All about my horses!

Powder

Powder was born 10/4/08. She is still in the on the ground phase of her journey to Saddle Horse. Her sire is JJ. Powder is a gold cream champange color. She has turquoise eyes and a thick white mane and tail.

Powder and I Epic Spring Show Adventure -9

Yes, the shower stories are finally at hand! For waiting all this time, you get two shower stories!

The Saturday night performance championship horse show started. I have a job. At the end of every class, I help Marty Maynard get the best picture of each champion and reserve champion horse. My job is to get the horse to put their ears forward. A horse looks fabulous when the ears are perked forward. I am the “Ear Perker”. I failed only once, a new record. The evening weather was fabulous. It was something seventy. Perfect.

The 2018 Spring Show and Three Year Old Futurity ended around midnight. My body is worn out. My body made its way to the truck. The truck went to check on Powder. Her water was refreshed and another hayfield given to her. I thanked her and told her she would be going home to her beloved Caitlyn soon. Powder was gracious.

The truck then took me to the non air-conditioned shower facility.

On Friday night after a full day of sorting and partial horse show evening, I came to this shower house to get clean for horse show Saturday. I disrobed the bountiful body and leaped into the shower. A paltry drizzle of cold water came out. It was barely enough water to wet the body and rinse off soap. As I exited the shower house, I noticed that the water guys were filling the water truck. Note to self. Check the shower water before disrobing.

Saturday night had turned into 1:00 am Sunday. My skin was dirty, but dry. I was getting up in 5 hours to get Powder fed and watered to prepare her for her long trailer ride. Then I was driving home. I didn’t smell. I decided to skip the shower. I took my night time essentials into the restroom/shower facility. I walked in and experienced the hot sticky air. What the heck. I’m taking the shower. I leaned into the shower and experimented. Lordy, full stream of cold and hot water happiness. I took off the stinky dirty clothes. I watered, soaped and rinsed. Ahhhhhh, that feels great. I turned the water off and looked for my towel.

Towel? You weren’t going to take a shower. There is no towel. I’m in a campground filled with people. There is no way I can sneak out to my truck and get the towel. I stood in the shower dripping wet. My brain had long ago been fried and now I have no towel. I was the only one in the shower facility. No help. Scream!

I put my night time sleeping clothes on my wet body! Can you imagine pulling clothes onto a dripping wet body? I had no idea that was even possible. Ick. Imagine putting a wet pillow case on a bountiful dry pillow. That is the only comparison I can think of.

Powder’s departure came too soon some hours later . I cleaned her stall. I don’t remember dumping the manure. Oh Lordy, I left the manure in the tub.

I loaded everything into my truck and trailer except for Powder’s hay and water bucket. It became time for Powder to load into her royal transport. She had hay, her own water bucket and two male companions. Her transport also had a camera so she could be watched the entire trip to Florida. Thank you Craig and Jayme Conklin and Ross Harper for taking Powder to Florida! Fox Trotter barn 17 friends are the best! They also supplied us with cold bottled water and pop during the show. They are a treasure!

I hopped in my truck and left the sacred grounds. My truck is blowing semi cool air if I run it on defrost. Somewhere near Springfield, the temperature climbed into the upper 90’s and my defrost air was not cool. I lost the cool. I was tired. I noticed some unsteady driving. I pulled into the PFI parking lot in Springfield, lowered the windows, put the seat back and took a nap in the nearly 100 degree weather. It was noonish and no shade existed. Good gracious!

When I awoke, I staggered into the store. To avoid having the greeter call an ambulance, I apologized for looking dead and explained I had been to a horse show. The greeter said, “You don’t look dead. you look great”. I looked around to see who she was talking too. Good grief, it was me. I tried to walk straight and be attentive to Western clothing and boots! Soon, the air conditioning revived me. I perked up, started walking straight and shopped. I was able to find some bargain Western shirts for the home people. My checkout helper lives in Ava. We told everyone how amazing fox trotter are! Big PR there.

On the way home I stopped at Smith’s to eat that fabled good food and chatted with the Wilson and Stangl family. I revived myself at several gas station air conditioning on the home. I made it home! I had a great adventure! Powder is a most amazing horse. Thank you to to the Vaught family for developing such an amazing horse.

Tuesday… Powder arrived in Florida and has been united with her true love, Caitlyn. All is well! See the love Powder and Caitlyn show. Powder is a much loved horse. She told me about being loved quite a bit during our month long time.

Boy Howdy! All the riders in the show were top notch. Our youth riders are amazing and we adults always dread when they turn 18. How can we compete against perfect! The friendships gained in the Versatility Show is very tight and lasts a lifetime. We compete against the obstacles and the patterns. We share and help each other out.

The Spring Show Versatility and Performance classes were filled with entries. The Missouri Fox Trotter Breed future is looking great! In September the Ranch Horses classes will return with Open, Amateur and Youth classes in Versatility.

Thank you Jennifer Vaught for taking care of Powder and I. I told Jenny during the later parts of the long day that I wouldn’t be able to do this had it not been for her. She said, “You could do it.” I might have been able to do it, but my suffering would have been epic. Next year I will have a strategy where I get off the horse a lot more. I’ll carry a portable mister or fan into the Showmanship class with me too!

Get your Missouri Fox Trotter and join me in the Versatility and ranch horse classes. I’ll be watching my new horse, Fancy, and Tony Vaught at the 2018 Celebration! Then I take her home! There will be many more stories when that happens!

Powder and I Epic Spring Horse Show Adventure -8

The Stake Race was next. I knew the pattern. It is easy-peasy. I was just too darn smart to look at the posted pattern or chat with anyone about it. I know that easy “piffle” pattern…half of a figure eight is all it is. It is so simple that it is difficult. Yep, I turned my nose up a little. I felt “snooty” inside. snort

You might feel a little confused when you look at the pattern. It is confusing because you can enter the pattern either to left or right of the barrel.
Stake Race

I was called first again!. Well heck! Let me show them the way! I floated through the pattern and was on my way to the gate when the crowd yelled at me! The crowd yelled at me! Huh? The “crowd” told me Powder and I were not done. They yelled more and I heard the words! We were to circle back through the pattern. Oh! It was a full figure eight, not a half figure eight. Scream! My “snooty” crashed. I was back to being humble again. Unsnort in shame

Thank you crowd! We got a ribbon. We were not disqualified for breaking the pattern. Like I said at the beginning, the enemies in Versatility are the obstacles and the pattern. Versatility people help each other out against our common enemy. We are family in that arena!

“Thank you Lord,” said my body as riding was done! I dismounted on my bleacher unmounting block. Jenny led Powder away. I was standing on top of the bleachers and my lower legs started quivering. My brain screamed, “My legs are quivering. I’m going to die up here!” I was able to yell out loud. “Jenny! My legs are quivering! HELP!” Jenny immediately got back to and helped walk my quivering-leg body down the bleacher steps to the sacred ground. My lower legs immediately stopped quivering! I have never before experienced lower-leg quivering!

I walked on the sacred ground to get my Stake Race ribbon and then my Versatility overall ribbon. My body refused to get back on a horse. Powder was grateful.

Eight classes with a ribbon in each class. Powder and I won two reserve championships! A ribbon for the overall placing in Versatility. Nine ribbons came home and are still decorating the truck! The truck loves ribbons!

Powder and I posed for our final ribbon picture. Jenny had braided Powder’s mane. She put all the ribbons in Powder’s braided mane. Some of them are hiding, but all nine are there. Yes, Powder has a lot of hair!


Hold on! We are within spitting distance of the shower story now. Hang in there!

Powder Perfect was escorted back to her living quarters and given a bath to rid her body of all sweat and sand. She received a full scoop of wonderful feed. She was given a hayfield of hay. She was worshiped and thanked. Jenny and I went up to food vendor row. I had eaten a biscuit and gravy way early am. We met friends, one of whom had an ice cream chocolate cake sundae. I forgot about my friends and took off to get my deprived body something cool and slippery. The Taco vender is where heaven after horse show is to be found. I got an ice cream Sundae. It cooled my 1000 degree temperature down and made my tummy very happy. The tired versatility obstacle team arrived and got food and ice cream. We chatted about their work in the arena that day. We owe these two women an immense amount of gratitude. Thank you Hope and Angie!

Jenny and friends left. They went to Springfield where they got to ride in a lesson with Jenny. I visited the sacred air conditioned restroom and went to my seat area on the north side of the performance horse arena. There I watched one of my my best friends, Chasity Young, get the 2018 Sportsmanship Award. It was awesome!

Here is a list of all the overall winners in versatility day. Everyone is a winner, no matter where they placed!

Open Versatility Champion

1. 78 Cashs Sweet Michaela, Mindy Jo Hoy, for Mindy Jo Hoy, Bois D’Arc MO
2. 127 Spits Coal Train, Ross Harper, for Jayme Conklin, Ocala FL
3. 77 Lous Priceless Pride, Chastity Young, for Chastity Young, East Lynne MO
4. 265 Country Boy’s Vanilla Wafer, Jeff Peck, for Harry Patterson, Wichita Falls TX
5. 220 Jedidiah, Paul Roten, for Louie Keener, Harrison AR
6. 67 JJ’s Platinum Champagne Doll, Susan Engle, for Susan Engle, Pleasant Hill MO
7. 65 MSG Tinker’s Southern Belle, Margaret St. Germain, for Margaret St. Germain, Kansas City MO
8. 266 Rowdy’s Cowboy Shoes LC, Mia Walker, for Larry Coffman, Hartville MO

Youth Versatility Champions

1. 259 Rush River Sterling Watergait, Jessica Stafford, for Jessica Stafford, Ava MO
2. 82 Magic’s Crown Jewel, Ericka Robertson, for Judy Mathes, Ava MO, Kendra Brittain-Plumb, Ava MO
3. 260 Pig Pens Brother, Hannah Stafford, for Hannah Stafford, Ava MO
4. 90 Miss Late May V., Dallee Porter, for Lloyd Dehner, Hockley TX

Powder and I Spring Show Epic Adventure -6

Are you ready for the shower story yet! Sorry, it is still a far place away. There is a lot that happens in these few days at a horse show, including heat, humidity, exhaustion and sweat

It is now time for our volunteers to set up the reining pattern! My favorite event! I live for reining.  If I were 16 years old, I might turn into a full-on reining competitor. Thank goodness I never heard of reining until my second childhood!

Powder is an experienced show horse. She has competed in many a reining class during her seven to eight years of showing. Once she recognizes that she is in a reining pattern, she loves to speed up. Thankfully this pattern started differently than most of the other reining patterns. The pattern Stars with the rollbacks! I’ve never ride this pattern before. By the time we got to the second rollback, Powder was in it! She knows to speed up and the do the slide stop. Sadly, I hadn’t yet worked out the cue for instant stop, so our slide stops were without the slide part. We sparked up a notch or two of life for the reining circles. Two fast and one small slow circle. ZOOM! We made the two big fast and the small circle, but we failed to show slow!

Our pattern was perfect. We nailed it! Thanks to Jenny who stood at a critical spot outside the arena and said “go left”. In many years past, few people entered the reining class and I was always assured of a ribbon. I’ll be double darned that a ton of people entered this class. My class. I own this class. Stay away! Sigh. Who invited all these people?

Powder and I won Reserve Reining Champion and got that beautiful red ribbon! We were a slice of heaven in that arena! At least I felt like I was riding in heaven….

Those other competitors are going to practice reining and make my life holy hell next year. If they don’t practice, the versatility bench crowd will help them. Drat!

We had one young handsome rider on a beautiful dun palomino. Jeff got confused on the first spin. The horse is to do 360 turn, four times. It is really tough to keep track of the number of spins you are doing. During my first spin, I didn’t know if I had completed 3 or 4 spins so I went another 360. Thank goodness it was needed. Back to Jeff. Jeff had a tough time on the first set. So the marvelous crowd counted his spins the second set of 4 360 spins. The crowd counted loudly 1, 2, 3, 4! The crowd is a great group of people!

I had to get off and move my body around on the ground again after my turn. Groan

You must see the pattern again!

Powder and I Spring Show Epic Adventure -7

Barrel racing!

You have all seen those horses going 100 mph run around the barrels. Yep, Powder and I are signed up for a race!

Back in the 60’s and my life with horses was as a young thin girl…. ahem. Back in the 60’s it was time for me to graduate from large pony to horse. Unknown benown to me, my mother did not want me to become a barrel racer. She thought it was too dangerous. My mother told me this in the last decade of her life. Good Lordy! Two breeds of horses existed in my world in that small town Midwest time-warp. We had quarter horses and Saddlebreds in my life. I had no choice in getting a horse. One day my mother announced that we were going to see a horse that was for sale. My mother bought an American Saddlebred horse for me. I grew up with a Saddlebred horse to avoid becoming a barrel racer!

I’m in the 70+ age group. I never considered explaining my lack of 100 mph “barrel racing” experience to Powder. I had no idea Powder is a 100 mph barrel racing horse (in her heart).

Let’s take an experienced barrel horse and put Susan on her. Ha! (Fall out of your chair!). Of course, I have run a thousand barrel patterns myself long ago on my large pony and for horsemanship in my second childhood. I am a casual barrel person. I love to canter between barrels and make those turns with amazing horsemanship.

I failed to mention the casual canter part to Powder.

Usually the contestant canters a few circles before starting the barrel pattern. I thought, “nah, we don’t need that. We’ll just canter to the first barrel when we get into the arena.” I asked Powder to canter to the barrel, but she understands the concept of real barrel-racing, called gallop! We argued and compromised on some sort of stick-legged gait where every leg was out of rhythm. We made the first turn and found the canter gait. Smoothly we slid into barrel #2 and floated to barrel #3. When the barrel horse goes around barrel #3, they are supposed to gallop to the finish line. Powder and I had another slightly heated discussion. She wanted to go at warp speed and I wanted a fast canter. Finally she agreed and off we went. We won the coveted least fast-barrel (slowest) time! Yee Haw!

Pole Bending
I love pole bending!

I was thinking, only the poles are left. Soon this long wonderful hot day will be over. I told my body that news. The body was so happy. The body had been riding Powder about 30-60 minutes a day for the month. There was no riding in the winter as I lacked a horse. My “core muscles” were rediscovered the day after our Kansas City Spring horse show when Powder had just arrived from Florida. Those muscles were a surprise! I had no idea where my core muscles were located. My core muscles were not the problem today! It was another part of the body that was suffering. I’m much too modest explain where.

Someone asked about the stake race class. I told them that there was no stake race class. Oh, I was wrong. Powder and I were then up for pole bending. There was little change in my pathetic warm-up plan. Sad. Powder and I stick-leg cantered again down the pole path. It was jarring. We sliced our way through the poles. It wasn’t pretty. We arrived at the end of the pole path and Powder told me we should gallop home. I explained again that I did not want to gallop home and after a few trotting strides, we cantered. We cantered speedily. Done! Whew

Powder and I Spring Show Epic Adventure – 5

Western Horsemanship Class.

This pattern looks simple, but it actually is difficult. Non horse and non canter people can just ignore this next sentence. Firstly, we start out with a counter canter. I hate that. It takes a well educated horse who knows your cue and body position to pick up the “wrong lead”. We have now went from “B” to “C”. Oh but it isn’t that simple. You have to transition from canter to stop. You have to be in a place where ou can turn without stepping on the cone. From “B” to “C” must be a straight line, so you must stop in the exact place in the sand where you can turn and head straight north…no sloppy diagonal line.

Then there is the confusing language in this instruction describing each lateral movement. Horses have a forequarter (front legs) and a hindquarter (back legs). The instructions were not clear. We were all confused. We had many discussions among the competitors as to which set of legs were to be moved and to which direction. Luckily, I had an amazing mentor in Jenny. She went thru the pattern with me again before the class started.

Horrors! Powder and I were first up. Scream! It is both good and bad to be the first one up in a pattern class. Good is that you won’t watch anyone do the pattern wrong and get yourself confused. Bad is that you don’t get to watch other riders do the pattern correct which sets the pattern in your brain better.

Off we went and of course Powder did it perfectly and my brain remembered everything! When Powder started the counter canter at “B”, I knew thing were going to br “smooth sailing”. Thanks to Jenny for expert coaching and help from the sidelines! Here is the pattern. Try to figure it out!

Let’s return to “C”. Now we need to speed up after we make the sharp turn into a fox trot. Again we have to make a straight line directly to “D”. Our orders are to stop. We must stop at exactly the space in the sand where we can make the turn without stepping on the cone and transition from turn into canter! Whowee!

It is effortless for Powder to canter on the correct lead from “D” to “E”. Now make the turns. One turn is 360 degrees and the other is 270 so you head directly to the judge. Again the point to point has to line up. Which gait to the judge? Don’t blow it at the end and forget to back up!
Powder did the whole thing perfectly.

I remember vividly that Powder and I got the Reserve winner placing in this class. The red reserve ribbon matches my hair and flushed red face! Powder’s mane was braided to prevent her from stepping on it. We did not show with a braided mane. Jenny can braid an entire long mane is about 10 seconds!

Powder and I Spring Show Epic Adventure – 4

Trail Class

At last I would be a rider!

Jenny was right at the gate to take Powder. I staggered over to get water and revived myself. I got my shirt and vest and went into restroom for a clothing change. I love the nice white secluded chairs in the restroom!

The judge gave us a walk-thru after our volunteer helpers set up the trail obstacles. These volunteers are our horse friends who were there to support and help us. They had no idea that they would be setting up all the obstacles in all classes today. Thank you Hope and Angie from your versatility family! When the walk-thru was done, I came out of the arena and found Jenny warming up Powder’s buttons or cues. Jenny helped me get on. I took a few practice spins and it was my turn to shine!

After standing through the long showmanship class, riding “Powder Perfect” in the trail class was fabulous. Fabulous! I love the trail class. The competition is between you and each obstacle. The obstacles are brutal as are the gait transitions. The obstacles have no regard for humans.

I specialize in the 3 barrel back-through. I generally put that obstacle in the Kansas City club horse Show trail classes. People come from near and far to seek training from me on how to back through the three barrel triangle. (Snort)

Sidepassing over the “W” is an example of a brutal obstacle. No matter how cute I am, nor how beautiful Powder is nor how fun I am is immaterial to the “W” poles. The “W” had no favorite in the class. Everyone had a negative fault.

Opening and shutting the gate…humph! Gates are mere bits of fluff to an experienced horse like Powder. I could have rode through that trail class three more times in complete happiness.

I had another nice break after the trail class. The obstacles were gathered up by our volunteers and the next class was walk-trot Western Pleasure.This was the only class that Powder and I did not compete. It is not a point class and I have a more fun Western Pleasure class in which to ride.  This is a class in which we get to canter .  I love cantering!

Western Pleasure is a rail class!  There is nary a pattern to be run!  All the rider has to do is get the correct gait asked for by the judge and avoid getting penned in by a group of horses.  If you are hidden behind another horse in the class, the judge can not see how wonderful you are.  The rider always has to be looking at where every horse is in the arena and plan ahead.

( All classes except reining all are Open and Youth. Reining is only Open.)

We had plenty of time to revive ourselves until walk, trot and canter Western Pleasure was called. What a great class that was. Everyone did fantastic. No one crowded me and Powder always found an open spot on the rail in which to fully impress the judge. Again, Powder did Perfect! Again, I had a lot of fun doing the three gaits around the arena on an amazing horse. I love Western Pleasure! Ribbons were handed out.

Powder and I Spring Show Epic Adventure – 3

Saturday morning started out with feeding Powder around 7:00 am. About 7:30, Powder got her bath with a lot of focus on her white mane and tail. Bath was given by Jenny Vaught who knows a thing or two thousand million about getting a show horse ready.

Show was to start at 9:00 am. We arrived at the show ground about 8:30 am. The show started at 9:30am with Showmanship. This is an online ground class. I do not “love” showmanship. I want to be in the arena riding my horse!

However, it is not that bad with an experienced calm horse like Powder. For many a show horse, the rider has to rise at an unholy dawn hour, ride their horse, give the horse a bath and pray for the horse to be dry with combed out mane and tail by the time the show starts. You can’t ride the horse right before the show starts as the saddle area will be sweaty wet. Yech

Jenny put Powder’s showmanship halter on and coached me in proper arm position and running strategy. Running? Yes, the human has to run at one point and the horse is to fox trot. The arena had been watered and there were a few uneven furrows in the ground. Running was tough for me on the furrowed ground. I did not look like a sleek gazelle with a beautiful unicorn beside me. Powder always looks beyond beautiful with her long mane and tail, plus those eyes!  I looked more like a broken freight locomotive. We lined up perfectly for judge.

We set up and performed the showmanship dance with the judge. I backed Powder through the three cones. Sadly, I couldn’t see the cones while standing in the proper position with Powder. That was tough. Maybe I should have practiced! I thought it would be barrels, even though the pattern said cones. I had done this pattern before, long ago, with Nova.  It was barrels that we backed through then.  So, my mind ignored the word “cone” in the pattern and formed the barrel image.  Lordy!  My brain is out of control!

The other thing about showmanship is that all participants have to enter the arena, line up and await their turn. All contestants also line up when their pattern is finished and await the judge’s decision. The moment you enter the arena until the judge makes the final decisions, you are being judged. There is no relaxing. I did banter a bit with nearby competitors, but I didn’t move my lips nor my razor focus on the judge. Luckily, it wasn’t hot enough to bake us to a crisp. We all survived. The winners were announced and we got our ribbons.  I had been standing a long time in the sun with my fabulous black hat protecting my freckles. This hat was stolen from Chastity Young at our Kansas City Show in April. I appeared at the show without a hat.

After the entire show was done, Chas gave me the black cowgirl hat that I had stole from her. I officially own this hat now. It stays on my head no matter how fast we gallop or in hurricane force winds. That is a million dollar show hat! Thank you Chas.

Here is more information about Showmanship, how it started and where it is going.

It was really good planning to have the trail class after showmanship. People had time to recover, change clothes and have a few moments for warm-up time while the trail obstacles were placed.

Powder and I Spring Show Epic Adventure – 1

I started this blog just to tell you about my Friday and Saturday shower experiences, but then the entire show experience story demanded to be told. Four days in Ava almost turned into a book! Stay tuned for the shower story….

Powder and I arrived at the Missouri Fox Trotter Showground complex in Ava, Missouri on Thursday afternoon. This show is one of two shows held by the association. This is the Spring Show and Three Year Old Futurity. Powder and I will compete Saturday in the Versatility events. I look forward to having a great time with friends!

Ava is 200 miles from home. It was hot. My truck’s air conditioning is spotty. It blows somewhat cool air if I have it set on defrost. Occasionally, there is no cool air. Driving with windows open became necessary. Stopping at gas stations to give the Freon a chance to recover helped. Driving with windows open wasn’t too bad in the 80 something humid degree weather.

We made it to Ava show grounds!

It is always emotional when making the turn from the Fox Trotter Highway into the sacred grounds. All memories of years past flood the brain. The horse checker made certain Powder had her coggins and health certificate medical records. The office was open so I got Powder’s back number and receipt of the classes we had entered online. I also got my amateur card. Yep, all eight were on the receipt. We were both cleared for the sweat and fun times ahead!.

We found barn 17 and a parking space. Goodness, there are a lot more people here than last year!  I tied Powder to the outside of the trailer while I got her princess royal stall set up for her royal stay. Angel Chas Young appeared and hooked up her water bucket in the stall. Thank you Chas. Angel Darrel Martin was nearby and helped me get the water hose set up. The hose traveled over multiple stall doors to the center water connection. (There are twenty five stalls on one side of the barn.) That job needed a tall person! Thank you Darrel!

I got the stall fan set up. I found an extension cord that reached across the top of the stall door to the electricity plug in. Thank you mounting block! I needed my mounting block to get that electricity hookup completed. (This place is made for tall people!)

Next on the sweat list is to carry the shavings bags from the trailer to the stall. I got the royal shavings set up for Powder’s comfort. After that, my facial sweat glands went into overload production. Sweat was dripping off the end of my nose. I hate that. Powder was getting anxious to be in her stall. She stopped eating grass and started glaring at me instead.

Finally I got her grain and a bag of hay in her stall. “Get me into my stall!. Feed me,” she non verbally glared as I walked to get her. “Done,” I said as I led her into the royal princess stall. The royal princess and I were happy. I was a wet mess. Powder had her food and a fan. She was not a wet mess.

Chastity Young cooked an amazing dinner for our barn 17 gang. Jenny Vaught arrived and ate too. She is a certified barn 17 person! We dined, enjoyed the company of great people and sat contentedly in front of the fans at the Conklin residence. Jenny agreed to team sort on Friday with Ross. We thought it would take a few minutes. I decided not to ride that evening. It was horrid hot and my energy had evaporated in the 200 mile drive and setting up the royal stall. After dinner, Jenny gave Powder an extensive bath. “Get that mane and tail white,” is the battle cry!

I spent the evening with barn 17 friends watching the performance horse show. Life is good in a comfy chair with friends while watching beautiful horses.

—-This adventure turned into a short book and it has been decided to bring it to you in segments.  Scream for more!  Scream for the shower story.  Scream for the barrel and pole bending story.  Scream for more!——-

“Powder Perfect” Spring Show 2018

I showed Powder at the 2018 Spring Show. I was thinking about how different it was showing an experienced horse who knows more than me, compared to showing Cisco his first year. At the end of my reining patterrn, the judge summed it all up for my Cisco experience. At the completion of the pattern. I went over to show the judge Cisco’s bridle. He said, “Well, you lived through it.” I lived through Cisco’s first year of showing. That was the goal.

Riding Powder was an experience on the other side of the scale. Powder has skills that I lack! My stress was being good enough so that Powder could be perfect in the arena. I had about thirty days with Powder to work on transitions, gaits, and cues. I did not have to worry about Powder getting nervous or spooking. That was really cool. I had a two day clinic with Jennifer Vaught and two group lessons with Erin Patterson in that thirty day timeline.

I’d like to report that I did as well as my skill level allowed. Powder and Jennifer Vaight’s expert coaching allowed me the cross the line and see what versatility show-ring finess is all about.

A third side to all this is being grateful that I am able to ride. I remember bragging years ago to friends about Sally Scott, hero to all of us in the Versatility world. I said, “Sally is still showing and she is in her 70’s”. I realized this year that I’m still showing and I’m in my 70’s. Seventies is not old! Scream!

Powder and I Spring Show Epic Adventure – 2

Early Friday morning came. Jenny got Powder tacked up and headed to the team sorting. By that time Chas and Mindy had begged Jenny to team sort with them too. How could she refuse? We discovered 104 teams had signed up. Jenny’s thought that her sorting would take ten minutes or so turned out wrong. She changed her morning lessons into evening lessons with her long-time clients.

In sorting, you can partner with different people! Each team got to run cows twice unless they lost their cows the first run. The times are combined with the lowest times winning. Teams might have had a great run the first time, but if lost their cows on the second run they were disqualified from winning. Those that lost their cows on the first run, didn’t get the second run. Still, there were a lot of people that made it to the second run. By the time team sorting was over, it was around 1:00. It was hot. The shade in the arena kept getting smaller and smaller. Horses and riders had to stand out in the sun.

Enjoy watching Jenny and Powder! It has been said not to get between Powder and a cow. I think you can see why! Tony Vaught was cutting cows once and Powder’s cow wouldn’t move. Powder picked up that cow by the neck! She is a cow horse!




I sat in the shade, but it was still hot. After sorting ended, Jenny and Chas were “in the money” winners! Powder got her bath, food and water. Jenny and I ate a late lunch while Powder dried. Then it was my turn to practice with expert coaching from Jenny. Wow. She took me up some notches of experience and knowledge to this versatility pattern classe skill level. I practiced the Western Horsemanship and Reining patterns with Jenny coaching me. I thought I was fairly good at patterns. I was humbled. The most fun was practicing the reining pattern. I love reining. See the pattern below. It takes a while when you are new to reining to figure out the pattern. It’s easier to read the instructions.

Powder got a rinse and was allowed back into her royal personal space with water, hay and feed. Every piece of manure was removed from stall.

That evening, I went to the performance horse show and sat with my barn 17 people.  I started helping the photographer extraordinaire, Marty Maynard, with the winner and reserve winner pictures.  Oh it is fun to be part of this life!
The Versatiliy classes start tomorrow!

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