July 3rd...
Today was a day for a road trip. First horse show was the plan of the day. We did our basic routine of getting ready to go to a show. Except this time, it wasn’t going to be Serenity’s and my regular horses going. Encore and Journey were our horses of choice for the day.
Serenity and I were looking at this show as just a fun day, and another training session for the horses. This is a situation that we can not duplicate at home. And we really were not expecting to win. Our hopes for the day were to have the horses get used to all of the commotion that takes place at the shows and see how the horses would react in a totally new environment.
Loading went real well. Encore and Journey both walked right in. And we were on our way. After a stop for gas, refreshments, and breakfast, we had to stop at a friend’s to pickup one of their horses for the show.
Problems, a leaf spring bolt broke in the friend’s yard. So we unload the horses, tied them to the hitching post. Then the work started on the trailer by Serenity’s boyfriend while I went to get the necessary parts to do the repairs. After an hour and a half, the repairs were complete.
We reloaded the horses, as well as the one we had to pickup. The horses stood very patiently the entire time that we were doing the repairs.
Needless to say we arrived at the show late. We didn’t have much time to get signed up for the events, get horses ready and do our warm up. With a lot of help from Serenity’s boyfriend, Mike, and Lisa, we did get settled in and get in a quick warm up before the events started.
As usual, the people in charge of the show wanted to make sure that the other competitors, especially the younger ones understood the events, so they had the 35 and over group start. I got to start the show with Encore. First event was a trail course. This event had things that I have never exposed Encore as of yet. This I figured would be interesting, but I figured that if I was patient, and showed Encore that I had confidence in him we could make it through satisfactorily.
The course consisted of opening and closing a mail box, a jump, trailer loading, moving a bag of cans from one barrel to another, crossing a tarp, crossing a teeter tooter bridge, and four logs. Seemed fairly simple. To shorten things up, to our surprise Encore and I took first place.
The other events were: Barrel racing, Water Balloon race, Baton Race (Serenity and Journey were my partners), underwear race, Chug-A-Lug, and Dizzy cowboy (which they modified because they forgot the bat).
Encore finished 1st in: Trail ride, Barrel Race, Underwear Race, Chug-A-Lug, and Dizzy cowboy, 2nd place in: Water Balloon. And a DQ in Baton race.
As for his reaction to all of the commotion of a horse show, he acted as if he was a seasoned veteran, and this wasn’t his first show.
I was extremely proud of how he handled himself the entire day with everything new that he was exposed to, and especially his performance.
The people in charge of the shows that we attend, have been advertising the Trainers Challenge at the Norway Fairgrounds in August, a few times during each show.
Today seeing Serenity and I were riding our trainees, they announced several times that we were riding Encore and Journey.
At the end of the show, Encore and I were asked to do the closing ceremony. They wanted to see all the things that have I taught Encore in such a short time.
So Encore laid down for me to mount, and again to dismount. And for the Finale, Encore took a very large bow.
Encore and I were presented with a special prize for all of our success, we received an American Rodeo set which consisted of: Pocket Knife, Pocket watch and chain, Key chain/bottle opener.
Now it was time to load up and head for home.
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