Semper's spa day and show day.

Friday I gave Semper a spa day in preparation for the reining show. I had braided his mane and tail over two weeks ago and had left the braids in. He had really gotten them stained. I took them out and took some pictures.






I decided to use some Spray and Wash Stain Remover on them to get the stains out. So I sprayed and sprayed lots of stain remover and let them sit while I worked on the rest of him. I got his legs clean enough that they you could see his pink skin. I had a little trouble with stains on his upper legs. For the most part he was sparkling white. I then went to work on his mane and tail. I used some Mane and Tail shampoo and worked it in really good. Then put some conditioner on. Things were looking better.





It took forever for him to dry. I have found that putting his Irish Linen blanket on and then his cooler over the top that he dries faster but it still took forever. It gave me a chance to clean my saddle, bridle and load the horse trailer for the next day. Below is the pictures of him dry. Not bad.





This is how Semper went to bed. Doesn't he look like a Knight's horse in this get up?



Saturday morning we were off to the show at 8:00am. It took 2 1/2 hours to get to the arena. We got there in plenty of time to watch some of the cowhorse classes and warm up. It was cold and the wind was blowing but it wasn't raining. Semper warmed up nicely and he was really on. My first class was the green reiner. I had walked the pattern the night before and was really confident that I knew it. The arena was smaller than we were used to and the footing was deep. The pattern started with turnarounds. I was the last one in the class so just before they called my name, I went outside and schooled turnarounds. They were fresh in both our minds as we walked through the arena gate. I think that my being nervous made Semper a little uneasy. When he is uneasy or unsure his answer is to add speed. So we went a little faster than I would have liked. We finished the pattern and got a score of 65. My goal for the day was to finish a pattern and get a score and we did that.

I still had the "green as grass" class to go. Their were only only 2 people in the class. I had not studied the pattern because everyone had told me not to try to learn both patterns at once. I had about 5 minutes to learn the second pattern. I am not a quick study with this kind of thing. I thought I had it down. I went out into the ring confident and more relaxed. Semper seemed more relaxed and things went much better until.. and you knew this was coming... I forgot the end of the pattern. I was coming down the fence and thinking I don't think this is right but I don't remember what I am supposed to do next. It is such a sinking feeling. I did our sliding stop but knew it was wrong. Total brain fade. I needed to go around the end of the arena and stop on the other side. I was 130 feet from completing a really nice pattern and blew it. Oops. Even though I didn't get a score, I do feel that it has taught me what I need to do and helped me learn the importance of being relaxed.