ICHA Double Points Show

So this weekend it was over to Canfield again for the ICHA Show.  Tom wasn't getting into town until the evening so I volunteered to take Dalal in the Arabian classes on Friday so he could qualify for the championship.  Astrid ended up coming with me to groom and generally keep me company that first day.   I wasn't scheduled to ride until class 21, so I figured I had until about 1:00 or so.  Well as I was helping Kim and Rita get Cinco ready for his halter class, Tina came up to me and asked me to show Sally in her Morgan Halter class.  Tina had sprained her ankle the other day and although it was feeling ok, she didn't want to push it by running on it.  I warned her that I hadn't shown halter in like 10 years, and even then it was Arabs not Morgan, but she was fine with that, she just wanted Sally to get in the ring.  So we got Sally all cleaned up and then I had to run down to the ring to make it in time for my class.  I let Daphne go in ahead of me so I could at least watch what she did and get an idea of what was going on.  Sally and I ended up 3rd out of 3 in class.  Which I guess isn't too bad considering I really had no clue what I was doing.  And Tina was just happy that Sally got her card punched for the halter class.

So then it was time to get Dalal out and start getting him ready.  A quick hose off and he was ready to tack up.  And that was the time I was really missing Tom being there.  His new show saddle is HEAVY!  Astrid was helping Tina get Sally ready so I didn't even have her assistance.  But after some work I did manage to get the saddle up and Dalal bridled with the snaffle bit.  I still had quite a bit of time before my class so I decided to just hop on in my jeans, get a feel for what kind of horse I had under me, especially since no one had ridden him since the last show three weeks prior.  Dalal was a good boy though, settle right down into the work.  I jogged and loped him a bit before heading back to the motor home to get myself dressed and ready to show.  Astrid helped me out down at the show ring and got us all presentable before we went into our class.

First up was Reg. Arabian Western Pleasure-Amateur.   And we had a good ride.  Ended up second behind a woman I had never seen at the local shows before, but she had a nice chestnut gelding.  But I was pleased with how my ride went, especially considering that Dalal has just been hanging out in the pasture for the past 3 weeks.  After the class Dalal got a nice hosing off and some hay to munch on in his stall.

Astrid and I helped out Kim and Rita and Tina get their horses ready for the afternoon.  And before too long Tom and Maryann made it out.  And they actually made it in time to see the second class.  We returned to the ring in the evening session for the Arabian Western Pleasure-Open.  We had an okay class, but a couple of bobbles kept us out of the top placings.  We ended up finishing 5th out of 6.

Unfortunately on Saturday I had to leave for a couple hours to go to Megan's bridal shower.  So I ended up missing Tom's Men's Western Pleasure class.  However I did hear the results immediately as we had a little bet going for who got to ride in the Open class that night.  Tom and Dalal had a nice first place finish in their class.  Which means that I will have my work cut out for me in the evening session and my Ladies to Ride class.  I was able to get away with sneaking out of the bridal shower early and made it back to Canfield in plenty of time for my evening class.  Tom was actually first up with the Jack Benny class, in which he did manage to beat Tina.  And then I got on and two classes later headed into the ring for the Ladies Western Pleasure.  I had a good ride in a very tough class with several professional trainers.  And in the end I came out with the red ribbon.  Very respectable considering my competition.  And well, a bet is a bet and Tom did have the better placing.  So we swapped places again and he took Dalal back for the Open Western Pleasure.  The two of them had a very good class and came out the winners.  Good day overall for us.

Sunday morning we were able to take it easy, no classes until after the lunch break.  I was up first with the Arabian Western Pleasure Championship.  We had an ok ride, a few minor mistakes, mainly because Dalal was a bit tired and sore at that point.  Tom's new saddle does not fit quite right with the neoprene pad, something we need to fix before the next show.  And since it was a tough class, those mistakes cost us: 4th out of 5 in the class.  Unfortunately Tom didn't fair any better in the Open championship.  4th place ribbons for both the championship classes. Oh well, we'll just have to redeem ourselves next week at Randolph!

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Red, White and Blue Horse Show

Not much that went on since the Combined Test at South Farm, so we'll just sorta skip all over that and talk about the horse show at Canfield this weekend. I took Friday off from work (shh!) and Bonnie took X and I over to the fairgrounds. Tom was already there with Dalal and his new stud colt. They had gotten in the day before. And that was nice because he had a stall held for us right next to him. So I got X settled into his stall and Tom was just starting to get Dalal ready for his first class, Reg. Arabian Western Pleasure Amateur. Got him tacked up and I hopped on while Tom got himself ready to ride. Just walked him around the grounds a bit and then handed him over to Tom. At that point I figured there was no time like the present to see what my beastie would do. I pulled him out of the stall and tacked him up in the western saddle and then we headed over to the smaller warm up ring. I lunged him around there for a while and then finally hopped on. As I expected he would not settle down to walk, but that's ok, I was fine with him trotting. Of course then every time he saw something new he had to break into a canter. And then after about half a dozen strides he realizes nothing is going to eat him and he wants to stop, I don't think so Bup! So we cantered a lot that first day. By the time I headed over to the main ring to watch X was completely lathered. And of course he chose this time to show me that he can be a little energizer bunny when he wants to be. Tom still had some time before his class and so I joined him in the warm up ring. Tom and Paul Clemens were there as well and I just have to say it was very weird to see them both on chestnuts rather than their black horses. So X still decided he was going to canter around the warm up rather than trot or walk like a sane horse, so when Tom and Dalal finally headed into the show ring he was dripping, it was quite gross.

Tom and Dalal had a great ride in the Ammy class in which they won out of 5. And Kelly and Lark were 2nd. Kelly was completely shocked! Going into the class she kept thinking they would be 5th, but she put in a nice ride. I was really happy for Kelly. She's been through some rough times with Lark and she really wants to do this. So good for her.

After the class was over both ponies went back and got hosed off and then tucked in the stalls with some hay to munch on. For the rest of the afternoon I got to just hang out and catch up with everyone that I haven't really seen since last summer. Nikki showed up later in the afternoon, so it was good to get to see her as well.

That evening I got to ride Dalal in the Reg. Arabian Western Pleasure-Open class. We had a pretty decent warm up, especially considering that I haven't really been on the horse since September. We had a decent ride in the class, except going the first direction Dalal broke at the lope and then I got the wrong lead when we picked it up again. Luckily though the judge didn't see any of it and we ended up 2nd in the class. Pretty good for my first trip back in the show ring!

After we headed back to the stalls and got Dalal settled I was introduced to Danielle, who Tom met online while watching Nikki at Scottsdale. Danielle had groomed for Tommy Garland at Nationals and so she and Tom had started talking. And then about a month or so ago she moved to Washington, PA from Michigan and so Tom invited her out for the show. I have to say, I really enjoyed meeting her, she's a couple of years younger than me, but we really hit it off and had a good time together.

Although it had rained during the night, Saturday morning dawned pretty nice, unfortunately it didn't stay that way. The sun was out and shinning when we headed down tot he main ring for Tom's Men's Western Pleasure class. Unfortunately it had started to rain by the time he went into the ring. And Dalal was a little shit for the class. There was only one other horse in the ring, this little appy mare that was in heat. And Dalal was well aware of that fact. Luckily the other horse wasn't even close to being competition, but Tom certainly had his hands full. After the class we got Dalal settled back in his stall and then waited out the rain. Unfortunately it didn't want to stop any time soon.

After a while Kelly, Danielle and I decided that since it was raining and we couldn't do anything anyway we would head out to get something to eat for lunch. We piled into Danielle's car along with Kelly's son Gavin and headed into Boardman to see what looked good. We ended up trying out this Stonebridge Grill and Tavern. Kelly had mentioned that she always drove past it and thought it looked good, but she hadn't eaten there yet. So we figured we would give it a try. The food was delicious, I had a tasty lobster bisque soup and a turkey sandwich. Everything was quite yummy!

While we were eating the rain had stopped, so when we got back to the fairgrounds, I pulled X out of his stall and tacked him up for a ride. I lunged him first in side reins and then after a while I went ahead and hopped on him. He was pretty good in the warm up ring, so then I took him down to the main ring. I figured since the show was on break until the evening session at 5 I might as well take advantage and get him into the main ring. He wasn't too bad, but he was once again using every little thing as an excuse to spook and start cantering. So we cantered a lot of circles. Eventually he settled down and we got some good work in. I even rode some centerlines towards the judge's tent in the middle of the ring. While he wasn't too thrilled about that to start with, he did get better about it. So good ride overall, when I started to hear thunder I figured it was time to take him back to the stall. I quick bath and X was tucked in his stall with a couple flakes of hay, happily munching away.

So we waited out the afternoon rain and it did stop by the time we headed up to the ring for the evening session. Tom was first up with the Jack Benny class. And then just two classes later I had the Ladies Western Pleasure. And then at the end of the evening was the Open Western Pleasure. So Tom and I had a little friendly competition going on. Whoever did better in their class got to take him in the Open. As he was heading into the ring I tried to get some support for my cause from Tina and Judi. Not that either one of them needs encouragement to beat Tom. However, Tom had a great ride and won the class. Really put the pressure on me for my Ladies class. I get the number from him and hop up on Dalal. Since there was only one class before we went in, we just hung out near the in gate. And then it was time for our class. We headed into the ring at a really nice jog if I do say so myself. And it was a good class, 10 in the ring (biggest western class of the show I believe) and several nice horse and rider pairs. But Dalal and I had just had a great ride. And it paid off when they called our name as the winners! When I came out the ring after the class Tom made a big production out of taking off his chaps to show that I could go back for the Open. We just chilled in the warm-up until it was time to go back in, trying to keep Dalal's attention on showing and not thinking that he was done for the night. Unfortunately he was tired by that time. Not getting any real conditioning for show season and the mucky ring had definitely taken it's toll on him. But he jogged right in the ring when I asked him to. We were having a good ride until they asked for the lope in the first direction. And we proceeded to pick up the wrong lead three times before we finally got it right. And the judge missed the whole thing! I think he must have liked us and wanted to place us so he ignored it and purposely kept his back to us. I don't know how he couldn't have looked I had like 6 people on the rail calling "No, No! Still Wrong!" If I heard that I would be looking around to see what the problem was. I figured that we had blown the class, but I just kept riding. I was completely shocked when we were called as the winners! I couldn't believe it!

Sadly, Tom had to leave Canfield by noon so that he had time to get home and get ready for his flight back to Las Vegas that afternoon. And since the western pleasure championships were in the afternoon we didn't get to show in them. Which was kinda disappointing. I got to watch the Arabian Western Pleasure Championship while I was waiting for Bonnie to come pick me and X up. And it was kinda sad. Three horses in the class. Chuck and his bay stud were first, then Nikki and Armani were reserve and then Kelly and Lark in 3rd. We could have done very well in the class. But oh well.

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