I spent most of the time standing with my horse down near the in gate. That way the horse could look into the ring and see what was happening in there. I hoped that he would be able to get over some of his fear watching the other horses going around and looking at the activity on the rail and in center ring.

For the longest time Legs just stood there intently studying the scene in front of him. I have no idea what the Arabian horse was looking at specifically but could tell he was definitely looking at something. The horse gazed all around the ring but spent most of his time looking off in the distance towards that corner with the trolls.

I don't know how long we stood there before the horse let out a big quivering sigh. Then he dropped his head down to a point he could no longer see into the ring. I took that as the horse telling me he had seen what he needed to see. Then we headed off to the warm-up arena to do a little more flexing and bending.

I hoped that our next ride into the ring would be "spook" free. However, that was not the case. The horse spooked again down in that corner going the second way of the arena. Again it was at the lope, the horse leapt into the air almost suspended for a moment before he came down and charged off. But the charge was brief, only a stride or two and it really took no effort on my part......just a reminder that he was ok.

You know that look a horse gets when they've done something foolish and they've just figured out how foolish they were? Well, that was the expression I could see on my Arabian horse's face as we headed towards the line-up. Just to be on the safe side, we spent more time standing down near the in gate watching that next class.........letting the horse study the ring.

The third class I rode that evening was the western pleasure 50 & 0ver select rider class. It always amazes me how show committees can put classes for the least skilled group of riders, not to mention the oldest, late into the evening when the riders will be more tired and the horses probably more fresh due to cooler air. But lots of them do it.........and some barns don't let their riders show in late night select rider classes.

For me it really doesn't matter as far as skill level goes because I'm really in that class because I haven't spent much time showing anything that's been truly finished since I've reached my current level of riding. However, my body and my brain definitely tell me it's past my bedtime by the time I'm heading into my third class in the evening session.

Just sitting there outside the ingate, I was dozing off. None the less, the select rider class is where I know my horse is currently the most competitive so I managed to wake myself up in time to ride my horse into that class. I think the cool air didn't affect my horse much either. I'm pretty sure he was feeling the effects of this many classes in one session also.

I would tell you all the details, if I could remember back that far. But since it's now October and the class was ridden in August, let's just cut to the chase. The horse was good and we won! Oh ya! and we beat six horses. How's that from someone known for cliff hangers?

Why did I do that, you wonder? Well, the really good part comes the next day and you're going to have to wait for that until tomorrow. In the meantime be prepared, it was NOT my usual Sunday at the horse show.

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

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Rachel and Grandma and Arabian Horses at the Daffodil Summer Show.....a whole herd of them! Part 3

Part 1

As I rode my Arabian horse into the ring I couldn't help but think about the evening classes in Salem. It seemed like every time I rode in the evening in that ring something bad happened. My horse got scared or something. I was hoping that my horse wasn't remembering those things too.........

Earlier that day during the dinner break I had schooled my horse in this ring. Legs had been absolutely awesome in the bridle. The horse had jogged slower and loped slower than he had done in any earlier ride. I was beginning to think the horse might be getting close to truly being competitive.

So now as I was jogging nice and slowly down the rail, I couldn't help but smile thinking of how far the horse had come in such a short time. Next thing you know my horse was jumping out from underneath me. I was reeling in those reins as fast as possible trying to make direct contact with his face and get my horse under control.

I have no idea what got my horse. It doesn't show on the video but something spooked my horse.....big time! He leapt up and then bolted right out of the corner. It took me several strides to get the horse back under control.

The only thing good about this incident was the gate was still open. Judging doesn't officially begin until the gate is closed so it didn't count against my ride. Not that something like that couldn't affect a judge's decision, but the rules state it's not supposed to be a factor in the outcome of the class.

Poor Legs, here he was again in another evening class and I could feel his heart beating between my legs. The poor horse was absolutely terrified. Every little sound and I could feel his body twitch. He was trying, however, to hold it all together.

Riding a horse that's been scared like that takes a lot of concentration. I remember riding by Colleen and her telling me to relax. Her words broke my concentration and I was frustrated. I was relaxed! I might have been very focused but my body was very relaxed.

That's one thing I'm really good at, staying relaxed when I ride no matter what gets thrown my way. My ability to stay calm and keep tension out of my body helps my horse to regain his confidence despite his fear. Legs was relying on me and I didn't let him down.

The horse really surprises me with how well he can come back to me once he's been so badly scared. Even though his heart continued to race Legs was dialed in on my cues and giving me everything he had.

His transitions up and down were nice and I was beginning to think that we'd saved this ride. Then it happened again. This time we were going the second way of the ring. We had just begun the lope on the opposite wall and were loping into the offending corner from earlier. This time we were off the rail but that didn't help. Something scared my horse again and he was off!

The horse came back to me quicker this time. I think I had him back in two strides. But that didn't change the fact the judge was looking right at us as my horse leapt sideways and then bolted. I was beginning to worry that we had a pattern developing.

Neither time did I see or hear what had caused this reaction in my horse. I was totally lost as to the whys and wherefores. All I knew was that my horse was frightened. Now, his poor heart was beating twice as fast as before..........and before it was the racing heart of a frightened horse.

Angie won this class on Midnite Eclipse. You can see her in the video. She's the one who saw what happened to Legs and to other horses in that corner. (I missed any one else's problems because I was too busy trying to keep my horse settled.)


There were actually a couple of things going on in that corner. Neither was good for the horses. There were boys out behind throwing rocks at the tarp that is the wind block on that end of the arena. Then there was a woman with a squeaky stroller who was pushing it back and forth right on the rail while her two small children played peek-a-poo on both sides of it. Both kids were popping up from below the rail and evidently scaring more horses than mine.

Angie asked the woman to stop telling her the stroller was scaring the horses. The woman looked Angie right in the eye and pushed the thing again. Someone from the horse show had to go down there and speak to her to get her to quit. By that time it was too late for poor Legs.

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

Rachel and Grandma and Arabian Horses at the Daffodil Summer Show.....a whole herd of them! Part 2

Part 1

It was a big honor for Rachel to get to show Midnite Eclipse in a western pleasure class. Angie has allowed other kids to show the multi-championship winning Arabian horse in hunter pleasure classes but she has never let anyone show the horse in a western class before Rachel. Angie made the decision to let Rachel ride Eclipse in western pleasure based on how "soft" that Rachel can be with her hands.

Angie had actually first made the comment to me that she was impressed enough with Rachel's riding that she would consider letting her ride Eclipse western. I had encouraged Angie to do so because I thought it might be good for Rachel's self-esteem.

It had never occurred to me that Rachel would want to do this without me being involved after all we had been doing this Arabian horse thing together. We were a team............or so I thought. Discovering otherwise was a hard pill to swallow but swallow it I did despite my hurt feelings. At the horse show I kept my distance.

I'm not exactly sure why Rachel ended up wearing Angie's clothes and her cowboy hat instead of Rachel's own things, but that's what they decided to do. I image it was based on Angie having some kind of idea of how the horse should look..........keeping up his image maybe. When I saw Rachel ride into the ring, she looked like a younger version of Angie on the black horse.

I'm not going to narrate or comment on the class or Rachel's riding. I'm pretty sure that's part of what I'm not "supposed" to do. Instead you have the video and you can see how the class went.

I'm glad that Rachel did well but it was a hard class to watch. I didn't really know what to think or feel. This horse thing that I'd started with my granddaughter three summer shows ago wasn't turning out to be what I had hoped. There seemed to be a lot more hurt feelings than any kind of bonding. I had to wonder where it would go from here.

Then in the evening session, Rachel was back to riding Dandy in the amateur owner class. Her class was scheduled right before mine but I still warmed the horse up. Then I put Rachel on with very little time to school using the same strategy that I had in the morning session.



While Rachel rode that class, I was in the warm-up riding my Arabian stallion. It was hard to watch Rachel riding into the ring knowing I wouldn't be able to watch her ride and be there on the rail. I don't know if I was trying to take care of Rachel or maybe Dandy but that instinct to "be there" when Dandy and Rachel were in the ring was strong.

I hated that the schedule was laid out this way. It wouldn't be fair to Legs to ride him in a class with no warm-up so I just kept warming up my horse trying to keep my mind on Legs instead of what was going on in the ring.

I could see as the riders came out of the class that Rachel and Dandy had won. I was relieved to see that Dandy had held his own in the ring with this judge. Now if he could just hold it with Rachel.

As I got ready to ride my own Arabian horse into the ring all I could think about was Rachel's class. I was hoping that someone had taken video so that I could see how Rachel and Dandy's ride had went. It's a good thing my horse is trained..........even if he's not totally finished yet he still knows how to make an entrance.

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

Part 3

Rachel and Grandma and Arabian Horses at the Daffodil Summer Show.....a whole herd of them!

Normally, the summer show is this laid back, low key show that I can take my horse to just have some fun. Somehow this year we ended up taking three Arabian horses for this occasion. Then Rachel was going to show Angie's horse, Midnight Eclipse, as well. Four horses makes for a lot of classes crammed into a two day schedule.

Dandy, alone, had seven classes. Rachel was showing the horse in the junior select rider class as well as the junior owner to ride qualifier and championship. Then I was going to show the horse in four trail classes.

Legs had four classes and Hope had one. Rachel had two classes on Eclipse then I got a bit crazy and added a couple of halter classes. God only knows what I was thinking. All I know is it made for a hectic schedule.

Rachel hadn't ridden the Arabian horse at all at home. Between Lindsay's injury keeping me at home and Dandy needing the chiropractor again, I hadn't ridden the horse much either. Poor Dandy and Rachel were winging it.

Their first schooling session was on Friday night at the fairgrounds. She had been in one of her moods complaining about her back or a headache or something......the usual stuff in recent months about why she wasn't concentrating on her riding. I cut the lesson short to save myself and the horse the frustration of dealing with the temperamental teenager.

I was pretty sure that's not how Rachel's lessons with Eclipse had gone or Angie wouldn't be letting her show the horse. I had been told that things to do with Eclipse were between Angie, Colleen and Rachel so I was feeling a bit (this is an understatement, in case you are wondering) defensive on the subject.

It seemed, not only had I been pushed away, but that Dandy wasn't being appreciated as well. So things started off shaky. I wasn't really sure why Rachel was even riding Dandy because it sure didn't look like she cared to be doing so. All she could talk about was Eclipse.

I was going to try and keep my distance from this situation and just enjoy showing my horses. I didn't want to get caught up in anymore stuff with my granddaughter. If Rachel wanted me to not be involved, distance was the best place for me.

That meant I didn't have much in the way of expectations of Rachel either. I took care of cleaning the horses stalls myself and only asked Rachel for help feeding etc if I just couldn't get it done myself. That way I wouldn't be disappointed or upset if she didn't get things done. I knew the horses were well taken care of because I did it myself.

Saturday morning, Rachel's first class was a ways down the schedule so we planned on arriving around 8. That would give the horses plenty of time to eat before it was time to get Dandy tacked up and ready for his class.

I set the alarm for 6. That would give me plenty of time to feed and water my Arabian horses. We could stop at McDonald's for breakfast and still arrive in time to see the classes of the others from Angie and Richard's barn............well, that was the plan anyway.

However, I got a call from Angie wondering when we were coming. Chris had left her number in our tack room and she and DJ were one of the first classes in that first session. Our leisurely morning immediately turned to stress and we headed off for the fairgrounds.

We arrived to find they'd given up on us. Cody had climbed over the wall to retrieve the exhibitor number. That goes to show how secure locked tack rooms at a horse show really are. If someone really wants to rip you off, they can and will.............. I'd only wished they'd let me know that Cody had scaled the wall. I certainly wouldn't have stressed nearly as much on the drive to the fairgrounds. I swear, I missed every single traffic light possible just because I was in a hurry. At least we arrived in time to see both Chris and Cody ride.

When it was time for Rachel's first class, I gave her as little time to warm-up the horse as possible. It seemed the more time she spent on the horse, the quicker she got frustrated. Once that happened it was all downhill so my strategy was to not give her enough time to get frustrated.

Things were ok in the warm-up. The horse was rounder than he'd been for her in a while. Rachel's mood wasn't bad but it seemed to me her focus was more on showing Eclipse in the afternoon session than it was on the class she was getting ready to ride. I tried not to let it bother me and just kept focusing on instructing her on how to ride my horse.

Dandy jogged into the ring just a little bit fast and not quite underneath himself but still ok. At the lope the horse was clearly dropping his shoulder to the outside again like he had at Region 4. But unlike Region 4 the horse would straighten right out when cued to do so. Rachel, however, wasn't remembering how to fix the problem instead she was just picking at his face. Other than that, the class went pretty well and Rachel got second place.

Before we even got back to the barn Rachel was already mapping out in her mind what she needed to do with Eclipse. I just made sure that Dandy was untacked and properly put away. I took care of cleaning the stalls and then made myself scarce.

I didn't have a class until the evening session so I went up to the ring and watched my friends ride. I can't even tell you when I've had the time to stop and just sit down and watch horse show. It was really nice for a change.

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

Part 2

I don't have video of Rachel's first ride but there is video of her other rides. You'll be able to see both classes with Eclipse and the remaining classes with Dandy.

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Salem for the Region 4 Championships - Western Pleasure Junior to Ride

Part 1

Fortunately for my Arabian horse, I saw Mary Jane Brown of Diamond B Training Stables. I knew that Mary Jane and her husband, Russ, are firm believers in chiropractic for horses and that they use a very good chiropractor for the Arabian horses in their care. If anyone knew where to find a good chiropractor it would be Mary Jane.

It turned out that the chiropractor that Russ and Mary Jane use was right there on the showgrounds. Mary Jane called him for me on her cell phone and I was able to set up an appointment for Dandy before his class that afternoon with Rachel. I felt much better making our way back to the stalls that Dandy would get some relief and Rachel would still get to ride.

I didn't feel better for long. The chiropractor arrived and found poor Dandy was a mess. I think there wasn't a place on his poor body that wasn't sore to some degree. The worst area was that right shoulder that he was dropping so badly. Then the opposite hip was also very sore. He was also sore in his neck and at the poll. Poor Dandy, no wonder he was having a hard time doing what I asked.

I felt so bad that I hadn't figured out sooner what was going on with him. The chiropractor said not to beat myself up. That lots of times this kind of soreness builds up gradually and is difficult to notice until it just erupts like it had on Dandy that morning. That made me feel a bit better but in all honesty, I was feeling like a pretty bad horse mother!

In addition to doing chiropractic, this man (whose name escapes me at the moment) also does acupuncture. After he was done, he performed that treatment on Dandy as well. I was really glad to have that available. Dandy has had that kind of work done before and it has also provided him immediate relief. It was beginning to look like Rachel might make her class after all.

Once the chiropractor was finished, we let Dandy rest. The plan was not to take him up for the class until the last minute. I would ride him up to the warm-up flexing and bending the horse all the way. Then with a brief warm-up I would put Rachel on just in time to go into the class giving the horse as much time between the treatments and working as possible.

When I first got on the Arabian horse I could tell immediately that Dandy was feeling better. He easily moved away from my leg driving up deep underneath himself. It was nice to have my old horse back.

Everything went as planned and Rachel rode into the arena for her class on a nice round horse. He was a little bit fast at the jog but my guess is that was tension from Rachel and not so much the horse. Sometimes when she gets tense she tends to "push" him through her seat making him go faster than he should. When she remembers to slow her body down, the horse slows down as well.

Other than that she had a pretty nice ride except for a brief break at the lope the first direction. All the horse's transitions were smooth and his lope was nice and soft both directions. I think had they not had that break at the lope and if the jog had been correctly rated, Rachel and Dandy might have even placed in that class.

When it was all said and done, I was really pleased with how my Arabian horses had done at this show. Legs had improved on each and every ride and Dandy had done his usual and given us everything he had to give. I was even thinking that I might just still be hope to take Legs to US Nationals this year.

On the other hand, things with Rachel had not gone well. She had an attitude the entire week and we had finally had a not too pretty confrontation. It turns out that she'd changed her mind about wanting to be at the show. She's decided it would be a lot more fun to be home with her friends. Instead of making the most of it, she just took her feelings out on me. It was a long, hard 8 days living in a tent with a brooding teenager who was talking to everyone around but me. I can't say I've every tolerated that kind of treatment well.

"Rachel and Grandma and an Arabian Horse" are on pretty rocky ground. This horse thing is what I do for me to keep me sane, I'm not sure I'm ready to give that up for granddaughter who doesn't seem to appreciate it anyway. Region 4 was only the beginning of a downhill slide. I'm still not sure where that slide will take us.




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Salem for the Region 4 Championships - Western Pleasure Adult Amateur to Ride

Part 1

My last class of the Region 4 Arabian Horse Championships I rode my gelding, Dandy, on qualifying points that Rachel had earned. Since the points go with the horse and Rachel had earned more points than she could use, I decided to use those extra points and ride in the Adult Amateur to Ride Western Pleasure class. That way I could school the horse through any issues that Rachel had been having earlier in the show.

The night before Rachel had a lesson on Dandy that had not gone well. She complained about the Arabian horse not steering well and he really didn't want to round up for her. She had let her frustration get the best of her and I'd taken her off the horse before anything had been resolved.

I then schooled the horse myself and found him to be a bit on the stiff side. It took me a while to get through it, but I did eventually get what I'd been trying to achieve. I chalked the horse's resistance up to his go round with Rachel. Sometimes he anticipates being punished by me because she's taken her frustrations out on him.

The next day when I got on the Arabian horse in the warm-up, I found him to be stiff again. Getting him to bend at all around my leg was tough but I seemed to be making progress. Then the paddock announcer called us up to our class.

It wasn't until I rode through the gate that I figured out what was wrong with the horse. Just past the ingate the horse just totally dropped his shoulder to the outside and flattened out his frame. Despite my efforts to correct this situation using my inside leg to pick him up, the Arabian horse's response was to drop that shoulder even more and hollow out his back.

This behavior is just not like Dandy. The horse tries as hard as he can to give everything he's got. Getting such a negative response from the aids could only mean one thing. The light bulb in my head turned on as I realized that poor Dandy needed a chiropractor badly!

Right then and there I decided to back off and give the horse a break. We would have to get through this class but I wasn't going to force the horse into a frame that obviously was painful to him. I was just going to try and keep the horse out of the heavy traffic that is always upsetting to him which was going to be a task in itself in this large class.

Staying out of traffic turned out to be a real problem. For the first time that I can remember in a long time, the horse seriously lost his steering. His steering was so bad in fact that we nearly took out a judge. Talk about a tough way to make an impression.

By the time I pulled the horse into the line-up my brain was seriously racing with thoughts of Rachel's pending class and the horse's predicament. Finding a chiropractor on such short notice was going to be difficult at best. Without one, Rachel's class would have to be cancelled.

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

Updates! Lindsay is doing much better. She is back to cleaning stalls although she gets pretty tuckered out. She is still struggling with double vision but it seems to be only about half the time now so that's a big improvement. I have her wearing her helmet whenever she is working around the horses in their stalls. And she still is not putting any horses out or bringing them in. We will wait until she is totally healed before we give that a try.

Andy's leg is still healing but the honey has really helped. It does look like there will be some proud flesh despite all the efforts but it seems to be a small area. Getting the skin to reattach to the coronet band is still the big issue and it looks to be mostly healed at this point. Just one small area is left to heal.

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Salem for the Region 4 Championships - Western Pleasure 50 & over

Part 1

Because the fees for regional championship classes are so high ($55 per class) I had figured that even if I qualified my Arabian horse for the adult amateur owner class I wouldn't ride it. I knew my horse wasn't competitive and there was little if any chance we could place. However, after some encouragement from Angie and Richard and my daughter, Colleen, I changed my mind and entered Legs after all. I was just going to go show my horse and have fun. I certainly was pleased that we had even qualified.

With each ride the horse was getting better and better. It was hard not to wish we had a few more weeks. If the horse kept improving at this rate, he might have been ready with a little more time.

I remember looking around the warm-up with all the amateur riders working with their trainers and thinking that I was doing well to have even gotten this far. The 40 & over purebred Arabian western pleasure class has been the most competitive class at the Arabian horse shows since my show career began. Now looking around the arena it looked like that distinction might just be travelling along with me into the 50 & over division. There were definitely some tough horses here and all seemed to be trained by Big Name Trainers. I can hardly wait for the day that my horse is competitive.

The only other amateur who trains her own horse that I saw riding in the ring that day was Melanie on Khemosabi Miss. They are on this video as well and both Melanie and I are wearing the same colors so there might be some confusion. However, Missy has four white socks and Melanie is much shorter and more petite than I.

I remember jogging into the ring fairly early. I'm just not big on keeping the judges waiting. That and I make use of that extra time before the gate is closed to school my horse if need be.

By this time in the week Legs was getting a bit tired and his jog was definitely slower than it had been. The beat of the music seemed to be keeping the horse going and I was glad that I didn't have to use so much leg to keep pushing him. Also, he was caring his head lower more consistently.

The horse's transition into the lope was good and his lope had slowed down considerable from that first class in this arena only three weeks before. It was hard to imagine that the horse had made that much progress in so little time. The best part was I wasn't fighting him to keep the gait true. He was really underneath himself where he belonged. He just needs to get more confident so I can pitch that rein and we will be right where we belong.

The transition down into the walk was a bit sloppy. The horse was round enough but he took a few jog steps before he hit the walk with two of three judges looking straight at him. A transition like that would kill even the best of rides and actually it surprised me because it's not something that Legs does often.

The only other thing that stood out for me about this class was they had us jog the second direction before they asked for the lope. Changing up form the usual walk to lope to jog format is great for the horse and can actually mess up some horses that go on auto pilot but Legs didn't seem to be affected at all. He stayed nice and soft.

I remember when they did ask us to lope that I waited a bit long. I almost got the horse boxed in the corner. I have no idea what I was thinking. I usually wait until the horses in front of me lope so that I have someplace to go but I really could have messed up my horse on this one. As it is he did ok and it was a nice lope.

I was pleased by the time we jogged into the line-up. My horse had again improved over his last class. There wasn't much more I could ask of him.

If I remember correctly, the class was won by Sue Rainwater on her new stallion. Sorry but I can't remember his full registered name only that it has "eclipse" in it somewhere. You can bet this horse will be a contender at nationals this year.

Melanie and her mare made it on two judges cards and she was pleased with that. Legs and I "got the gate" as I expected but I was really proud to have made it to that class in the first place. It's been a several years since I've shown in this division and it was nice to have qualified and ridden it in my first year with this horse.

Rachel still had her class to go on Dandy and I had decided to show him in the Adult Amateur Class on points that Rachel had earned. Both of those classes would be on Saturday, the last day of the show.

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

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Salem for the Region 4 Championships - Select Rider Western Pleasure 50 & over

Part 1

The first regional class I rode my Arabian horse in was the select rider western pleasure class. If I had any hope of "winning" a prize at the regional championships with my still unfinished horse, this class was it. The class would be filled with riders who had never earned a regional championship or better. That meant most riders would not be at my skill level which, if we were lucky, might offset my horse's shortcomings.

My horse came into the ring a bit buzzed. His jog was faster than he had been going in the warm-up and he was carrying his head a bit higher than I'd like. With this being the select rider class, most of the other riders would be riding off of nerves with their horses reacting to them so there were other horses a bit buzzed as well. However, as a rider I was more comfortable with dealing with a horse on the muscle.

When they called for the lope, I was really pleased with my horse's response. He waited quietly for me to ask and then absolutely nailed his transition. It was one of the best lope transitions the horse has given me in the curb bit.

From there the horse went on to lope slower and more consistently rated than any previous class. I still had to pick him up every few strides and really wasn't riding him on the loose rein I would like but the horse was definitely going forward better than he had been in the bridle.

The only problem real problem I had in that first lope was going down the last rail. He kind of stalled out for a moment and his motion was more up and down than it was going forward. It was almost like he ran into that wall of the bridle again but after a few short strides he moved on again with a nice round slow lope. Now if I could just get him off that support of the rein, we might even get to be competitive.

The other thing I remember about this ride was feeling awkward about what to do with my right arm. I'm so used to riding with romel reins and that arm having it's own job...........I can't figure out what to do with it when I ride with split reins. I even noticed in one place in the video there is way too much air between my body and that arm. Kelly Alcorn would have called that a chicken wing and asked me when I was going to fly off. Funny how those old things can creep into the mind at inopportune moments.

I think I've mentioned about the "walk" before that I allow my horse to walk on out like a "real" walk. I hate those mincey little walks that are slower than a snail. I noticed in this class that all three judges watched the horse at the walk trying to figure out if he was being naughty or that was the rate I was asking. Legs was a good boy and stayed nice, soft and consistent throughout the walk. I was really pleased with how it felt.

When the announcer called out for us to reverse, I turned my horse into the wall to remind him to round up and slow down. Pushing him back onto his hocks by using the wall also seems to help remind the horse to stay focused. He didn't rush off out of the turn but stayed nice, soft and slow.

The second lope transition was nearly as nice as the first one had been. I was happy to feel the horse underneath himself so well even if I did have to hold him pretty firmly to keep him committed to going forward. Something about that added support was giving the horse confidence about rounding his back and a little less fear of that bit.

If that's what it takes to get this horse as round as I wanted, then I'm willing to hold him despite the fact that it's not what most trainers would do. There was no way I was going to bump this horse off the bit causing him anymore fear of this bridle than he already has. I'll do whatever it takes to get this horse to trust that he can go to that bit and still be safe.

The horse's transition down to the final jog was good. He went on to jog a bit slower than he had coming into the ring. I think that his head had dropped just a notch as well, although it still wasn't down where I would like it to be.........or where it is at home. But one thing at a time.......round first and the position of his head can follow.

When I rode the horse into the line-up I was really pleased with the ride. While I didn't expect us to win a prize, I did think we might make a judge's card. In my years of showing, I have never made a judge's card in western pleasure. For me at this point, I was thinking a card would be a good milestone.

For those who don't know about Arabian regional or national championships, they have the horses all line up in the center and verify the numbers on the judges' cards are valid. Then a scorer computes the results from the combination of those three cards. Once that's been done, they dismiss all the horses. The winning horses are called back into the ring individually and presented with their awards.

There were only eight horses in this class so a Top Five was not awarded. If there are less than ten horses, the number is divided in half (always rounding up) and the resulting number is the number of awards that are given. In this class of eight horses, they awarded four "top five" awards.

\when I went back later and checked the judge's cards, I'd not only made one judge's card but two. If I remember correctly I was 4th on the call judge's card and 5th on one other card, Paul Kostial didn't use me at all. However, we were ranked 5th overall in the class.......not too bad for a horse struggling with the bridle.

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

Just a note to say I'm so far behind here I'm not getting time to visit any blogs and I really miss all of you guys! Lindsay is gradually getting stronger and beginning to help a little in the barn. Once she gets back in full swing I sure hope things will slow down a bit so I can get back into my routine and have time to visit all of you.

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Salem for the Region 4 Championships - More Pre-Show

Part 1

I know it's been a while since I began this series of posts. With another horse show coming up this weekend, I thought I really should get things wrapped up on the Region 4 Arabian Horse Championships. I have enough trouble keeping straight what happened at the shows without stacking them up.

I left off with Rachel's first attempt at a western riding class in the pre-show. After that I rode two pre-show western classes on my horse, Scandalous Legacy. I have videos of both classes but they are too long for blogger or YouTube and despite numerous attempt at trying to figure out how to edit them, I'm still stuck. So sorry, the videos just aren't going to happen so you'll have to settle for what I can remember. At this point, I can tell you it's not good.

The first class was the purebred Arabian Adult Amateur to Ride Western Pleasure class. And if I remember correctly it was for riders ages 40 & over. It was a large class with something like 17 or 18 horses. I do remember after going in early and waiting and waiting and waiting for that last horse to finally jog through the gate that I was beginning to think I'd made a mistake by coming in so early. Trying to find "a place" was difficult when being pushed to the inside by the ring steward to keep the in gate clear for entering horses.

My Arabian horse was really good in all the traffic. His jog was getting slower and more rated with each class. The horse seemed to draw some comfort for the large number of horses in the ring and was content to let the other horses pick the pace so he could just "keep up."

That was ok until it was time to lope and we found ourselves in the proximity of some horses that were on the muscle. Since Legs was tending to be a bit faster than our goal lope, this acted as reinforcement in this little brain for a brisker lope. I won't say he was pushy but he just wasn't quite as well as he had in the warm-up. However, he was still improved from the last class.

Also riding in this class was Melanie on her mare, Khemosabi Miss. I think that Missy was one of those horses on the muscle. Neither Melanie nor I got a ribbon in that class. But I was happy with Legs's improvement over the last class. What more could I ask? I really hadn't figured I would get qualified for the Amateur Owner division at this show anyway.

The next class I rode was the Amateur Owner 50 & over western pleasure class. By this time my Arabian horse had slowed his jog down yet another notch. I was still riding him on a pretty short rein although most of the time there was little contact on, if any on the bit. (I will say he doesn't look as soft in the videos to me as he felt however.)

This class was much smaller than the amateur to ride class had been but my horse still seemed to be very comfortable in the ring despite the fact this was an evening class. If he was worried about any of the trolls from the night before, I sure couldn't tell it by the way he felt. He seemed to be a happy horse to me.

His transitions in the warm-up had been inconsistent but in the actual class, I thought they were much better. And while I still had to pick him up every few strides at the lope, he did a better job of staying rated.

The horse still wasn't loping quite a slow as he needed to be. However, slowing him up was just not an option. There was no way the horse would round up enough to go that slow. He was still intimidated by the curb bit. Anything that slow was not a true lope and I'd much rather be a bit fast than allow the horse to 4 beat.

I can remember pulling into the line-up and thinking it hadn't been a bad ride. I was really proud of my horse for the improvement he was showing from one class to the next. I made sure to give him a nice scratch on the neck as we sat there waiting for the results.

We ended up getting a fifth place ribbon in that class which was the last thing I expected with the horse going on such a short rein. With there being 9 horses in the class. We had earned just enough points to be qualified for the Regional Championship Amateur Owner 50 & over class.

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

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Salem for the Region 4 Championships - Pre-Show Western Riding

Part 1

The first class we had Tuesday morning at the Arabian horse show was Rachel and Dandy in western riding. This is a class that I really haven't known that much about until recently. Rachel and I checked it out at the AHACO Arabian horse show to see if it was something that she might be interested in trying. Then decided that Rachel and the Arabian horse would enter it for the pre-show.

Western riding has two aspects to the class. First, all the competitors come in together and do work on the rail just like any pleasure class. Then when the line-up is called, all riders line up across the short end of the arena. There they are given instructions on a pattern. The horses then compete singly completely that pattern. The class is scored half on the rail work and half on the pattern work.

Like any class that requires a pattern, the rules state the pattern must be available one hour before the start of the session in which the class takes place. So Rachel headed up to the show office to get a copy of the pattern right at 7 am. Then while we were getting the horse ready and she was getting herself dressed she had the chance to learn this pattern and decide if she had any questions.

The pattern consisted of walking from the first cone to the second. Then jogging from the second to the third. At the third cone picking up the left lead and circling around to the fourth cone. The horse is to halt at that fourth cone then turn on the haunches to the right 180°. Lope on the right lead to the third cone. Halt at the third cone and drop stirrups. Jog to the first cone. Halt pick up stirrups and back five steps.

By the time we made our way up to the warm-up arena, Rachel had the pattern down. It was pretty basic and she really needed to work on was picking up her stirrups. It's amazing how much differently things like that can be affected when wearing show clothes. Chaps are the number one culprit interfering with things like mounting and loosing or picking up stirrups. But Rachel managed to find her stirrups easily, thanks partly to her well broken in saddle.

If she'd had to do that with my saddle it could have ended up differently. My show saddle has not been ridden in on a regular basis and the stirrups are not "trained." They still like to hang straight instead of conforming to my legs. My saddle could sure use some time with a broom handle pushed in the stirrups to mold them into the right position. I'm always fighting with my toe to find my way into that slot.

The other thing that Rachel worked on in the warm-up once the horse was warmed up was the turn on the haunches. Dandy has that move down pat but Rachel tends to want to cue him using two hands. Riding in a class, she needs to cue with just one hand. I was actually surprised at how quickly she made it work when she had to.

Other than that I had her practice the size of the arch for the lopes. Thinking about riding a half circle with a target in mind doesn't always come easily to people. I never know when Rachel is going to have a dyslexic moment and not be able to fix that target in her mind. It was clear this particular morning that wasn't a problem.

By the time the junior exhibitors were called up to the ring, Rachel and the Arabian horse were ready. Just as Dandy had done the previous day, he jogged super slow in the warm-up but stepped it up a notch when he came through the in gate. I could tell as Rachel rode down the rail that she was trying to slow him with her hand instead of using her legs to round the horse up. It would be interesting to see how long the horse put up with this. He tends to start rooting through the bit when he's ridden off his face.

It was really interesting to me to watch how this class was ridden. I'd expected the other riders to ride their horses just like they would in a pleasure class. What I saw instead was a lot of horses on very short tight reins. The horses were going super slow but there definitely wasn't a draped rein in the class, even though I'd seen a number of these horses going that way in their pleasure classes.

Rachel rode Dandy on a looser rein that these other Arabian horses. However, he did not stay as round as the horses on the short tight reins nor did he travel as slowly. With that part of the class counting for half I wasn't sure how this would play out in the end.



Watching the pattern work, there were no horses that jumped out at me as being super bad or super good for that matter. It seemed to be a toss-up as far as I could see. When all was said and done, Rachel placed seventh out of seven horses. I'm not sure I would have bumped her down quite that far but I did figure she and Dandy would be at the bottom end.

The first video is the rail work of this class. The second video shows on Rachel's pattern work. I wish there had been a least a couple of other horses shown because looking back at in now I find myself second guessing.

I asked Rachel what she thought about her ride. The answer I got was that she didn't like the way it went. Other than that I didn't get anything more specific but then by this time I was beginning to suspect that there was a problem with Rachel. I just didn't have a clue what it was.

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

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Salem for the Region 4 Championships - Pre-Show Select Rider

Part 1

The evening's classes at the Arabian horse show seemed to be moving along a bit slower than I'd hoped. I guess I was thinking maybe they'd flow smoothly enough that Colleen would get to see my ride before she had to leave but that just didn't happen. With them both having to work early the next morning, they left the fairgrounds about two classes before mine was called into the ring.

Right after they left I made my way up to the warm-up ring with my horse. Heading for the horse chute to take the short-cut across the field something got to Legs. He spun around and stared out over the top of a huge mound of dirt like something important was out there. Trying to get the horse's attention back on getting to the ring, I could tell that the horse was a little bit buzzed.

Despite the horse's concerns about whatever lay out yonder in the darkness, Legs really tried hard for me in the warm-up arena. I didn't have to fight with him to slow him up or work to keep his attention. He was really giving me everything.

At one point as we worked down the long side, something crashed right beside us on the other side of the rail. The horse scooted his butt and threw his head up with a startled expression but rolled right over as soon as he connected with the curb. I could tell that he was rattled even more than he had been when we'd arrived but he was still giving me a nice ride. I was hoping we could get to the ring for the class before something else distracted him.

When the paddock announcer called the select rider ages 50 & over up to the gate, I was glad to get my horse headed away from this warm-up. This was the first time I'd ridden in a 50 & over class and I wasn't sure what to expect for the number of horses. I was surprised to see only three horses line-up behind us and follow us into the ring. That made this a smaller class than the other select rider classes I'd ridden in up to this time.

Legs went through the gate just a bit nervous. The horse wanted to look around as we rode into the ring and his jog was a bit faster than it had been in the warm-up. It didn't take long and he quickly settled down for me.

With the small number of horses in this class it didn't take long and the horses were all in the ring. By the time I cut across the arena next to the gazebo as directed by the ring steward, the gate was closed and the class was being judged.

We only jogged around the end before we were asked to lope. Leg's transition into the lope was much better than it had been. He started off slower and was staying slower than he had been at the previous show.
Right about the time I thought I could relax and enjoy this ride, I heard what sounded like an explosion right next to us in the stands. My horse jumped out from underneath me and for a minute I thought I was going to eat dirt. Actually it felt like he leapt into the air with a bit of a sideways movement, followed by three or four little leaps before the horse settled back in and went on down the rail.

The rest of the class I could feel the horse's heart pounding between my legs. It was clear he was absolutely terrified by still trying to please me. I don't know if it's visible on the video but every little noise sent a shudder through my horse. Despite that he kept on giving me his very best effort. He didn't scoot through the bridle or raise up one time. I doubt that anyone watching knew he had not gotten over that "explosion." I couldn't have been more proud of my horse than I was in that class.

With four horses in the class, Legs and I placed third even with our wreck. I learned later that the "explosion" had actually been a dropped cell phone. It had indeed been right next to us and the owner had mumbled an apology to my friends.

Looking at the video, I was pleased to see how much Legs has improved since the last show. He is much slower at both the jog and the lope although still not rated. If he continues to improve like this, he might actually be finished in the bridle by the end of the summer.



So take a peak at the video and tell me what you thing.

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

Western Riding

The picture is of Angie's dog, Dakota, who is related to the boxer I lost a couple of years ago. Keep your fingers crossed for puppies this fall because I'm first on the list for another female.

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Salem for the Region 4 Championships Part 4

Part 1

For Rachel's western pleasure class in the late afternoon, I schooled the Arabian horse in the warm-up first. Dandy seemed to be a bit stiff but nothing that didn't seem to work itself out. By the time I was ready to put Rachel on him, the horse was going along in a very collected frame using his neck like an Arabian horse should be.

As long as Rachel was riding in the warm-up, she did a pretty good job of keeping the horse in that collected frame. Both of them seemed to be relaxed and I was thinking that they might just have a pretty good ride.

All hopes of things going smoothly were dashed as Rachel jogged the horse into the ring. I swear the Arabian horse came through the gate doing double time over the jog he'd been doing in the warm-up. I think by the time that Rachel was half-way down the rail, her patience was gone and she was no longer riding off her legs. Instead she was grabbing at the horse's face which only makes this particular horse nervous.

Despite the quick jog, the horse was staying pretty round the first way of the ring. When the announcer called for the lope, the horse's transition was very pretty but he immediately dropped his shoulder and began to lengthen his frame. I think when we get the video from Richard it will show the horse is heavy on the forehand even though he stayed nice and slow.

Transitioning into the walk, the horse sat down quickly, maybe even before Rachel asked. His walk was too fast and he was clearly pushing Rachel's buttons. She did reverse him into the wall to try and get him back but used mostly the rein for the turn and little leg. This strategy didn't help her much and the horse stepped off again too fast and not listening.

It seemed like the horse's frame was getting longer and longer with each step. By the time that Rachel asked the horse to lope he had lost most of the arch in his neck. Knowing that Rachel tends to be very competitive, riding like this wasn't going to garner the results that the kid wants. As I watched on the rail I wondered how I was going to get through to her so she can accomplish what she wants. Sometimes teenagers are just plain tough!

Even when this horse gets long, his transitions up into the lope are always pretty. It amazes me sometimes how he can be so long and still pull off such beautiful transitions. I guess it just shows how much talent this horse really has.

Now if I could just figure out a way to get Rachel and the horse tuned in on the same wave length we might get to see some of what we saw her very first classes with him. It was going to take some work if Rachel and Dandy were going to be competitive in their regional classes.

After the class Rachel's parents went into town to find a new battery for her cell phone. The old one was not holding a charge making it impossible for us to communicate on the fairgrounds. Once Ray and Colleen were able to see the size of the grounds and where our stabling was in relation to the show arena etc, it became clear to them how much we needed the darn phone to be up and working.

While they were gone, I worked on schooling Legs for our class later that evening. I wanted to get the horse into the arena to see that there were no ghosts or anything else scary for that matter.

Being that far away from the arena can make it difficult sometimes to figure out the timing on riding at those breaks. Sometimes from the point the paddock steward announces the arena is open and when we can actually reach the arena, the darn thing has already been closed. So I saddled up my horse right after Rachel's was put away after her class and waited.

When I heard the call for the last class of the session, I headed up towards the arena. By the time I got there it seemed like twenty gazillion other riders had the same idea. When the gates were opened for schooling a mob moved in and took over.

Fortunately for me, Legs does not have the problems with traffic that Dandy does. But then Legs has never had the wrecks in the ring that Dandy has, knock on wood. I try to make sure it stays that way and so I was very careful about the route I chose to maneuver through all of these horses.

Legs warmed up easily and seemed to be quite relaxed despite the traffic going both directions at an assortment of speeds. I doubt if I did more than a lap or two each way of the arena, just enough jogging to find a good place to lope. Followed by just enough loping to make a complete turn of the arena. The horse was quiet and responsive and I called it good making my way out again.

The evening class was going to be the select rider class. Again this was the one in which I knew we would be the most competitive. I was still riding in split reins so I could have better control over adjustments. Trying to keep this horse square between my legs when he's still afraid of the curb is definitely a challenge and the split reins make that easier to manage.

I had purchased a new pair of split reins because the old ones had been shortened by a former trainer. I was finding myself having a problem getting away from a set spot on those reins. I guessed they were probably a weighted rein that was shortened from the wrong end. No matter what the problem, the old reins were not as easy to adjust as they should be.

This had been only my second ride with the new ones and I could already see that they were worth the investment. Since I was no longer fighting that "spot" on the old reins, I was able to make much smoother and quicker corrections. The results was my horse was getting softer. Along with that softness came slower. Each ride was getting better and better.

to be continued..............

Select Rider Class

This is an old picture of Rachel and Dandy. I have to admit I totally screwed up in the picture department at the Regional Championships. But even if I had managed to get pics, my camera is on the fritz and I wouldn't be able to retrieve them. I may have to revive my old camera.

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Salem for the Region 4 Championships Part 3

Part 1

During the first session of the Arabian horse show Monday morning I headed up to the show office to post enter Rachel into that western pleasure class. The timing couldn't have been better because I got there in time for them to be setting up for the working cow horse classes.

In my region we don't have trainers doing working cow so none of our shows offer these classes. The only place I've ever seen them is here at this facility in region 4. There are trainers from Region 4 who show and then trainers also come up from California and Region 3 making for a nice number of working cow horses particularly at the regional show. Occasionally there will horses that come in from Montana as well.

The AHACO Arabian Horse Show we'd attended just three weeks before had offered working cow classes but then ran them early. Because of that schedule change I'd missed them even though Wendy and I had planned on watching those classes. Our friend, Bev's, horse was making his debut at that show and I was really unhappy that I'd missed him.

To find myself there just in time to catch these classes was a nice treat. I called Rachel back at the stalls and told her where I'd be then headed up to the stands for a bird's eye view. I knew that Bev's boy was showing at this show and I hoped he be participating at the pre-show for practice for the regional championships.

Even without a friend's horse showing, I really enjoy watching this class. I've seen working cow horse classes a handful of times. I don't really understand all the nuances of the class but have more of a vague idea of what's supposed to be happening. I know that when the cow first comes out, the rider has a bit of time to decide if that cow will work or to ask for another. Then I know the ride is timed and scored based on how well the cow is controlled by the horse.

There are specific maneuvers - boxing, turning and circling the cow that must be done. In boxing the horse keeps the cow contained in a small area. Turning is done by moving the cow down the fence with the horse blocking or cutting it off to cause it to turn. It is done twice, once turning left and once right. Then the cow must be turned in a 360° circle. The horse gets plused or minused on how it accomplishes these maneuvers and how long it takes as well as how well it has control of the cow. The horse also will be penalized for biting the cow.

When I learn the most about the working cow horse classes is when the amateurs ride. Then their trainers sit on the rail calling instructions to their riders. It's much easier to figure out what's going on with the play by play provided by the trainers.

This show I noticed "pick him up" was always shouted just about the time the horse was trying to grab that cow with its teeth. The trainers could tell even before it was visible to the rider that the horse was going to bite.

I found myself watching the horses closer to see if I could see the signs. I should have known that the ears where the clue. The horse would flatten those ears tight against the head before the teeth were bared and head dropped reaching for the cow. Just a slight lift up on the reins would bring the horse back up and block the attack.

Not all horses want to bite the cows but from what I could tell all the really good ones did. Those horses that really got into controlling that cow just couldn't help themselves. You could just see those horses's wheels turning as they chased those cows down. The expression on the horse's face clearly told how badly they wanted to get that cow. It was really fun to watch them work.

It's pretty impressive to see those cow horses rocked back on their butts, perched and waiting for the cow to break. You can see every muscle almost twitching in anticipation of the break. Just thinking about it makes my heart pump.

One trainer called out to his amateur rider, "just grab that horn, get out of his way and let him work!" As soon as the rider quit trying to manage the horse with the reins, the horse got much more efficient and that poor cow didn't have a chance. Watching them flying down the rail and diving in front of the cow just took my breath away. Despite the crashing and banging into the walls from time to time, this class looks like it would be a kick to ride.

There is a handicapped rider that I have seen riding in this class from the first time I ever got to watch. Her name is Sue and she has some type of brain damage but I can tell you it doesn't stop her from chasing those cows. You can see she loves chasing those cows. Her posture isn't the best but her horses always are. I have seen Sue win many prizes in the times I watched working cow. I always get a big kick out of seeing her ride. The joy on her face is clearly priceless.

Once the amateurs were done, they moved on to the professionals. While there is no longer coaching from the rail, the riding is fast and furious. The excitement clearly goes up when the pros ride.

Doug Stewart came riding in on a little bay horse and I knew at once it was Bev's Maynard. In his very first class, he'd drawn a really aggressive cow. It had charged straight at the young horse as it came out of the gate. Poor Maynard had been scared half to death.

On this day, Maynard again drew a really aggressive cow but when the gate opened there was no cow to be seen. The poor guys in the back couldn't even get him into the chute so there stood Maynard in the center of the arena waiting..............and waiting............and waiting.

At first Maynard showed signs of nervousness. I wondered if he was flashing back to nearly being attacked by that aggressive first cow. But then as Maynard stood there waiting he began to get impatient. I could see the difference in his body language as he went from being worried to wondering when he was going to get his chance.

By the time that cow erupted out of that chute, Maynard was ready. He sprang into action and never once thought about being nervous. Maynard was in rare form chasing that cow down.

Just like a baby horse would, he got tangled in his own feet a couple of times and stumbled into the wall a time or two. But that didn't stop Maynard from going after that cow. He was focused and down and dirty..........or yeah! ...........Maynard wanted to eat that cow! Spinning and sliding and chasing and blocking..........Maynard owned that aggressive cow. By the time that cow went back into that chute he didn't know what hit him.

Maynard only scored a 65 which actually got a boo from the appreciative crowd. I'm pretty sure that everyone there knew that they'd just watched and up and coming star. I was really pleased I'd gotten the opportunity to see Maynard shine.

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

Part 4