Those Pre-Show Panic Attacks

Fri Jul 16, 2004

Agh! I've forgotten how STRESSFUL it is in the times leading up to a horse show (it's been like 9 years since I've shown!). I left work an hour early and got out to the barn around 5, figuring I could then finish clipping Quzqo and sand his hooves/put a first coat of polish on. I hiked on out to the pasture to get the horse...he wasn't with the other horses, but maybe further up, down in the valley where I couldn't see him...so I hiked up hills to the furthest point...NO horses! ARGH! The horse was GONE! He wasn't in his stall, so logically one must deduce...they all ready took them out to the fairgrounds!! GRRGH!!! Yep, when I hiked back to the barn, the helpful teen girls said "sure, they took them out around 2 p.m.!" Well CRAP, a friggin' phone call or NOTE on the blackboard might have been helpful!!! Save me the 3/4 mile hike round trip looking for him (I'm wearing my pedometer today!)

So I packed up the essentials (baby oil, fly spray, booger rags, the usual stuff) and drove across the county to the fairgrounds...it was PACKED, with a dozen or so horses being worked in the main arena, never mind the show isn't until tomorrow! I didn't even think that people would arrive the day before, but I guess so. When I DID do shows, the barn was like 4 miles from the fairgrounds, so we never worried about renting stalls or staying overnight.

I spotted Quzqo in a stall first thing (pretty distinguishable, being so SMALL!), and he was glad to see me, I warranted an actual welcoming nicker! A first!! He has a nice open-sided box stall (wire grating), it'll be balmy nights, no problem there. Gave him some water & some hay, he was obviously famished, poor guy! I've learned over the years that you can't make a hungry horse focus on ANYthing but food, so might as well let him eat a bit.

Walked around, looking at the other horses...I MUST take pictures, there seems to be a plethora of COOL-colored equines! A gorgeous sorrel red roan (flaxen m/t), a deep chocolate palomino with big dapples, a way cool red roan overo...Droooool!!! I noticed with amusement most the horses from our barn were brown...two dapple greys (counting Quzqo), the rest bays and
chestnuts, LOL!

But the most interesting and optimistic fact...Quzqo is the ONLY Arabian there! Heh heh. Okay, yeah, sure, I know, a thousand more horses could trailer in tomorrow, maybe even the ones from the show stable I used to board at, but knowing them, they'd have reserved stalls...and I didn't see their name anywhere...let's hope, eh? I don't need Quzqo to compete against $10,000 Wayne Newton-bred Egyptian Class "A" Arabians thank yew!

With a LOT of difficulty I did manage to find an electrical outlet and get Quzqo s fetlocks trimmed, sanded his hooves and got some hoof polish on him (he did NOT like that, it probably felt cold). I walked him around the fairgrounds a bit, and into the arena...I DO wish they'da mowed the thing first, it's full of tempting yellow clover...very distracting for the horse,
*sigh*

On a whim I took him into the warm-up ring (nobody in there) and tried some showmanship moves...stopping, setting up, turning, trotting, stopping...and damned if he didn't do it like a pro!!! Even when I turned him, he planted that one hind foot and spun on it!!! Thus I have decided to add "Novice Showmanship, 19 & Over" to our class schedule tomorrow!!!

Also practiced setting him up for halter, using a carrot piece in my left hand...not any surprise by now, he set up (forelegs square, left hind leg behind, neck stretched UP and OUT)..repeatedly!!! Dayum!!

Left him around 7:30, immersed in his hay, with about a foot of clean, fresh sawdust in the stall (hey, it's included in the stall rental!)...might get out there around 8 a.m., that'll give me time to trim those few whiskers I missed last night! My Showmanship is the 2nd to the last Showmanship (right before "PeeWee Showmanship", LOL!! (10 & Under). Hey, I've got no pride, I'll be a Novice!

Was sure a LOT of crabby overweight middle-aged women there, cursing their horses and life in general...not real impressed. I was kind of smug that my lone Arabian is just fine with his long, loose mane, as dozens of stock breed showers were cursing and fussing, banding their horses' manes, LOL!! Suckers!!!

Ah me. Tomorrow'll be a long day! Made my lunch, got the cameras loaded with film & fresh batteries, my co-worker WILL come and take pix...so...Stay Tuned!