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!