Twilight Show Fun

Thu May 18, 2006

Well, we survived the fun show at the fairgrounds last night! Damn, I was SUCH a nervous wreck...as you know, LOL! Course I didn't need to be, I ended up getting to the barn in less time than I figured with tons of time to spare!!

Things started going downhill when I got out to catch Quzqo...at first I thought he'd rolled in something, as his forelock was brown! No, make that reddish-brown...no...red...as in BLOOD! SHIT! Somebody had CHEWED and bit his right ear, peeling half the hair off and some of the skin, a bit was hanging loose, and two small chunks were missing off the outer edge!!! He'd apparently bled down into the forelock and poll, and the rain had diluted it & washed it off!! He let me put his halter on (carefully avoiding the ear) and I brought him in. Could forget about any touching of that ear, it was Off Limits!!

Tried at least to clean up his forelock, LOL...forget that, he wasn't letting anything near his head! I did manage to band his forelock at least. Luckily the damage was to the upper half of the ear, not the lower part that might touch a crownpiece or browband. Yeah, I'm a mean horse mom, I dragged him to the horse show anyway. Although I was depressed about it (and the damned rain didn't help, and the fact my friend's Paint mare likes to paw/kick at the trailer JUST as Quzqo's about to step into the trailer, scaring the shit out of him...he's getting harder and harder to load...I wonder WHY?

We got to the fairgrounds w/o incident (no flat tires, no getting lost), got signed up, and only as we had the horses unloaded (Coos is getting worse about that as well, *sigh*, not waiting, trying to rush out, he stepped on my boot, but missed the toes within), did the damned RAIN re-start in earnest. Not a mist or drizzle, but a RAIN! COLD rain! (let's see, this makes it over a full week of rain and cold....little sick of this!). Lucky I have a synthetic saddle, and the rain started rinsing the blood out of his forelock, so it turned his face pink, *sigh*

Was not much of a turnout for the show...a good gang from our barn braved the weather, and I saw the huge trailer from the Arabian barn where I used to board, and a few others I knew...seemed to be mostly the under-19 crowd showing (and their long-suffering parents, lol). The fairgrounds had totally rearranged things, erecting fences everywhere, so you could only take ONE route to get to the arena (between two tall buildings, lovely), and they also moved the gates, which was good, because Coos WAS familiar with that arena, but now he couldn't bolt for the gate, because it was GONE, LOL!

There were only 4 of us riding in the arena for warm-ups, probably because it was POURING RAIN...but hey, I had to do something, ain't no way I'd take him into a class w/o getting some of the kinks out. The rain and wind helped keep his head down though, LOL, and he was moving slowly because of the mud and puddles. I was sure he'd jump the puddles, but he went through them or around them.

Finally the ridden part of the show started (they have two showmanship classes first), and we did our Huntseat, 19/0ver. He did SO good!! No problem at the walk, he trotted pretty darn nice (not as supple and rounded as Saturday, but that's because we didn't have a proper warm-up to get the P&V out!), but my biggest surprise was the canter! He pooped out twice but I got him back into a canter with a couple of strides, and he did SO nice...slow, and rounded and balanced...to say I was delighted is an understatement, lol! Granted I was pushing him with my seat and propping up his inside shoulder with that rein, lol, but I didn't have to also hold him up with my legs (he did get a pop on the butt with my crop to stop him from pooping out on me)! That horse is WORK! He did much better the other direction (which is his "good" direction), and even backed up half decently!

LOL, due to the rain, my number pretty much melted off my back and landed in a mud puddle, and that happened to two others in the class, ha! Might be time to invest in a permanent, laminated number I think!

There were only 5 entries in the class (last time I did that show there were 9)(and we didn't place due to SOMEbody's wacky cantering and bolting for the gates, lol)...my friend with the Paint placed FIRST, and she about fell off her horse with surprise! The look on her face was priceless, BWAHAHAHA! She just started riding English this winter, after everyone telling her all summer she should show her mare English because her horse has the action for it! Another friend from the barn placed 2nd, even after her horse apparently bucked during the class (judge must have missed that...she was one of those "stare at one point of the arena" judges). And WE placed THIRD! Hoo_HAH!!! Hey, I'm delighted! Not only is that my best EVER placing at a Twilight Show (not counting novice)...even riding Tezlu...it's also Quzqo's first placing of any kind in an Open class!!! Okay, I've only taken him in 4 open classes in his life, but still! Way chuffed, me!

Luckily the rain stopped shortly after our class (it's so fun, posting in wet breeches!), which was good for the Western riders (all those fancy saddles wouldn't get wet). The show got done around 8:30, pretty early, but all the classes were quite small...considering the weather, that's no surprise!