Fun show day!

We went to a local show yesterday and it was really fun. I love it when my human is able to enjoy a show without the stuffy confines of formal dressage. We decided to show hunt seat and do a few fun classes.

Since this was an open show there were all kinds of breeds there, including the tiny little horses that call themselves “minis”. Some bigger horses don’t like minis, but I’ve never had a problem with them. We have two minis that live in barn four and they are cute little things. For the longest time I feared the wheeled monster that chases the grey pony around would get them, but so far they remain uneaten.

Since there was a group of us going we rode over in the barn manager’s huge wheeled cave. I hate this thing! The ramps are really high and you end up riding face to face with the next horse loaded. Trooper, Lucky, Pebbles, Shorty, Kressa and I were loaded in the front and back stalls and then Mariska and Flashy, the Arabs from barn four, were put in the middle stalls. I didn’t think we’d ever get going because Flashy was such an idiot about getting in the wheeled cave.

When we finally arrived it was close to start time so our humans scrambled around, whining and bumping into each other as humans do, and got us all brushed and saddled. Right before we were finished a small human led a pair of darling minis past us, between our wheeled cave and the next one, and Flashy went crazy, sat back and broke his lead, and went galloping off around the grounds. The minis were vastly insulted at his display of stupidity.

Shorty’s human finally caught Flashy and lead him back, sweaty and not the least bit contrite for causing trouble for the rest of us. Our humans mounted up and we headed over to the show rings. This show grounds is set up with two rings that have their rounded ends towards each other. If you stand in the grassy area between the rings you can watch what is going on in both. That is what we did.

Shorty’s human was doing western events; his herdmate had decided she was too nervous to try her English skills out at a show. We watched him do some reining patterns and this funny event where you run really fast around big metal trashcans. What an odd thing to do. Kressa won a few walk/trot western classes. I don’t see how anyone could beat her, she moves so slow moss could grow on her.

Lucky, Trooper, Pebbles and I went in the hunt seat classes. We were all so proud of Lucky when he placed second in a really big class, right behind Trooper. He’s come such a long way since he arrived starved and abused last year. I won a ladies hunter class and a few hunter over fences classes. Pebbles won all the open jumping classes, but then again, she always does. She's fast and has a scope of the fences that even Trooper can't match.

While we were waiting outside the ring for our classes to begin I was able to watch the other show ring. This was where they were having the pony and mini classes. I must say the ponies are outstanding jumpers; some of those small fellows can really pop over a fence and they have taught their humans to stick like ticks.

The minis were showing their humans in hand and it was really fun to watch them gait their humans out and show how well they could turn and stop. After the in hand classes they had an obstacle course class. I had never seen any like this before. The ring crew set up several obstacles; a bridge, a jump, some rails on the ground and a big circle drawn in chalk. The mini would then enter with his human and go through the course in a set pattern. I was amazed at the daring and skill of the minis! How on earth had they trained their humans to do such obstacles and remain so quiet and focused? There was one little palomino mini that had a darling little palomino haired human with him. You could tell he was very proud of her looks and abilities. He lead her through the course and she never put a single foot out of line, nor hesitated. When they finished the course by hopping over the fence they got a huge round of applause! I was so impressed. I must confess to wondering how difficult it is to train a human to work in hand. I doubt I’d have the patience.

Thankfully Flashy and his human stayed on the other side of the ring, so we had no more runaways. When we finally met up again the two Arabs had placed well in their classes, I think it’s called saddled seat, and were pleased with their riders. We were all pleased that our humans had done so well and had enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere of the show. Shorty did have a few harrowing moments though. His human had participated in something called a “greased pig” contest and as a result he smelled like a sty. Shorty was grateful beyond belief that his human had not won the contest, because he was NOT going to share his stall with a pig, even if it was a prize pig. All in all it was a pleasant day. More Later.