Monday, April 30, 2012

Old friends, and new attitudes

What a Grand Weekend we had!

It rained so hard on Thursday I thought we were all going to float away. The rings were flooded and we couldn't ride at all. But by Thursday night the rain had stopped and the wind started. 
It blew the water right off the arena footing, and by Friday morning we were all ready to go out and show.  
This is me on Remington. I'd like to say I am not really so goofy looking- but I would be lying. 
Remington was just great! He cried a little bit, but he settled down right away. I lunged and rode him on Thursday and by Friday he was pretty much okay with the whole horse show thing. 
He raised his head and neck to look at everything, but he always went forward and never took a spooky or balky step. Not once! 

Denise brought her youngster William to the show. He was all eyes and neck for the first day, but by time I took this picture he was beginning to calm down. He's just the cutest little horse! 

Bar Hoppin Bob looks great here on the rail with Lil' Mama, but the judges just don't like his style. She took him in an English Equitation class and he seemed to be much more interested in doing that than this Hunter Under Saddle Class. He'll be 16 this year, and those young, scopey appendix horses are sure hard to beat at in an AQHA English class

Here is Denise and our Trainer extraordinaire' Jacqueline Allen Burke of Superior Quarter Horses. 
I have never had so much fun with a couple of women!


Here is Bob on course in the English Eq. class. 

Bob's redeeming quality is that he LOVES little kids. This little boy just wanted to hug and climb all over him. Of course the little boy did have a bag of cookies with him, and Bob loves cookies too. I thought Lil Mamma was gonna have a heart attack warning the Mom to keep the little boys fingers out of Bob's mouth and his feet free from Bob's big shoes. 

This is the look of Eagles wouldn't you say? 

Obviously I didn't instruct Lil Mamma in the fine art of photography from a distance. I'll have to do better next time. 
This was our Friday class. We were on course and he was very willing to go through every obstacle. Of course, we hit every one of them in some way! Tick tick tick bang! My score for this day was 51.5. Keep in mind that everyone starts out with 60 points and for every good obstacle you get  pluses point and for every tick you get minus's. 
And I had only been practicing the obstacles for three days- just since bringing him home from Jaq's training barn.
On Saturday in the Trail Class we scored 65.5! I've won classes with a score like that- but not this time. This time there were scores of 70 and 74! Accomplished horses for sure!

I might mention here that I also went into my first Walk Jog Western Pleasure class in 20 years ( Literally). 
Wow! Blew my mind! 
There is so much to remember- keep the legs on so his head stays down ( spur stops), and don't go so fast that you pass the guy in front of you, and don't run up someones tail . 
And go deep into the corners and claim your real estate on the rail early. Watch the judge and school when she's not watching. 
And don't forget to breathe. 
Or smile. 
Oh yeah, and there are thirty others in the ring with you. 
But...
We made it around the rail and I remembered some of those instructions. 
So now I also have to work on my ringmanship. 

But the best part of all was hanging with all my friends around a good meal. And take a close look at this picture...
See the woman on the right with the fork of spaghetti in her mouth...
YEP! Cynthia Cantleberry! My Hero! 
She sat down and ate and visited with us and then thanked US for letting her sit down! 
I could hardly speak ( a first) I was so happy! She's an amazing woman and as down home as you will ever find. If you ever see her in your neck of the woods, say hi. She'll return the smile tenfold. 




KBG and her horse Sure to Winsome ( Shirley) came back to the show pen this year after a two year absence. 
They did a great job. She placed forth in Fridays show, but not in Saturdays show. I have a feeling she placed in Sundays show, but since the placings aren't posted for that day until after 6 PM  I won't know her score- or mine- for another week or so ( until it on the website). I was just glad she came back to the show pen. She's just a ray of sunshine, as you can probably tell. 
We visited late into the evenings, ( when we should have been sleeping)! But isn't that really what horse shows are for? Keeping up and remembering old friends?
My whole attitude about showing has made a leap forward. 
I'm looking forward to the summer and more horse shows, thanks to Jaq Burke, Skipin out West and all my horse show buddies!

Jill was our surrogate Horse show mom this weekend. She loves the horses and they love her!


Sunday Stills

On walkabout in Alameda during my break, I came across this old truck. This was taken by my cell phone camera, then doctored up with the previously named program that is no longer.  I think this is one of my favorite pictures.