Sunday

Sunday show day. Again we are up at 5:30 and on the road. Today Mr. Wonderful is trying his hardest to not drive like a maniac. He is driving slow and very carefully. It still annoys me. I resolve that it must be my nerves and that he really isn't doing anything wrong and keep my mouth shut. Which is huge for me. HUGE.

We are the last ones to arrive at the show. The parking is crazy and everyone is running around like chickens with their heads cut off. Typical show. So we join in the chaos. The show secretary delivers my patterns and show order. I only have Semper today and I really didn't get to give him a good bath on Friday. It was dark when I put him in the trailer so I didn't really get a good look at him. He had a blanket on but - Yikes - The sun is out and he is really dirty. I start to scramble. I get a bucket of water and towel and start trying to get the dirty spots cleaned off. The perils of owning a white horse. Ugh. I get him saddled and go to warm up. He is swishing his tail and flinching like a mad man. He gets that way sometimes but usually only when he is getting bitten by heel flies. There are not any flies around today. He is flinching so hard and swishing so bad it is almost impossible to get him through a warm up. I am using a different saddle blanket than I normally do so I changed it thinking that might be the problem. And I covered him in fly spray to make sure he wasn't getting bit. After I changed the blanket he started to settle down.

Up first was the trail. The course had changed from what is was the day before. You start off leading your horse into a box, you bridle, ground tie and hang up your halter. Back down between a couple logs to a mounting block. Mount and back out the rest of the way out of the poles. Turn and walk over a water obstacle. Trot through the trot poles, to the mail box. Side pass over a board to the mail box and retrieve the keys out and return. Pick up a left lead and work a pattern over some poles. The pattern was tight with several transitions from a lope to a trot. Next you had to drag a log. Here is where it starts to get tricky. They have this life size cow with horns, painted like a Holstein and the rope for the drag is hanging on the horn. Semper has seen this monstrosity before and was sure that it was a horse eating demon. So asking him to get close to it was going to be a bit of a challenge. We get the drag rope and I dally. I have to drag the log through a gate - let me just say...tall horse, short gate - I had to duck...big time - So I have my head down, can't see where I am going, have to make a tight corner, not let the drag get caught on the panels and drag this log up to a fire where a guy actually brands the log. Did I mention that there was another rider simulating a heeler on the other end of the log? So a lot going on. We got it done pretty handily. Now I have to remember to keep my hand UP to go through the pole and then finish with opening and closing a gate. All and all I was pretty happy with the job we did. We placed 4th.

On to Ranch Riding. I have attached a link to a youtube video that Mr. Wonderful took of that class. This was his first time being the videographer. Please don't be to hard on him. See if you can pick out where I lost points. We came in 2nd (by one point.)




The next class was Cow Horse. I was so proud of Semper. He really tried hard to work the cow and he did a nice job. We had to box the cow at the end of the arena and then take it down the fence to put it in a pen. No turns on the fence. The boxing was good. We started down the fence and the cow took off. We got a little behind but I asked him to move out and all that power is right there. He got back to position pretty quickly and our cow went right into the pen! Yippee We placed 2nd in the Cow Work and were one of the only three exhibitors that day that penned their cow!

Reining was next. Semper was working really well in warm up by this time. We were in a smaller arena with shallow footing. He was sitting his butt down and stopping pretty. His turn arounds were fluid and nice. We were to do a reining pattern and then rope the dummy. I had practiced roping a little bit earlier in the day and he was very patient, stood quiet while in position at the dummy. The pattern starts with a run in and stop. He blows the stop. He acts like he wants to stop, but just won't stay in the ground. He stops without me pulling him into the ground but he isn't happy. Tail is swishing, ears are penned. Not pretty. I now believe that he is hurting somewhere. He has to be. So I finish the pattern and don't ask for much speed in the run downs so that he doesn't have to stop hard. The rest of the pattern is pretty and his turn arounds are fluid and nice with energy. Oh....but the roping. I am lame. Totally and completely lame. I untie my rope as I am walking towards the dummy. And then it happens. Semper spots the mule that he has fallen unequivocally in love with. The mule is just about 20 ft away on the other side of the gate. All he can think about is getting back to his new found love interest. I get the rope untied and he is not really dancing in place but he is shifting his weight and not wanting to stand still. He ears are forward and he is locked on to the mule. I start to get nervous and fumble with the rope. I make my first loop - way to small and I know it, but I throw it anyway. What the heck? Of course I throw it like a girl and it isn't even in the same zip code as the roping dummy. I get another loop and Mr. Semper is still moving around and not paying any attention to what I am doing. He and the mule are making goo-goo eyes at each other. I make my second loop and it is nice in size but I am concentrating more on keeping Semper quiet than I am where the rope is going to go. I throw and confirm to everyone watching that I am completely and undeniably roping challenged.

I placed fourth in that class. What the heck??? When I get the scores... I would have placed first in that class had I been able to handle my rope and horse at the same time. I lost 3 points for him not standing still and 6 points for not catching. Ouch. I actually didn't lose any points for my rope handling skills. Go figure?

The last class of the day is halter. And you all know how I feel about this. I know this horse is made right. The last show I was all butt hurt about my placing in halter. The judge is a western pleasure / halter judge so am feeling pretty good about this one. Semper goes in and stands square. Yippee.... go man go! Then he cocks his right hind. I set him up again and he cocks his right hind. This goes on and on. What the heck. He just won't stand on that right hind. I realize now that he may have been a little sore on that right hind and didn't want to put weight on it. Duh. He wins the halter class hands down. Overall. YESSSSSS.

We came in 3rd in our division. Won a nice hay bag. I left the show with a ton of thoughts bubbling around my head. Mr. Wonderful had videoed the ranch riding, cow work and reining for me. I hate watching it, but I can't stop watching it. As I am watching it, I shake my head and talk to myself like a crazy woman. Another thought that is bouncing around is "is there something wrong with my horse?" This is a horse that is always willing. He is acting like something is not right. I came home and made an appointment with a vet. He comes highly recommended to diagnose hock, leg and hip problems. Even though he isn't visibly lame, I feel like something is going on and I want to head off any problems. Wish us luck!