The Cadillac of Horse Shows

Mon Jul 10, 2006

Coos and I got to go to a horse show around 50 miles from here on Saturday down in Cadillac, Michigan. We trailered down with my friend with her Paint mare! I'm SO thrilled that Quzqo literally LEAPS into the horse trailer now, no more playing games, rearing, balking, swerving, and being a dick!

Was a pretty good show, very big for these parts. Sponsored by a Paint breeder, so there were TONS of gorgeous Paints in attendance!! We attended this show last year, and the temps got into the Mid-90's...thankfully it only got up to 81 this year! But still, wearing breeches, black boots and a dark coat ain't too comfy!!

We did Novice Showmanship, and I thought we did DAMNED good...good straight trotting, a crisp stop at the cone, he backed straight as a pin, trotted off, another smooth stop, the horse pivoted 270 degrees so quickly I had to rush to keep up with him, LOL!! Walk to the judge...and we missed her by about four feet, LOL! OOPS! Coos set up pretty nicely, not perfect, but oh well. We placed 6th out of 7!! The non-placing went to some old guy with a BIG Friesian stud who obviously was doing it for shits and grins, because he was in short sleeves, had a red nylon halter and a rope lead, didn't even attempt to pivot the horse (he just led him in a circle), and stood in one spot during the judge's inspection, instead of moving out of her way. We (My friends and I) were ready to protest IF that jerk placed over ME...we weren't great, but by God, we weren't as bad as that guy, LOL!

We also placed 6th in Pleasure Type Geldings...out of 6 entries, LOL! Well, crap, there were TWO Friesians in the class, plus two TWHs, a Morgan, and a little broke-tail Arabian, ha! Ah well, got two pretty green rosettes anyway! Didn't help that the instant one of the judges was walking right behind Coos, he decided to shift and stand cow-hocked! GRR!

Well, at least we didn't have to worry about the showback for the Championship, lol (won by one of the Friesians).

Didn't get too much of a chance to warm Himself up for the ridden classes...he was so laid-back and downright lazy, I didn't need to work him too much. He did pretty nicely in our Novice Equitation 19/over (which thankfully was just rail work, no pattern), and we were helped by the fact this one idiot woman on a TB (who is a thorn in our sides and we (the ladies from the barn) are sworn to beat her whenever possible, lol) just about crashed her horse into another lady, causing me to pull Coos up short and swerve! (she got lectured by the judge later, heh heh). It was only Walk/Trot, but we did so well, that we placed 3rd out of 8! Under both judges! Yaay Us!!

The people with the Friesians entered them in the Huntseat Equitation...holy SHIT...the idiot with the Stud could NOT control the thing...they were GALLOPING around the arena, with HUGE flying strides...those horses assumed every single Artist Resin Friesian Pose out there (even the "Mulan" galloping pose, LOL!). The other entrants were taking pains to AVOID them, even crossing the arena to get out of the way...the stud was careening wildly around, one lady cantered to the middle of the ring and did an emergency dismount and refused to continue because of those horses! I was surprised they weren't excused from the ring, frankly. Don't think either Friesian placed in the ribbons...I think the more well-behaved one (a mare) got an Honorable Mention.

Next was the Novice "Step-Up" class, with only 5 entries, and Coos did MISERABLE! ARRGH! I couldn't get him to canter for anything, and keep him cantering for more than maybe 15 seconds!!! He kept breaking gait in the one direction...when we changed direction, I got him into a nice, smooth canter, and we're cantering along the rail, and pass my farrier standing there, I hear him say in a low voice "check your lead"...shit! The horse was cantering so nicely on the wrong lead!! ARRGH! (he's so smooth, I couldn't tell!!). So I had to slow him, get him into the correct lead, but by that time the judge had called for a walk! So...5th out of 5!

Then we did Novce Huntseat Pleasure 19/O, thankfully Walk/Trot again, and Coos did VERY well...and when the judges had us stop on the rail, before they even said to, Coos started BACKING UP! LOL! All by himself, the little bugger!! Quite a change
from a year ago for sure!

I believe there were 8 entries and we placed 4th & 5th (Judge "A", the woman, seemed to like us better than Judge "B", the old fat guy)!

Then we had around 3+ HOURS to kill before they got to the trail classes! The horse and I retired to the trailer to relax. Watched a bit of the show...one woman had brought a beautiful HUGE Clydesdale gelding (roached/hogged mane, braided forelock, long, natural tail), and she had already shown him Showmanship (imagine someone getting a Clydesdale to pivot 270 degrees, LOL!) and Halter (she put him in "stock type geldings"...he was stocky, all right!), and believe It or not... WESTERN! Yes, she had him all decked out with a lovely show saddle, a HUGE cinch, a custom-made bridle, and damned if he didn't have the smoothest jog I've EVER seen!! His lope was so beautiful and slow and smooth...and they dwarfed all the Paints & QHs in the classes, LOL! I did manage to snap some pix...couldn't not do it!! I don't know how he placed in Equitation, but I know he got like 4th in Western Pleasure (relatively big class too, think there were around 11 entries). LOL, I bet the people w/the big-price tag stock horses were miffed to be beaten by a Clydesdale, LOL!!!

There were quite a few Arabians too...a couple I recognized from the last show I went to (where the judge totally ignored anything with a dished face and high tail carriage!). Was pleased to see that these judges were more impartial, and the horses placed pretty consistently. They had pretty little lopes and jogs to die for...some day... One mare was a shining platinum white with tiny fleabites and her mane and tail were as pure white as snow...beautiful!!! Maybe some day...

ANYway, they got to our Novice Trail (19/o) class around 5:30 in the afternoon...by that time both the horse and I just wanted to get it over with!! LOL, that poor boy...as we were leaving the trailer area, he just veered to the side and started walking right back to the trailer!! LOL! "Enough!" No such luck.

We went first, mostly to get it over with...as we were standing in the "In" gate, waiting for the nod from the judges, the dang horse kept oozing backwards! LOL! He just kept stepping backwards, backwards, oozing slowly...hoping to ooze back to the trailer or back to the barn, LOL! I had to keep pressing him back up to the gate, he kept sliding backwards, LOL! What a character! Finally we got a nod from the lady judge, and after a momentary protest, Quzqo picked up the trot I asked for, and we headed right for the row of poles laying on the ground. At the last second he VEERED to the left and managed to miss every single one!!! He knows about stepping over poles, we've practiced, but these were STRANGE poles, to be feared and avoided at all costs! ARRRGH!!!

We trotted through the cones, stopped, and I managed to back him through the serpentine of cones...it was a distance of around 40 feet, a helluva long distance to back a horse, and I was delighted that he did it!!!! This from a horse that 1 year ago would refuse to back one hoof-step!!!

We walked from the last cone to another pole on the ground, I cheated by having him step over the middle instead of starting at the far end, and darned if I wasn't able to get him to side-pass over the pole!!!! That was a FIRST! He's never side-passed over a pole...he's side-passed BESIDE a pole, after having stepped backwards, LOL! He just tucked his head, rounded up, and stepped smartly to the left!! I was happy with that much! Huzzah!!

There were 8 entries, and with the exception of the afore-mentioned idiot woman on the TB who didn't do ANYthing right (her horse spooked at the trot-over poles, the cones, and the side-passing log), everyone appeared to do near perfect, so I figured we didn't place (again!), and went back to the trailer. Eventually they did get around to announcing the placings, and I was truly gobsmacked when I heard my name announced as placing 4th AND 5th!!! WhooHOOO! Our very first trail class placings EVER!!!

We got home around 9, and my friend went back to the show on Sunday (welcome to it!). I'm glad I didn't go, I had a helluva migraine Sunday morning, and was sick from something I ate (probably those grapes I washed in the horse's bucket at the show!)...was so nice to RELAX and nap all day, LOL! My friend did quite well with her mare though, and they ended up winning High Point Novice 19/Over, with a custom-embroidered saddle cover! (yeah, she beat us in every class, but hey, her horse is younger with more training than mine)

Next show is this Saturday, at the local fairgrounds, so no long trailer ride at least! Saturday after that is the big two-day show at the barn...Trouble is, that Sunday I leave for BreyerFest!! Well, I can probably do Showmanship and Halter in the morning, LOL!

The Bad News Horse

Tue May 30, 2006

What a helluva year for my poor lil' guy. Gets his tail broken in February (it wa'rnt no "contusion", that thing was broke and now it's bent funny, dammit!), gets holes chewed in his chest, gets his ear nearly skinned a couple of weeks ago (though most the big chunky scabs and bits of skin and hair have fallen off and there's a fine white fuzz growing back)...this evening he now has TWO swollen eyes! Don't ask me why, don't ask me how, I have NO idea!!!

He looks like the Northlight Mule for God's sake!!

The eyeball itself is fine, nothing swollen or red or inflamed or protruding...just the "eyebrows" are puffy and huge!!! Nothing oozing or runny...it doesn't hurt for me touch them, so that rules out him getting kicked in the head...all I can figure is the hot/wet weather all weekend has brought out the mold in the pasture and he's allergic to it! He wasn't in that shape this morning when I stopped out on my way to work!!
Maybe he got stung by a bee!

*sigh*

Always some damned thing!!! See how he is in the morning after spending the night in his clean, dry, non-moldy, bee-free stall!

Well, this morning the left eye is back to normal, but the right is still swollen. Might have been a nasty bitey fly bite. There's some tiny black flie that, when it bites me (usually around the eye or ear), the bite area swells HUGE...once my eye swelled shut...maybe it was the same fly, who knows.

He was sure full of P&V this morning, LOL...been working with him in the morning trying to remind him of good ground manners re: being unhaltered. He did pretty good today, and only galloped off like a loon once I opened the gate to the pasture...awaaaayyyy he went!

Rained over night, which means more bity bugs, hoorah!

(Aain't naught like the smell of an old horse barn w/tom cats on a humid morning, hooohah!)

Injury Update

Thu May 18, 2006

Hard to believe it's only been 1 week since the lady who'd been giving me lessons got tromped and stomped by that crazy mare last week, but 'tis true! Even harder to believe that when I went to the barn after work tonight, she was there, walking around, laughing, and looking damned fine!! The cast is off her arm (wasn't broken after all), she got her stitches out (and insisted on showing off her re-attached ear...looks good, considering)! Boy O Boy, that just made my day, for sure!!

Speaking of injured ears, it rained ALL day, so Cusco's ear is nice and clean, most the blood is washed out of his forelock, and the poor lad was shivering from head to toe when I brought him in from the pasture tonight! (42 degrees, 15 mph winds, steady rain). I had a bag of bran in my locker, so I made him a HOT bran mash to enjoy, and after about 10 minutes he stopped shivering...good deal!

Bob got a new shipment of horses in Tuesday night (a HUGE 18-wheeler horse transport pulled up w/14 horses from Minnesota!)...he's got two BEAUTIFUL Belgian mares out in the front pasture, one's tail is so long it's dragging on the ground, phew! Tonight one of the Teens was working with this awesome Bay with legs up to "there"...turns out he's an Arabian/Mustang mix! Beautiful head, classic Spanish profile, and could he move, whew! A trot to drop DEAD for!!! I briefly (only briefly) considered trading Quzqo in right then and there, LOL!

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!

A Gay Time in Gaylord

Tue May 16, 2006

Coos and I went to our first show of the year Saturday, the NWMHA Open Horse Show in Gaylord, MI, leaving the barn around 6:08 a.m. w/my friend, Sandy, and her paint mare, Sienna. Actually we had a convoy of trailers leaving the barn, but the owner's daughter took her own route, and we followed our farrier for about 15 miles before they turned off into a McDonald's for breakfast, LOL! Course my friend, "knew" the way to Gaylord, turned left when she should have turned right and we ended up getting a 30 mile tour of the back boonies of NW Michigan (not the most pleasant of locales, bleah!) before I insisted we stop and ask directions...yep, we were heading North instead of East, LOL! Yeah, I bet the horses just loved the additional half hour in the trailer (it's a 2+ hr drive w/o the scenic route!)

Weather was NASTY...upper-40's/low 50-s, a near constant drizzle-mist rain (glad I have a synthetic saddle), and wind gusting up to 20 mph! The arena was MUD (so bad they fenced off one end, which was miserable footing!). The show committee were a bunch of morons with ridiculous amounts of paperwork for entering (you had to fill out a complete sheet
(name, address, age, horse name, gender, age, Coggins number, then sign, then print ...for EVERY class!). Not a very well-organized show, the best part was the access to flush toilets and easy-to-get-to water faucets.

Quzqo was kind of "up" but not screwy...course only after I got him out in daylight did I see all the poop stains on him, LOL! Poor guy had to get sponged off with cold water in the afore-mentioned weather conditions...he never dried off in time for our halter class, LOL...luckily it had been raining, so he was sort of generally damp all over!

There were four entries in Pleasure Type Geldings...oh, gee, guess who entered! The apparent 2004 MAHA (Michigan Arabian Horse Association) HIGH POINT HALTER HORSE! (or so proclaimed the trophy cooler he was wearing before the class). A HUGE bay Arabian, whose handler spent a good amount of time before the class whipping him into a frenzy (she wasn't hitting him with the whip, just flipping it in his face and yanking on the chain and getting him all worked up. Quzqo, on the other hand, stood quietly watching the Stock Geldings being judged, lol! This swayback Morgan went in the ring before us, and I trotted Coos in a VERY nice floaty trot (but I didn't get him all freaky-deaky about it), then Mr. High Point came in in a HUGE Park Trot, head high, tail ramrod straight up! Beautiful beautiful beautiful!!! Yeah, I knew who'd win...but a big surprise was right after him came in a HUGE Friesian!! With a good two feet of tail dragging on the ground behind him! Where the hell did THAT come from!

Yeah, well, at least we beat the swayback Morgan, *sigh*. Yep, 3rd out of 4, for the little broke-tailed Arabian with wet spots on his flanks. But at least it took a High Point Champion to beat us, and a Rare Breed of horse! Yeah, yeah, that's it!



Had a ton of time before our ridden classes, since I was taking him into Green Horse and me into Green Rider Equitation (lol...walk-trot weenie classes). Got to ride him in the arena during the lunch break, and he did pretty good...all our work with lessons was paying off, re:the keeping rounded, head lowered, etc. Was a pretty damned cold wait for our class...why did I buy a short-sleeved hunt shirt ! BRRR! (I'll be glad come June and July I suppose). Finally our class, and Quzqo completely surprised me by REARING at the in-gate! You little shithead, LOL! No, he didn't WANT to go into the arena, and he was going to hold up the class by rearing and balking and trying to spin...oh, great first impression for the judge, horse! I kicked him into the arena (didn't have a whip with me) and we got on the rail. Once in the ring he settled down and other than being uneasy about a group of people sitting in the bed of a pick-up with a horse cooler across their laps, he did VERY well!! We had a few little disagreements about the headset, but nothing major ...he even backed up pretty well for me! LOL...in the line-up, the judge mentioned the "head issues"...yeah, well, tell me something I don't know, sweetheart!

We placed SECOND out of 6! Hoorah!!! (all adults riders)

The very next class was the Green Rider Equitation, so we pretty much went out one gate and right back in...and yep, he REARED and balked and tried to spin, but I figured he'd pull that, and got heels in his sides for his trouble...he did better this time around, settling down, tucking his head, rounding up and just floating along, walking nice, a real nice back and calmer in the line up. This time the judge mentioned my main problem was that I had my hands too low and far apart! BWAHAHAHAH! That's what Deb, my lesson lady, TOLD ME TO DO! HAW! That's the best way to make Quzqo lower and tuck his head! Ah, who knows, if I had kept my hands in the proper huntseat position (up by the withers)...because I placed SECOND out of 4! WhooHOOO! That's my BEST Equitation placing EVER! (on Coos or Tezlu!) Guess those lessons paid off!

Bummer was they didn't give out rosettes, but big flats ribbons like you'd get at a a model show! C'mon for $4/class, I want a damned rosette!!! Never mind the $2.99/gallon gasoline and the 200+ mile round trip! Ah, well.

Our last class was Trail...no novice trail, but the REAL deal! The trail was set up in a field next door, and it was pretty weinie... walk to the mailbox, open, remove paper, put back in, close...trot over poles (which were actually VINYL RAIN GUTTERS!...we screwed that up because I was surprised to see RAIN GUTTERS and didn't want my horse stepping on 'em...he trotted one, jumped the rest and took off cantering,...which is good because next thing was to canter, turn to the left, stop and back up into the "box" (which was white chalk marks on the grass)...we overshot the stopping point by about 20 feet, so we just
came back, got into position, and he backed SO nice! At least we did that right! Then walk to a PVC pipe on the ground and side-pass...not a chance! I tried three times, I didn't even get a step to the side...oh well...next was to walk to the "bridge" and walk over...he did that perfectly, no worries at all! The judge said that at least we did the two most difficult obstacles (the mailbox and bridge)...guess a lot of horses had problems with that. I saw one kid's horse actually walk sideways off the bridge, LOL.

Was all for naught, because they never did announce the results of the trail classes, and when I went to ask at the show office, they said they couldn't figure out the judge's paperwork, so THERE WOULD BE NO RESULTS! No, no offer to refund the entry fee either! GRRRRRR! I hope they eventually post the results on the Association web site at least, I'd like to know how we did for gosh sakes!

So, we had a good bitchfest on the way home, as you can imagine. My friend also did the Trail (and other than her horse taking the wrong lead, she did very good). After about an hour she commented that her mare is acting up in the trailer...sure enough, the trailer was swaying back and forth and the truck sort of wobbling...this kept up for a bit, silly horses...I glanced at the gas gauge, which was nearly on "E", and asked if we were going to get gas? (duuuh!). Luckily we were on the outskirts of a town, and as she turned to go to the Shell station, there was a loud shuddering sound from underneath the truck...Uh oh...that didn't sound good! We pulled up to a pump and I checked the trailer tires, all looked well! Went on in to get a Pepsi, and when I came out...the left rear tire on the truck was flat as a pancake! Sandy was on the verge of getting VERY upset, and was on the phone to her husband, LOL! You could hear the air hissing out, and see the very shiny silver head of the nail stuck in it!

Damn, we were SO lucky!!!! (Imagine all the worst-case scenarios, eh?). Best place to discover a flat is at a gas station I say! Would have been luckier if it was earlier in the day because there was a tire store right down the street, but almost as good was that the Shell station had an ample supply of Fix-A-Flat! Yep, while she re-filled the tire with air from the pump, I bought a big can of the stuff,, we reinflated the tire w/the sealant...you could see it spitting out the nailhole, then stop spitting....once it was filled, we were on our way (per the instructions on the can)...We took it slow, and I kept an eye on the tire w/the side-view mirror...damned if it didn't inflate even more and after about 10 miles, looked as good as new!

LOL, her husband kept calling her on the cell phone about every 15 minutes for progress reports...he was upset and complaining that it was a brand new tire (well, it was a brand new nail!), and that "is it worth it?" this horse-showing business, etc. We figured she should ask if he got a flat tire on his way to the golf course, would it be "worth it" to keep playing golf??

Long story short, we made it the 50 miles or so back to the barn safe and sound!

Next show...TOMORROW NIGHT! Assuming she gets the wiring on the trailer fixed so we can drive at night, LOL!

Hmmmmmmm

Mon May 15, 2006

Went out to the barn tonight and found my horse in the wrong pasture, wearing a halter, with a 6 foot long lead rope hanging from it (and him stepping on it when he moved). Very very very VERY odd!

Wasn't anybody around that I could ask WTF is going on...was not happy to find my little sweetie angel (cough cough) in the "Bad Boyz" pasture with the crazy geldings, nor was I happy that he was wearing a halter, and I sure was NOT happy to see the long lead hanging from it (they can step on it and break their own necks for God's sake!!).

My only theory is that maybe they caught him and were in the process of bringing him in for the evening, when he spooked or started to act like a jerk, and bolted, and if they were also bringing in horses from Bad Boyz, he could have dashed through the wrong gate and gotten away. He's been known to run away from Bob, LOL!

Course *I* had no problem catching him (he just stood there and looked at me like "look at ME! I'm in the wrong pasture with a lead rope hanging from my face...see, I can step on it!"). He was a little shitwad while I was brushing him...kinda glad I wasn't planning to ride, I'd have me a good time if I did, LOL! Snake-necked nipping little turd!

A Near Miss

Fri May 12, 2006

Well, I guess not really, but it sounds good that way.

Last night a bunch of us were riding/working horses in the indoor arena (due to the cold/damp/windy weather outside), and Deb, the trainer (and my Cusco-training/riding instructor) was working with some young horses. She was in the process of mounting a young sorrel mare when I guess the mare shot straight upwards before Deb got her right foot in the stirrup, and just took off crow-hopping and sunfishing like a Bronc! That horse was airborne, all four feet up in the air, and poor Deb bouncing around like a rag doll! On the third buck Deb flew forward off the horse and apparently managed to roll, but the horse came down ON TOP OF HER with all four hooves! She started screaming as the horse launched skyward again and proceeded to buck on around the arena (That horse was easily 1-2 feet up in the air with each hop).

One of the moms called 9-11 even before I could (but she was closer to the phone on that side of the arena, I had to get off Quzqo and run to the other side), two of the other ladies ran to Deb who was sobbing and screaming (good sign, I guess), one of the teens caught the bronc, and my farrier hurried over to Deb (he didn't get too close I noticed...but got a lot closer than I did!).

Long story short, the local volunteer paramedics showed up after about 10 minutes, and the real ambulance about 5 minutes after them, and they got her stabilized and on a backboard and off to the hospital...they didn't use the siren, which is good (means they weren't in a hurry, which means her injuries weren't life-threatening)...I guess she was complaining of severe pain in her right hip, her chest (trouble breathing) and a huge flap of scalp and ear was torn loose from her head. God.

I'll admit, I about passed out twice, and probably annoyed God with all my prayers, but she was joking with the paramedics about wanting a face lift when they stitched her head back together, and a boob job as well...and she could move her arms, and never lost consciousness (I bet she wished she had). Her husband showed up (they live about 5 minutes from the barn) and went with her in the ambulance.

Kind of put a damper on the evening, I sure didn't feel like riding any more. I'm glad in a way, that a BUNCH of the teens witnessed the accident...if that could happen to an experienced horsewoman...maybe they'll start being more careful and maybe WEAR A DAMNED HELMET! Granted a helmet wouldn't have prevented the hip or chest injuries, but chances are it would have deflected the hoof that scalped her!

Really sad because she was going to the horse show with us this weekend to compete and "coach" her students from the rail...most the ladies from her classes are going (probably all going into "Green Rider Equitation", lol). Damn, though...such a horrific accident. I can relate to any hindsight she might be pondering today (assuming she's not flying on painkillers)... shoulda lunged the horse, shoulda done this, shoulda done that...

Makes ya think though.