Let's Go Berry Picking!

Sun Aug 28, 2005

BIG horseshow at the fairgrounds this weekend...we didn't go! Glad of it, too...I'm just not THAT into it. It's fun, but it's not everything. Plus the fact the horse was a filthy mess and hadn't really been ridden in days!

Instead he and I went for a trail ride! It was obvious they left him out in the pasture all night...untouched food in his stall, and he was a walking zombie-horse! (He never seems to sleep well out in the field). No complaints here, I was glad of it...didn't need to lunge him before hand!

BEAUTIFUL weather today, high in the low 70's, bright sunny sky, a good breeze to keep the flies away. And what hit me later was the fact that I was totally relaxed about the whole thing! A few weeks ago my heart would have been in my throat as we headed out, worrying he might try something. Somewhere along the way I think we have "clicked" and have finally become comfortable with each other, so that neither of us had to worry!!

Rode with the bitless bridle, which he obviously loves (compared to how he acted with the bit earlier this week)...and since we went out alone instead of with a group, I could get him into nice trotting and cantering segments without any problems (plus it seems the ladies I ride with like to WALK the whole route...no real complaints there, beats wanting to rampage like wild people, but it's hard on my butt!!). We went through the woods behind the elementary school, didn't get lost this time. Sometime in the past week and a half a strong wind came through and blew some saplings over the trail, right at horse-chest-height, so I got off and moved them, and was DEEELIGHTED that I was able to get back on FROM THE GROUND! WhooHOO (this has been a bugaboo with me for years, and now that I have a horse that's 6" shorter than the previous one, there's NO reason I shouldn't be able to do that!!). Quzqo even stood halfway still for me (he was busy defoliating a nearby maple sapling).

We even walked alongside a paved road (no traffic luckily), down a dirt road with some of the scariest poor white trash dwellings in Michigan (MAJOR scary), and then trotted and cantered down the length of the road and back again! It's nice to have a tired horse, LOL!

But the crowning achievement (in my book) came on our way back through some woods that had been logged years ago...the brambles sprang up, and at long last, this year, they bore big, fat, HUGE BLACKBERRIES! YUM! I'd been eyeing them for weeks, but didn't know how Quzqo would feel about stopping in the middle of nowhere...Tezlu used to go apeshit, and prance/dance/fuss/fidgit if I stopped to pick berries...he'd want to GoGoGoGoGO!!! But those berries were too much to resist, so we stopped, I got off, and Quzqo discovered that young blackberry leaves are edible and apparently delicous! LOL! So, while I picked berries, he picked blackberry leaves and had a grand time of it! I gave him some berries which he promptly spat out (Tezlu loved blackberries...who knew!), LOL! If I was bent down picking particularly large berries from the inner/under branches of the brambles, I'd feel this big slobbery muzzle press against my back or shoulders, like "what ARE you doing down there?" But at no time did he fuss or spook or do one single naughty thing! I ended up with about a PINT of blackberries (yeah, I brought a padded container to carry them back in), and an Angel Horse to boot!

He got a full-blown bath for his trouble when we got back (with soap and everything!), and gets to spend a relaxing and safe night in his comfy stall. See if he has any more energy tomorrow!

Yeah, I think I'll keep that horse!

A Horse With Two Behinds

Mon Aug 15, 2005

Actually, multiple horses with two assholes apiece!

Yep, survived yesterday's wild and woolly trail ride! Wasn't the usual posse (the ones on the Midnight Ride through the Woods last Wednesday), but a different circle of folks I don't usually associate with. The woman who organized it has been "off" for 8 months due to being pregnant and giving birth and recovering therefrom, so this was her and her horse's first trail ride since last Fall! The next lady in the group, I've mentioned her before: she rides a PSYCHO Arabian mare that she calls "Quzqo's Twin", which I'm beginning to be insulted by, because her mare is a total nutjob, and Quzqo's much prettier and now has GAZILLIONS more fleabites than that mare...the woman is as psycho as her horse, has no equitation skills, and enjoys riding in sandals, flip flops, or like yesterday, no-heeled slip-on loafers..

Next in our happy band of travellers is the woman who killed Tab the colicking TB, on her new fresh-off-the-track TB Mare, "Tesla"...wearing heeled street boots and no helmet, and her henpecked husband, on his retarded QH, "Ducks"...he was stylishly attired in running shoes, shorts, and no shirt. I was hoping the deer flies would be out in full force that day, heh heh. Believe me, him with no shirt was repellent enough.

Finally, a sane person, my friend with the Paint mare, she'd officially left the barn last week, but trailered in for the day just for this trail ride, she was bored riding by herself at her house, LOL!

Started out okay, I rode Quzqo with his bitless bridle (just gotta tempt Fate I think). Was pretty uneventful for the first hour or so, we even did some trotting and cantering on a nice wide dirt road. The Psycho Arabian ("Chickadee") was WAAAAY ahead of us...reminded me so much of Tezlu, but Tez wasn't THAT crazy, even on a bad day...head high, back hollowed, tail wringing, cantering in place while her idiot rider sawed on the reins and rode English with her feet sticking out in FRONT of her...have never seen an English seat quite like that, maybe it was the no-heeled slip-on loafers that did it. The Husband on the QH, with his heavy-handed horsemanship, had HIS horse all wound up into a ball about to explode, every hundred yards or so they'd have a "disagreement" (Ducks would decide we'd gone far enough and try to turn back), which involved rearing, spinning, and usually being cantered in circles all over the road. Tesla the TB would also have occasional issues, kicking at anything that got too close to her rear, and her murderous rider would spin her in circles, or go cantering or galloping off ahead of the pack without warning.

Making it more interesting, the ex-pregnant lady's horse, "Leroy" was in love with "Chickadee", so when Chickadee went tearing off ahead of the pack, Leroy would pitch a fit, which included prancing in place, ducking his head, spinning, and trying to buck...his rider was TERRIFIED out of her gourd, and through the whole ride Sandy (the woman with the paint) and I pretty much baby-sat her, telling her when to turn Leroy into a circle to get him moving so he couldn't start to pitch a fit...she had a curb bit on him, and was using both hands to pull...which didn't help the situation any...add into that she'd continuously hunch forward in fear AND was wearing running shoes...ARRRRGH! (she DID have a helmet on...I'll give her that much). We were all aware she had a newborn baby at home and couldn't afford to get herself injured...part of the problem was Chickadee's rider who would keep tearing off ahead of the group, which would get Leroy upset, being separated from his love interest, and then he'd pitch his fits...couldn't get it through Chick's rider that she should TRY to stay near for Leroy's benefit (and his rider). Nope...talkin' self-centered jerks here.

The married couple pretty much were on their own personal trail ride, for all the consideration they didn't show...just suddenly TEARING off down the road, which of course upsets the other horses, who also want to tear off with them, then they'd come TEARING back (remember how the woman TORE around the indoor arena with Tab just minutes before his fatal colic attack?). The husband would start to smoke these small CIGARS on the trail...AAGH! The stink was obnoxious enough, we won't even get into the FIRE DANGER, Hellooooo??? Yeah, I love going out into the forests to smell stinky cigars! Wear a shirt next time if you don't want to get bug bites (he said the cigar was his mosquito repellent...yeah, right)

The consensus among us three poky folks was that we didn't care to ever go riding with that couple again...when we finally turned back, they rode on ahead at a fast canter/hand gallop, went over a hill, and haven't seen them since! When we finally got back to the barn, their horses were turned out, had NOT been hosed off or washed down...u-huh...tells me a lot right there.

Fortunately nobody got hurt, nobody got dumped, the ex-pregnant lady is now very shaken up by her horse's bad behavior (er, could we have maybe LUNGED the beast before riding him??), the broad with the Crazy Ayrab was totally oblivious to how her behavior had possibly endangered her friend...the ex-pregnant lady thanked Sandy and myself for sticking with her and helping her out, she was truly terrified near to tears at a couple of points there, poor thing. Been there, done that!

For the record, once again, Quzqo was the BEST-behaved horse on the ride!! Even the Paint mare had a major spook-fit when a little birdie flew out of a tree, lol, but Quzqo was golden! We had a couple of disagreements about whether he should be allowed to run to catch up to the crowd after he stopped for a pee-break (I won the argument, for the record), only after he settled down to a petulant walk, did I get him into a trot, we trotted the 1/4 mile or so to catch up, he started slowing, so I spurred him and MADE him trot right on past and waaaay up the road, even making him canter, not what he expected...he wanted to trot, catch up, then dawdle along behind the Paint until he lagged behind and had to trot to catch up again. Got a lot of complements on how well he behaved, even a resentment-filled comment from the nut on the Crazy Ayrab. IMO, it's not the horse's fault most times, it's the loose nut behind the wheel.

Quzqo Dumps a Rider

Sat Aug 13, 2005

This afternoon my niece brought out her SIX children for Pony Rides...okay, the one boy is only a year old, so he didn't get a ride, but the other FIVE did. Hey, Quzqo got an entire bag of peeled and washed baby carrots for his trouble, he wasn't suffering, LOL!

Used my trail saddle and the bitless bridle, my niece was VERY worried about THAT...she's used to dealing with Tezlu (he threw her into a fence once, sent her to the hospital), but I rode Quzqo first, and put on a demonstration for her on how nice he is with it. Truth be told, that's the first time I've cantered him with the bitless bridle, LOL, I'm happy to report he did GREAT (phew!). Then she allowed the oldest kid, a boy, around 8, to ride. Of course he didn't want to be lead around like a little kid, and since he's ridden both Quzqo AND Tezlu before, we just let him go. He did okay for a boy, Quzqo pretty much ignored him, LOL...he had big fat sneakers on (do they still call them sneakers? probably not) so Quzqo could ignore any kicks to his side. But they did okay once the boy got the hang of it, even did a little trotting (what little he could get Quzqo to DO, heh heh). Kid rides like a sack of potatoes, but he had fun, and wasn't as enthused about "going fast" after he trotted Quzqo a few minutes. Quzqo is VERY bouncy, and when you're a kid who can't even reach the stirrups....not real comfortable, heh heh.

Then the oldest daughter (6) rode, she's a little pro, sits a horse like she'd been doing it forever, VERY confident and doesn't take crap from any ole Horse, she had Quzqo dancing to her tune pretty quickly, even with the reins hanging and uneven lengths ...she even got him to go across the ground poles and through the (empty) water obstacle. She tried a little trotting but he wouldn't move for her, so we put him on a lunge line (so she wouldn't have to worry about steering)...she got him into a trot, and was bouncing around like a ball on his back, when suddenly she just bounced right off his right side to the ground! Very slow-motion, he was stopped before she hit the (very soft sandy) ground! His forehoof landed nearly ON her little leg (I'm sure it was within an inch or two!), phew, but she was totally unscathed, and nope, no crying or hysterics, in fact she jumped up with a grin on her face and said "I'm gettin' back on!!" And she did!

Her mom and dad about died of heart failure, but they survived as well. AND she was wearing a helmet...gotta add that!

Then it was pretty much the other tiny tots who got led around, and my niece took a turn...I felt bad for Quzqo...she'd gained a bit since she got married, and she barely fit in the saddle, but he even trotted for her...she tried posting and got the right diagonal, not bad for not having done it in 10 years or so! But he wore her right out within 5 minutes. We couldn't get her husband to ride, he's afraid of horses, even little short slow ones that a 6 year old can bully, ha!

So, we've got our Lead Line crew lined up for the barn show on Labor Day weekend, we figured maybe the 6 yr old could even go into the "Walk Only" class, and put the 4 yr old into Lead Line! If I can get him to the fun show Wednesday night, we'll do leadline then as well.

Tomorrow another group of wild middle-aged ladies are heading out on a trail ride, but we're leaving at Noon. Should be interesting... Quzqo's older twin, "Chickadee" (fleabit Arabian mare who acts more like Tezlu than Tezlu ever did) will be along. I'm sure I'll have an interesting report then...one way or another!

Separated at Birth??

Thu Aug 11, 2005

Went to the county fair tonight, and I found Quzqo's twin!!!!




In case anybody wondered why I named him after a Llama, BWAHAHA!!!

A Trail Ride By Moonlight

Thu Aug 11, 2005

Went out on a trail ride last night with three other middle-aged ladies from the barn, and SOMEhow we ended up way out in the woods at sunset...anybody realize how friggin' DARK it gets IN the woods? All those leaves blocking any light left in the sky? Couldn't see the damned trail, could barely see the TREES, could barely see the woman in front of me on a dark TWH...I just say thank God for horses' superior night vision, because Quzqo performed like a trooper, in fact, he tripped less in the dark than in the light, probably because he knew he HAD to look where he was going, LOL!

Did not appreciate it when the woman leading the ride took off at a trot, which of course meant the other horses also had to run...nothing QUITE like the feeling of riding a crazy animal through the woods in the DARK! Arrrgh! Thankfully no low branches took me out!

Saw lots of deer (before it got too dark to see anything), and it was amazing how QUIET the woods are at that hour...no car noises, no birds, no wind, just total silence...spooky!

By the time we got back to the hayfields behind the barn it was 9:45, the moon was high in the sky, and the car headlights on the road below were actually kind of pretty. Quzqo behaved perfectly wonderful, not a spook or misstep the whole time! Was quite pleasant, that final few hundred yards back to the barn, out under the stars and the moon and all, the dark shapes of horses in the pastures whuffling at us as we went by...

Might have to do that again soon...er, without the trotting through the woods part of course!

That bitless bridle works pretty good!

Going Bitless

Sun Aug 7, 2005

No horse show today (thank goodness), but ended up taking Quzqo on a nice long trail ride with the resident trainer at the barn. I WAS going to go out by myself and head West, but she was going to go on a ride, ponying a gorgeous lacy-framed overo gelding she's training, and heading East to the lake. Sounds like fun to me!

Today I had the treeless Bob Marshall on Coos (because it's so hot, I didn't want him to have to tote a lot), and my new "New Spirit" Bitless Bridle that arrived the other day offa eBay. I did take him on a short test drive Friday evening with it, and he did pretty good once he figured out what it meant (pressure in new spots, no bit, etc). So today we went on a real ride.

He was still tired from yesterday, poor lad, so that was a plus. We did some riding along a busy county road, not a spook or flinch, the trainer had more fun leading the 3 yr old Paint along the road...luckily it was only for 1/4 mile or so before we cut off onto a residential road. Quzqo was FASCINATED by a guy on a riding lawnmower...I swear, Quzqo's feet were moving forward with his head still pointing backwards, keeping an eye on that guy, LOL!

Had a bit of equine stress when we walked down a two-track alongside a big fenced pasture full of rambunctious young TWHs, they were running back and forth along the fenceline with us... Quzqo has issues with horses charging towards him (gee, wonder why), but once I got the trainer's big QH & the Paint between us and the youngsters in the pasture, he relaxed a bit.

Into the wonderful deep piny and oak-y woods thereabouts, the locals had carved out a fun, interesting winding up-and-down and round and round trail through the state forest there, really kept a horse on his toes (all 4 of them)! Quzqo did SO good, and was so responsive to the bridle, and very relaxed. I was thrilled when he'd bolt forward to play catch-up, pressure
with the bridle got his attention and slowed him right back down to where I wanted him. No head-tossing, no fussing...he got so relaxed he began to walk along the trail with his nose practically on the ground, sniffing along like the biggest bloodhound in the world!

We ended up at a trail campground on a lakeshore (small weedy inland lake, good for fishing and not much else), but since it's a horse camp, they had big horse-access areas to the water. Deb, the trainer, wanted to see if the Paint would go into the water, he hadn't done that yet...eventually she was able to lead him in, and while the horse she rode got a drink, the Paint stood up to his knees & kind of crowded into the QH for security.

Quzqo wanted no part of the water (no surprise there), and after a couple of Drama Queen attempts to go the opposite direction, surprised me by turning and walking right up to the edge of the water, gave it a sniff or two, then walked right in! Frankly it scared me a bit, I once saw a man on a QH at that very watering spot, go further out and hit a deep hole, both he AND his horse went under! (they were all right, but I have a fear of being under water, so...)...Coos kept heading out until he was knee-deep (granted his knees aren't very tall), and the little booger started pawing and SPLASHING away, got Deb and her QH soaked, LOL! He'd plunge his face into the water and flabble it around with his lips, then paw some more, BIG splashing flailing horse legs, Oh, he had a GRAND time! Yeah, well, I also know (and have seen) horses will do that cute splashing with the foot thing right before they LIE DOWN in the water, and no thank you! Deb got some photos of him being adorable in the deep water though (that woman has a digital camera with her at all times, I swear!)...hope I get to see what they looked like, LOL!

Reluctantly we left the water, I was very pleased...Tezlu wouldn't go NEAR that water, maybe get a hoof in or two wet, but that was his limits (although one trail ride he did cross a swift-flowing river that came up past his belly!). Uneventful ride back to the barn, but again, I was impressed at how calm and relaxed he was with that bridle. At no time did I feel he was
fighting me or stressed. And after he stuck his face in the lake, I was happy it was biothane, LOL! Who cares if it gets wet! And when we got back to the barn and I removed it, NO hair loss to the nose! Hooray!

This week is the county fair, so the barn will be deserted all week. I'm going to see if I can organize some evening trail rides for the ADULTS with horses there, LOL! Will be kinda nice!

The Surprise Horse Show Adventure

Sun Aug 7, 2005

Wasn't planning on it, but yesterday Quzqo and I ended up going to an all-day open horse show about 50 miles NE of here! We were invited along Friday night, and since I have a will of wet linguini, I agreed to go! NEVER mind I've barely ridden the horse all week, NEVER mind he hasn't had a bath in 2 weeks, never mind he had 1/4" long whiskers and all my show clothes
still hadn't been washed (saw no reason to hurry with that task...) Nothing like agreeing to go to a horse show 12 hours before departure time, yahoo!!!

Was easy to trim the whiskers and bridlepath, and happily he wasn't too dirty, having been caught outside in a day of heavy rains Thursday, and being left out in the pasture overnight (not being able to lay down in dirty bedding in his stall on a poop pile or such). Using that logic, after riding Friday night, I turned Himself back out to the pasture, so he'd stay clean and hopefully be tired the next day (he never sleeps well when he's left outside, lol)

As for the not having ridden in a week...well...we'll cross that bridge when we come to it, heh heh!

Got to the barn the next morning around 6 a.m. (GAAH!), figuring I'd have to hike out into the 30 acre pasture to catch the horse, happily he was walking down towards the gate/water just as I was walking out to get him, so didn't have to go far at all! He got to enjoy a hearty breakfast (which was actually his dinner from the previous night that he didn't get to eat since
he was outside in 30 acres of grass instead), and come loading time, he was in a pretty good mood! Every time he gets better and better at getting into the trailer...first he has to put on a little Drama Queen token protest, usually just planting his feet and refusing to move...then I have to back him up a few steps, fwapping him with the lead rope, then we try again and he walks right in. Totally ritualistic by now, just trying to prove a point I think, LOL, silly boy.

We ended up in the bustling burg of Kalkaska, Michigan (population 102 I think, used to be a total redneck town, before the oil boom of the 1980's, now it's back to being a redneck town), at their tiny run down fairgrounds. The horse show was the official county fair horse show, which they hold BEFORE the actual fair...I was hoping the fair would be on, so I could look
at exhibits and eat junk food after my classes, but no such luck, place was empty except for the horse show.

Which was basically, a piece of crap. Everyone I heard agreed...I swear, I'd NEVER been to such a crappy horse show, real or model! They had ONE working water spigot for the whole fairgrounds, which was centrally located, but still a wretched hike when you're weighted down with filled water buckets. The water to the wash racks was shut off, so you couldn't do any last-minute horse-bathing or touch-ups. NO bathrooms, just two porta-pots, one of which hadn't been pumped, and baby, it was filling up fast, and NO amount of tasteful dark blue water could mask what was heaped UP in that thing! GAAAH! (I envied the horses which could poop and pee right where they were standing). Food concessions were negligible, and from the looks of the high school Booster trailer it was run from, I wasn't going to take the risk.

The arena was quite nice, good clay-limestone-sand footing, good sized, and they had a nice warm-up ring. The judge was a nice woman who appreciated Arabians and Morgans...there were a fair amount of Morgans, beautiful Saddleseat types...but as usual, the show was dominated by Paints and QHs. Not an App to be seen, only two Arabians, and a mule.

Like the previous shows, we stuck to halter and the Novice classes. There were three in Quzqo's halter...a beautiful Morgan gelding (HUGE thing!), Quzqo, and a lovely chestnut Arabian. Quzqo had set up beautifully for me in practice before the class...you guessed it...once we were in the ring, he DELIBERATELY (I know it was deliberate, he had a glint in his eye) splayed
his legs every which way and would not stand still, kept sneaking forwards or backwards or sideways, I don't think I got him into anything close to a proper Arabian set-up once!! GRRGH...revenge for me moussing his forelock, I know that's what it was! I was happily surprised that we took 2nd place though!! Not last, LOL (course the chestnut Arabian, which took 3rd, had the rattiest tail I've ever seen, like it'd been chewed off, poor thing...)

Which meant we got to go into the showback for Champion...had no chance in hell at that of course, it was won by a magnificent (ho hum) dappled palomino Morgan stallion...phew! But of course for that, Quzqo set up perfectly for me and stood like a rock...Hm.

Had plenty of time to do warm ups at lunch, since it dawned on me I could warm him up in my halter clothes, didn't HAVE to change into the English garb right then and there...he worked quite nice for me, but VERY sluggish and, well, tired, LOL...at least he didn't try to run off at any point, too sleepy and worn out from camping in the pasture, heh heh.

Didn't bother doing Huntseat Equitation, past performances have told me that I'm either not very good or it's hard to be good with a horse that acts like Quzqo, so saved myself $4 there. That also gave me more time to change clothes, relax, have a snack, braid up the horse's mane, etc. We did do Novice Huntseat Pleasure 19/over, thankfully walk/trot, (GLAD I'm not nervous about going into the arena any more, took long enough for that to wear off!).. Quzqo did VERY well, other than me having to continuously urge him forward at both the walk and trot...I know if I didn't keep after him, he'd have coasted to a standstill all on his own. A few times I did get him into a lovely wonderful floating balanced trot, once at least I KNOW the judge was looking right at us when he did it...which is why we placed FIRST!! WhooHOOO!! (4 entries, but still...).

A few classes later we went into the Novice Step-Up, which is an open Novice class but with cantering...like the last show, I was the oldest entrant, since the other women from my Novice class were too chicken (or else didn't want to compete against kids...I have no such qualms, heh heh). There were 8 or so in this group, including our barn owner's 5 yr old granddaughter ...yep, competing against kindergartners, that's me! Quzqo did fine at the walk, and trot, but they wanted the canter from a trot...I slowed him down to a walk before realizing what I did, and had a heck of a time getting him into a canter from the walk (we CAN do it, but usually when he's more energetic), once he got going he did VERY well, nice and balanced. Going the other direction he went right into the canter, but then decided to VEER across the arena (but NOT near the judge this time, LOL)...took a lot of spur and rein to get him back to the rail, once he got into the softer footing he slowed right down into a sweeeet balanced canter! We then trotted into the lineup, and he backed VERY good (for Quzqo). Long story short, we placed THIRD out of 8! And I know for a fact the two girls who beat us have been showing for years, and the first placer has a lovely mature professionaly trained QH...u-huh. For the record, we did beat Bob's granddaughter, heh heh.

Would have been a really fun, cool day, except...as we found out AFTER we'd paid our entry fees...there were NO RIBBONS! NONE! Not even for the leadline kiddies! Nothing!!! The show decided to pay out cash premiums, but ONLY if the class had more than 4 entries...under 4 entries, you got NOTHING! The Novice Classes got little novice-type paper vouchers they could turn in for cash at the office...which meant for our great First Place victory in Novice EP, I got a stupid inkjet-printed slip of paper for one effing DOLLAR! That was it. Got NOTHING for the halter class, and NOTHING for the Step-up, because the two Step-up classes had notations in the classlist that there were no premiums for them. The classlist also stated "Awards to 6th
place"...didn't say "placings" to 6th, it stated AWARDS. O, you bet there was much griping about that...there were a lot of kids there (and adult novices) who did good and got NOTHING to show for it!

Okay, sure, the big Professional Trainers might prefer money to more useless ribbons, but there were at most 10 people there who might have rooms full of ribbons and not want any more. I wager the other 30+ folks would have still appreciated SOMEthing to show for all their hard work and money spent. Gas is $2.47/gallon for regular around here, and a pick-up or SUV takes a LOT of gas to haul a loaded horse trailer 50 miles one way...GRR.

My show companion, who showed in the Western novice classes, was equally PO'd...she'd only had the mare for 8 weeks and was definitely after ribbons..we aren't active in the regional club, so we don't give a crap about the points earned (like the Big Names were)...c'mon, for $4/class they couldn't at least use leftover flats from last year's fair or something?? Our local fair holds a benefit fun show every month, and they have beautiful rosettes to 6th in every class, for the same $4/class.

Let's just say that the lack of any awards really put a kibosh on the whole experience. I wouldn't have awakened at 4 a.m. and gone through all that work for one lousy piece of ink-jet printed paper! I do plan to write a letter to the show organizers, and my companion has already decided she's never attending a show there again, even if they DO have ribbons. Coming from a die-hard shower, that's pretty harsh.

Yeah yeah, "it's for fun"...bullcrap, it's $12 down the crapper, plus gas and time...I could have had "fun" by sleeping in and going for a trail ride. I am pleased Quzqo did so well but still...I'd have been more pleased to be able to hang a first, second and third place ribbon on his Door of Fame at the barn.