Here we are again. Familiar things. Another show at Lovely local facility. No Uncle Kanje this time, it's a solo mission! This time we have a professional Photographer and Videographer too! So we are poor now, but we have great media to share.
Part of the Excellent ground crew comes to lend a hand getting him ready. He looks short next to her, but she is very tall. It is good to have tall friends when you are short - they can reach the top of his back easily and see the dirt there.
I braided him, of course. They are slowly getting better and more even. He still thinks they feel weird but is a good sport about having them put in and taken out.
Warm up was tight and looky. They were loading and unloading with varying degrees of success next to the ring and he thought it was exciting. We went later than we often do too, this time we were almost lunch time so there was more activity. It is good, he needs to get used to that. It is bad, he is tight and way more difficult.
I am still not sure how best to work through that with him. We had a trailer parking at home the other day which gave me the same response and I tried to bend him and push him but his attention just wasn't there and he blocks me. He does not do anything BAD, he just gets the scrunched neck, tightens his whole body and does not go anywhere.
He does not look it, but he is actually a very sensitive guy. He worries. He gets tight. He has a hard time maintaining focus on me when things are going on. Fortunately, as soon as the things are out of visual range, he returns to normal. He lets things go, which is nice.
Amazing coach helped as much as she could but there is not too much that can be done when you are a scrunched up bundle of reactive energy.
Into the ring!
Once in the ring he was great! Very few distractions, except the scary balls of green and the open door in general. He relaxed and was quite rideable!
It is rather a beautiful arena!
Amazing Coach is right, I DO need to sit down. I think I may have fixed that for next show.
Many smiles and pats for the Mav afterwards!
You can see the scary green balls of fear behind us in this picture.
We continue to struggle with stretchy trot, although we have been able to get it at home lately so will see what next show brings for that.
Super Husband was there too helping, but there does not seem to be photographic evidence of him.
Again, we wait until the end of the day for awards (but he goes home after his test). I do like getting my test sheet immediately, but the format is such that people in your class could ride at any time of the day so placings are not posted until the end of the day. It means a trip back to get any awards - although Asmar was set up with a warehouse sale so a trip back led to some purchases as well.
He ate some grass while we chilled out after removing his braids. Everything is so brown this year with the zero rain we have had for weeks. But Mav does not mind. He is an Alberta boy and is happy with some brown grass (after eating the choice green bits that were there!).
We got a tremendous score of 73.9% to win our class. I was a bit floored by that. I knew it felt nice and it flowed and he did all the things without fuss, but we were plenty chuffed about it! To top it off, we were reserve top score of the day Adult Ammy. Off the top spot by .04% That darn stretchy trot!
The next day he posed with his winnings. He is nonchalant about them apparently. What is not shown, is that he believed the saddle pad being held up for him to see while he was in his stall, was actually something there to get him. He snorted and ran out of his stall. I made him sniff it and explained it was a major award. He was not convinced but once out of his stall he realized it was, in fact, a saddle pad and not to be afraid of it. He can be a funny guy sometimes with what he is afraid of.
Also a picture of some of our favourite things. The luscious black first place ribbons and Equiderma Neem Fly spray. This stuff keeps the bugs off AND makes him shiny.
We have another show in a couple of weeks which is planned to be his last for the season. Unless I feel he needs to go do another test (as in, the next two tests do not go well), he will end on the 2 day summer show.
And one more picture because he is just so darn cute. You can also see the issues I have with boot fit. These are custom made but when you are short and wide, the top of the boot can not be made narrow enough without causing big leather wrinkles/bubbles. These are about as good as it gets for me!
If you want to watch the test. It is available here.
If you do not want to watch the test, I am not offended. You can wait a couple of years until the tests are more interesting and I have tapped into more of his power.