Velvet

Both Velvet and I were on an emotional High. We were AVA winners in a SPEED event. Just wait till folks back home heard about this. They were the ones that snickered at the horse who wouldn’t canter the whole way around the arena. This news would knock em off their horses! We returned to the trailer and went about getting Velvet comfortable. I took off her straight jacket saddle, and got her robe and slippers…uh..er I mean she got fed her special grain. I turned on my switch to…

No one knew what a stake race was in the main office when I registered. Velvet thought she would be staked out to eat grass. When I asked her what kind of race that would be, she just snorted and told me that she was going to eat really fast! We had a break while the speed fox trot class ran on. The versatility day would be ending with the stake race and jumping event back in the versatility arena. I loosened Velvet’s saddle and let her practice eating grass fast. Soon…

After the great costume class had concluded, we scurried out of the arena to get ready for the very next class…the WATER GLASS Class. I thought it was going to be a race to carry water and fill a coffee tin, and like all the other times I assume anything, I was wrong. Out of the ring we came. I slammed the costumed saddle off and the fox pelt. I got out of my green boots and put my regular boots on. I threw the other saddle on Velvet and was…

The Costume Class immediately followed the disastrous foot race. Velvet and I came out of the arena in the 90 degree heat and humidity and went right to our pile of costume stuff including the saddle which was weighted down by little stuffed dogs bobbing on the ends of all strings or clasps. It was a long walk, done hurriedly, and Velvet’s owner was glistening in the afternoon humidity shower. Curtain time was about to be called. With Bob Howe’s help of the KC fox trotter club, Velvet got her…

VERSATILITY AFTERNOON was about to start. The announcer boomed, "Class number 73, Contestants please enter the arena". Velvet and I proudly walked into the CELEBRATION SHOW RING for the first time. I was first into the arena and Velvet followed me walking in her most royal Princess manner. WE OWNED THE ARENA! We were the only contestants there. We stood proudly and surveyed our arena. The 100 or so people in the crowd stared at us. I flipped my hair using the "blond gesture." The versatility judges entered the arena and went…

While I was watching and listening to the versatility demonstrations, Velvet got a full body makeover for her debut at the most important horse show in the world. We decided on a new lipstick color but stayed with our same nail color." Sinful Black". We figured that she might sweat, so we choose thickened Maybellhorse waterproof mascara, and stayed with her regular eye shadow, "Bright Blue Barn Hue". We let down her new "do" and marveled over how much younger and sophisticated it made her look. She cursed her farrier…