Mountain Valley Murphy looking for a new home

Everyone circle Saturday November 7th on your calender as the day a little mustang gelding in a plain brown wrapper could change your life. Mountain Valley Murphy is one super guy and he will be up for adoption at the Heber City, Utah MMO contest. I can't say enough about what a fun horse he has been to train. I usually never have a problem letting my young (equine) students graduate to new owners and new lives, but Murphy is definitely an exception. He is one easy guy to be around. He has a great work ethic and loves to have a job. He took to roping like no horse I have every trained. Within 2 days of seeing his first cow I was roping then and he would face them up and hold them. He loves to dig in and drag a log or calf. Will trot down the trail all day. He gets along with everyone and everything. PLEASE email if you are thinking about adopting him. I will gladly trailer him back to California or drop him any where between Sacramento, CA and Heber City, Utah after the contest.



Here are some 'glamor' shots of 'Murph the Snurf'. He stands a solid 14 hands tall and is almost as wide and long. I keep thinking I should have named him Sherman ( after the tank). He has 4 very solid black feet, massive bone, very correct legs, not one scar or blemish anywhere on his body. It doesn't matter if he is coming or going you either get lost in his big brown eyes or the size of his hindquarters

Day 70.....

Mountain Valley Murphy checkin in to say Howdy on day seventy of 90 days training for the Heber City UT, Mountain Valley Mustang Makeover Contest. I am very tired after a wonderful weekend training with the world renown Richard Winters from the Thatcher School in Ojai, CA, so I will turn the keyboard over to Sue. I don't know why Ima liked to blog so much guess it is a girl thing I have no interest in typing when there is hay I could be eating.

Thanks Murphy. Well now that he is out of earshot, I can tell everyone he is one awesome horse! I really feel blessed to have been given such a wonderful creature to transform into an enjoyable human companion. Murphy is everything you could want in a great riding horse. He is quiet and easy to be around. He gets along great with all animals from sheep to cows, mini horses, etc. He is still wary of dogs as his mothers words that they will eat him still ring in his ears. Although he has never shown any aggression towards them, they still worry him a little bit.

woops... I'll finish later...

Time Flies!!! It is day 50!!

Wow here we are at Day 51. I am so sorry I have been too busy to keep you all posted. but actually being gone for 5 weeks there was nothing to say! Now we are well over half way there. Murphy is doing as best as can be expected considering his very little training. Today was a big day we went to a Western Horse Show at the Sacramento Horseman's Association. I also took my number one leadline student, who graduated to riding her 3 yr old Kiger Mustang filly alone today and had the most picture perfect rides in the trail classes I have every seen for any age! Earning her a 1st and 2nd in trail plus 2 -8th's in the riding classes.

To bring you up to speed on Murphy's culmination today riding in a real arena with other horses, loud speakers, etc. Here are his statistics: He has been 'captive' for 51 days. He has worn a halter 21 times, He was saddled 6 times before I climbed on. Today was the 8th time he has ever been ridden. Today was the 3rd time he has been taken off the ranch.

His first trip was the 3rd time I saddled him when I took him to a regional park for a ride, his riding companions were a donkey and a mule! He saw back packers, hikers and had to cross narrow 'person' bridges over the irrigation canals.

The 2nd trip was Friday night to a local team penning where I ponied him through the cows.. He loved it! He is going to be a cow eating machine! He was a little too 'goosey' to ride, so I just ponied him off "MY " mustang Walley.

And today's outings started with us entering the Halter classes.. Murph has only worn a rope halter so I was surprised the transition to the show halter went so smooth. I used a long lead rope with no show chain, in case he did one of his 'turn and burn' I'm outa here moves. But he never batted an eye. Not even at the miniature horses that attended the show and did a good job of spooking lots of horses. With a 5th place win in Halter, non-color, Open and a 6th in Halter 3 yr olds and older, Open. Murphy said he was ready to try a riding class.

After lots of preparation in the near by round pen, we headed to the trail course. I train from day one on lots of obstacles, but Murphy is very careful of anything new, bordering on spooky. They had lots of fake flowers in the arena, so I kept my nightlatch close by. LOL

The course started with opening the gate which went smooth until the closing part which we gave up on. I see I need to get the lateral work started. He just didn't understand sidepass.






Trotting through the brickwalls was touch and go, just a little narrow for Murphy's taste. Trotting over the jump was flawless.

But then the lack of lateral training reared its head again as we made a disaster of sidepassing over the pole.........

Trotting into the box and the 360 turn was quite nice... all considering

The trot serpentine through the flowers got a little dicey, as they were VERY close together. But we did not miss a one. Yea Haw!! Was I proud!

The second time at the gate was much better. It took a few tries but we did the whole thing!!

Three Cheers for Mountain Valley Murphy!!! WHAT A GUY!
This is one incredible horse. I have never in my life tried to do something like a trail course in a public arena on a horse with 8 rides. This horse is priceless!!

Day 3 for Murphy

Murphy is definitely going to make me a better horseman. I will really have to step it up to make him "be all he can be". He has the attention span of a Bartlet Pear. Never stops moving, but forgets 2 feet later why he was moving and scares himself. He does not show any tendencies to kick or strike. Once I get his feet stopped, he is very sensible. But they don't stop very often. He is mortified of anything that flaps from a small rag to a saddle blanket. He seems fine with ropes any where around him, but nothing that flaps....


The flies and mosquitoes here are driving him crazy. He runs and kicks all evening and is covered with hives in the morning. On a positive note it helps with contact as it feels so good for me to pet him. But I feel so bad seeing how frustrated he is. I have to get a fly sheet on him! That was my goal today.

I started by moving him to the round pen and advancing my ground work. After some preparatory rope work I was able to get a surcingle on him.... sans the saddle pad which he still will not touch. It was close to 100 here so after a good work I figured it was a good time to introduce the water hose. I tried it on day 2 and he almost jumped out. Today was a success. By the end he was standing quite and even trying to drink from the hose..... here is Murphy after his first bath.











I came back in the afternoon and picked up where I left off. The morning session and bath really helped.... Here is Murphy sporting a brand new fly sheet. I hope he realizes what it is for. LOL I don't know how I will get it off..... the Velcro sound is very unacceptable to Murf the smurf! But he likes the color and the 'new car smell' the plastic has. NOT!

Murphy's first day

Murphy walked out of the trailer like he had done it all his life. We got stuck in the Hwy 80 night repairs road closure so had to sleep in Boomtown which was completely full because of Hot August Nights. Murphy's Law! So we spent 24 hours in the trailer. I was so impressed he had no problem drinking out of a bucket.... I have had mustangs take a week just to walk by a bucket. And never shied at the semi's driving by with in 2 ft.

He is awesome. What a great looking horse! This is truly going to be a buckaroo's horse. He neck is a little thick but so is the rest of him. And he is going to be a mover..... As the old cowboy said to me "There ain't enough land or cattle around here to get that horse tired". Boy that is a fact. I wondered how he could get so muscled up in the BLM corrals... now I see He NEVER stops moving. Always walking and looking, very busy.... going to be hard to keep his attention!

I was hoping to break Ima's record of being pet 20 minutes out of the trailer. That didn't happen in fact after 45 minutes I was getting worried about the trainablilty of this horse. I changed my tactics and once I finally got my hands on him things started moving quickly. :) Within an hour we were taking pictures of our selves. Sorry my arms aren't longer.

The end of a very eventful and expensive trip (Did I mention I had to buy 3 more tires?)

and the first chapter in Murphy's big adventure!!

Murphy gets his name

As I prepared to leave.. everyone asked me where my horse was from.... which in mustang language means which HMA. I was excited to find out also because prior to leaving I had studied the Utah HMA's and their horses and so I had just enough knowledge to be dangerous. I dug the papers out of my bag of BLM goodies and .......... Three Fingers.... Vale, Oregon. WHAT!!! Yes I drove to Utah passing 3 closer BLM holding facilities to pick up my Utah horse who is from Oregon! Now that is Murphy's Law. I guess very few of the geldings in this contest where born in Utah..... Go figure.

So I walked up to the trailer to see my OREGON horse, I stepped up on the running board and said "Hey Murphy how ya doing." He looked at me and touched my hand like that had been his name all his life....... Well, I guess it will be now!!!!

I am exited to say that Murphy is taking to technology as fast as Ima did and he seems to have a sense of humor. To keep him busy on the long drive home I showed him how to use the camera.











The first thing he wanted to see was "Utah in the Rear View Mirror". I told him the song was about Texas and he said.. wild horse don't know state lines......

Here's another shot of what you get to look at for 6oo miles if you come watch me in the finals on November 7 in Heber City, Utah.

Murphy cracked me up when he took this picture for all his new friends in California who have never seen this while pulling a trailer...... (For all you non-Californians the speed limit for trailers is 55 in CA, 75 in NV and UT). Murphy's law every time I come home from a road trip I get a speeding ticket in CA. LOL

Salt Lake City Wild Horse Corrals

Tired, cold and 14 hours late it felt good to see:











As soon as I got out of the truck, I knew it was worth the trip! What a great bunch of Horseman! The weather was temporally perfect. News reporters, friends, family, MMO trainers, MHF staff, BLM wranglers and everyone smiling, laughing excited to see each trainers horse.











I filled out the paperwork and was informed I was getting a solid brown 4 year old gelding w/a very small white star, no other white. Tag number 7392. As I looked over the corrals from the catwalk, I could not see the tag numbers but I saw 2 identical brown geldings in the pen.... Identical except for one thing..... one was sound a sleep in the middle of the pen, head down in the shade of another horse. One was running up and down the fence very up set about the horses that had already been loaded and gone. Which one was mine? Murphy's Law told me













And here he comes down the chute. Halter on with out incident and right into the trailer.....

Here We Go Again

Life has been just to busy to get on here and fill you in. I don't know how Ima had so much time to write. After reading the rules for the Mountain Valley EMMO in Heber City, Utah I decided it might be worth taking the change and competing again. I like the way their thinking. Other then the high possibility of bad weather, the Heber City Cowboy Poetry Gathering and Buckaroo Festival looks like a must see event. Check out their website and come on over.

After just 5 days into this deal I have figured out I need to get a new set of friends! I emailed all my close horseman about entering...... I think in hindsight actually looking for someone to talk me out of it. Couldn't find a one! After that trip I need friends with better common sense!

The finals will be November 7 in Heber City near Salt Lake City. So of course I had to drive to SLC to pick up my horse. Since I have a brand new pick-up truck and a fairly new trailer with brand new hubs, drums the works. I figured now would be the time to do something like this. I looked for a couple of co-pilots but everyone was busy (with their horses of course). So I took my faithful dog!

Here's where the fun began. I watched the weather and it said 80 from Sac to SLC. Weeeeeeee! no heat wave. What I didn't pay attention to was 'isolated thundershowers'. The whole state of Neveda is isolated. Murphy's law! I hit Reno with the wipers on and did not turn them off until Utah. High Wind Warnings for 100's of miles.... What was I thinking!! What should have been a 10 hour trip.. was 14 hours of misery and I was only to Wendover (120 miles from SLC). And low and behold an over site on my part 15 miles from Wendover I peel the treat off a trailer tire. I limped into Wendover, stayed in the truck stop until 8am when the tire place opened... so the fancy business card said....

This is the 'fancy' tire shop outside of Wendover. Murphy's law it was the biggest week of the year in Wendover..... Speed Week at the Bonneville Salt flats Speedway. There was 700 cars racing 5 miles past this tire shop.... Who would guess... He had 1 tire left that would fit my trailer.

The highly qualified tire repair man (who even slept in the tire repair office.... the one up on blocks.. told me all my tires were weather cracked and said: "I sure hope you get where you are going with those". Murphy's Law!

I thanked him and drove back to the highway here is what I saw as I looked left and right for traffic:

SLC here I come........

Mountain Valley MMO

Howdy everybody:
Sorry I haven't written. Ima changed the passwords and I haven't been able to get on this thing!! Just wanted to inform you all: I have been accepted into the November Extreme Mustang Makeover in Heber City, Utah. That's right just when I thought it was safe to go back in the barn...... Another wild horse will be arriving. I will be making the round trip to the Salt Lake City Wild Horse Corrals on Friday the 7th of August to pick up my 'plain brown wrapper' gelding.

Called the Mountain Valley MMO the finals will be November 7th during the Heber City Cowboy Poetry Gathering and Buckaroo Festival. I am the only Californian entered!!! So I'll need some back up in the stands! Check out the festival website and make plans to come, it looks like a great time is had by all.

This show has different rules then any of the other contests so should be interesting. Need to find a name soon...... Keeping with the theme I think Heza Your Horse may be it......

Until next week.... Remember: "Life is short, Ride your good horse first"

What's in a name?

A number of people asked me how Ima got here name. So I thought I would tell everyone:

It is old cowboy lore that it is bad luck to change a horse's name. This left me in a delima because I was supposed to name a horse that wasn't even mine. How could I do that? I kept trying to think of a name people I didn't even know would like. I kept coming up with the fact, it just wasn't right to name a horse that wasn't mine. And I definitely didn't want it changed.

Then I came up with "Your Horse". Because I thought of how it would sound over the loud speakers: "And now Sue Watkins riding your horse". Say it out loud, it does sound rather funny! Good! I had a name that no one could change. No matter what the new adopters wanted to call her at home, she would still be 'your horse'.

Now for a 'barn' name. I started to just call her 'Y' or why. Because I figured she was wondering Y she was here and I was wondering Y I was doing this.. A women over 50, breaking wild mustangs..... And about 10 years ago I wrote a short story that was published in a magazine, it was also titled "Y". So I felt good with a name of just "Y", most of my clients and friends, not so much.

So one evening I got a call: IMA! I've got it. Call her I'ma my friend said to me. Ima is a nice old fashioned girls name and she can be "I'ma Your Horse".

So there ya go. Ima Your Horse it was.

Hope you are all finding time to get in the saddle. There is no better view!!

MMO Horse Course Finals

Saturday Morning found the MMO stalls buzzing with early activity as everyone prepared for the final riding contest. My fellow contestants were a great bunch, smiles and well wishes were always the norm between everyone. It is always so interesting how horse people can be so diverse from every corner of the globe and every walk of life, yet come together so passionately for one thing the horse. That could not have been more prevalent on this morning.

Even the Sacramento skies cooperated with perfect horse weather 75+. I have done this event for years with my giant lemon because it is a given that the weather will be in the high 90's during Horse Expo, so this was a welcome change.

There was a trainer's meeting at 8:30 which became a problem because the arena is a long walk from the stalls, no horses were allowed at the meeting, but there was no where to tie the horses either. The arena was not set at 8:30, so the judges had to rush around and set the course which made the meeting start at 8:45 and end at 8:59. With the first horse to be in the arena at 9:00 there was little time to prepare. I was the 5th horse in the go. Luckily I had disobeyed the rules and brought my horse with me, as well has one of my faithful helpers Pam to hold her.

This ended up being a life saver because as I was casually leaving the meeting knowing I had about 30 minutes to warm up, the gate Stewart started yelling at me to get in the ring that I was first. As I disagreed she explained that 3 of the horses ahead of me had scratched and the other horse was not being ridden yet so they bumped it to last in, because it was going to be lead thru the riding course. So that left me running for the ring..........

Ima and I at the in-gate. First test: lead horse in arena, and mount.

We did not use the mounting block, as it looks in the picture, but I wish I had. I was so stiff from my fall the week before, it took me along time to mount and she took a step. There went one point.

From the mount we walked perfectly over the bridge, into the trot serpentine. Her bends were very nice, and I felt very good.

Next you were to trot all the way into the box and halt before touching the front rail. Key word from the judge you were to be trotting all the way into the box and halt. We stuck the halt flawlessly. I have the same box at home and train in constantly. So far looking OK

Next was a 360 turn to the right and then a 360 to the left with out touching a rail. I spent a long time setting her up and getting her soft for the turns. Which we did quietly at the walk. I don't see how sticking a spur in a colts side all the way to their heart so they spin a hole in the ground makes them more adoptable. But that maybe where some of the judges and I parted company.

After the turns you walked straight up the chute then back an "L" to the right. Judge wanted you to come within inches of the back pole. Ima even surprised me with the softness she offered. This is one of my favorite pics because it reminds me what I felt as she backed. Soft as butter.

Things fell apart a little bit after that. I thought our canter serpentine with changes was adequate at best. Unfortunately the judges thought it was terrible...... That's the down fall of being first. Nothing for the judges to compare to. There were many horses that never cantered at all (trotted the entire test), many that didn't change leads, cross fired, took the same lead twice, etc. but the judges would not know that until my scores had long been tallied.

The test was to canter from a stand still out of the back-up chute on the right lead, you had about 12 feet out of the chute before you ran into the arena fence that you had to turn right. Flying or simple change in the middle, then left lead curving to the end of the arena where there was a cone you passed and that started your 90 second freest lye.

Unbelievable even to me I got the right lead from the halt out of the chute. About 3 strides and she saw the banners and people hanging on the fence and shied to a trot, 3 strides and we were turned back towards the middle and into the right lead again (photo). Down to a trot for the transition, I was not at enough of an angle across the arena, so I was almost on top of the judges when I asked for the left lead. I had to make a 90 degree turn in front of the judges, but we did quietly get our left lead and canter quietly to the cone.

My 90 second freestyle was off the cuff as what I had practiced would not work in the big arena, we did some canter circles on a long rein, halt, sidepass right and left, back, back 1/2 circles left and right, halt, then I dismounted by sliding off her butt, crawled between her legs remounted and was pulling my rope down to get in a few swings when they called time!

There you have it. That is our Mustang Makeover Contest classes in a true play by play. I am not sure what the judges saw or didn't see that made them score us out of the top ten. But as it says on my website. My mission is to: "Make good usin' horses that are a pleasure to be around". No contest is going to make me change my beliefs of what that means or how it should be done. I trained Ima to be what Mr. McNabb said they wanted "horses that are more adoptable". I did not train her to win a performance contest which is how it seemed to be judged. She would not spin a hole in the ground or slide a 20' 11 across the arena. But if one person had asked if it was safe to put their small child on her back or let their grandmother go in the stall with her, I knew I could look them in the eye and say "you bet"! And that's what makes a horse more adoptable in my opinion.

" Remember it's not you against the whole world, just you against yourself" Kate Hepburn

With that statement you see why I could not be more proud of Ima and I. I had the toughest opponent there is in my life, I rose to the occasion, studied, learned, grew, changed and gave 110% and because of that I know I kicked my number one opponent's ass! Even though Ima is a winner because she has been repaired and found a magnificent forever home. She innocently does not know what she did for me and everyone around me. So it is me who is the real winner and I have only #05219952 to thank for that!

I am sorry the formatting is never right on these posts. The spacing with the photos just won't adjust for some reason... Ima always got it right on her posts. I guess I should add computer skills to her adopt ability score.....

WOW!!! IMA IS FIXED!!

Ima sent us a nice note from her new home!! She forget to tell us more about who she lives with(not her roommates, but who puts the hay on the table). But she has already had her surgery! And everything went swimmingly! Check out her message under the last posts comment section!! That means more to me then all their money and ribbons!!

Wow this is a super day!! My birthday is next week and that is the best present I could ever dream to get. (That and spending a week in Southern California training with Richard Winters which I am also doing this week.)

She must have a very special family because they let her use their laptop!!! Next she'll have her own cell phone so she can call Walley in the middle of the night and have him whinny heavy into the phone! They don't call them wild horses for nothin'.

Now more about the contest:

7 days post MMO Contest

Howdy faithful Ima mustang followers. It has been one week since the Horse Expo and I think I am finally ready to come up for air. I will apologize in advance that I am not half the writer that Ima is. She is at her new home in Wilton, CA and I bet they have no idea she knows how to use a computer. So on her behalf I will be filling in the final chapters of her diary.

First on the list is all the Thank You's she and I owe so many great folks for their help and support through these thrilling and very trying 3 months.

At the top of the list are the GREAT SPONSORS that helped Ima become the beautiful slick and shiny horse you see today:
Bar Ale Feed, Inc. of Winters CA for providing Ima with their Distance Plus and 101 feeds
Elk Grove Milling of Elk Grove, CA for providing Ima with their Stable Mix pellets
Lee's Feed, Placerville, CA for the goodie bag of fly products and shavings

The BLM EMPLOYEES
Videll, Grant, Amy, Sally and Jason for always going above and beyond their job duties for the love of the horses.

MY FREESTYLE TEAM:
Teresa, Michaela and Taryn for giving up their weekend and then some, Russ the welder, B-Bar Arena for its use and Teresa for the musical score. Sorry your efforts were never seen by the public.... Ima and I know what you did for us.

OUR FRIENDS, CLIENTS, STUDENTS and all the good ol' folks that helped or just wished me well especially: Eli, Amber, Jason, Pam, Brent, Andrea, Piper, Donna, Linda, Betty, Wendy, Morgan, Emma, Keith, Jim, John, Gena, Dan, Ronnie in FL, Dr. Larry, Erica, Joel, Katy and family, Ima thanks Walley for all his guidance and the eye candy. extra credit to Marjorie and Alma for flying out all the way from Texas, and to Dennis for letting them! They are the reason I entered in the first place! If Ima or I forgot anyone it is not on purpose! We love you all

THE TRAINERS, CLINICIANS AND HORSEMAN who truly gave of themselves and helped me refine and improve my horsemanship both mental and physical over the last 90 days including Richard Winters, Buck Brannaman, Teresa Trull, Dave/Gwynne Weaver and in spirit Ray Hunt.

And most importantly to a little non discript bay mare known only as 05219952 until she selflessly stepped out of the wild and into our hearts. She never asked or questioned why, as a human would have done every inch of the way. She just gave 110% when she understood what was asked of her and 100% when she didn't. It's not "My kingdom for a horse" I say it is "My kingdom to be more like that horse".

To explain in detail the medical condition she had which created alot of ups and downs over the 90 days, with many sleepless nights and worry some days for me. Ima had a perineal tear which occurred last year or the year before in the corrals or in the wild when she gave birth. Basically the foal's hooves completely tore out the separation between the rectum and vulva. So she had one giant 'hole' where everything mixed together. It was very messy and causes her to have no "control" ie: when she coughed or snorted she could shoot a road apple 20 feet! I learned by day 3 DO NOT stand right behind her and scare her with anything! LOL. Her aim was deadly! She got a bath every day and I spent hours keeping her extra clean and wrapping her tail.

The dilemma began when at day 30 I was able to get her to my vet and analyze the situation. Her 'problem' was in excellent shape and unbelievably she had no infections. But because the corrective surgery was going to be $2-3000.oo the BLM and MHF said she must be returned to the corrals, deemed unadoptable, and I was to receive a new horse. I refused to take her back. She was to good of a horse to let something like that keep her from making people happy for the next 20 years and having a loving home. Plus I was not starting over with only 60 days to go.

My wish was that enough money could be gathered to give the adopter "A coupon good for one surgery" But getting a solid cost amount from vets was difficult. As the days ticked by, one idea after another was worked on to ensure she could compete and be adopted. As we arrived at the Horse Expo there still was no solution..... Two days to go with no fix in sight. It was looking more and more like back to the corrals she would go and I was very sad.

A Giant Thank You goes to Amy of the CA BLM Wild Horse & Burro Program who was relentless in finding a solution..... Friday afternoon 24 hours to go and she pulled it all together. Amy from the CA BLM, Patti From the MHF and Sally from the BLM Washington DC office each agreed to pitch in $500.00 towards Ima's repairs. And Loomis Basin Equine Veterinary Hospital agreed to do the surgery for that amount. Last minute or not these are some great folks that all stepped up and did the right thing...... If you have a minute please tell them thank you. Their generosity will change Ima's life forever.

ON TO THE COMPETITION:

Much like my self, most horsey people I know are not the best with electronics: computers, cameras, camcorders, etc. I bought a brand new top of the line video camera just for this contest. The first camcorder in my life..... I even learned how to use it. Only problem I was not the one able to ever use it and I rarely had a second person to run it when I was riding Ima. So I have little footage of this event. At the Horse Expo apparently the last person who should have had the camcorder was the one trying to do my filming for me. I will leave his name anonymous to protect him from finger pointing with large bouts of laughter, In a nut shell he was one button push off. When I was not in the ring he was filming the ground, the sky and everything else around. then he would push the button again (OFF) and look thru the view finder and follow my go. Then he would push the button again (ON) and put the camera down. I have some very interesting footage..... just none of me.

To add insult to injury. I let everyone have my camera and take as many pics as they wanted. When I got home to down load the memory chip the camera came up with an error message...... memory chip failed. Not one picture!!!

So the following pictures were sent to me.. Anyone else out there please feel free to send me what you have. I'd love some pictures of the other contestants also. These pictures were all taken by Charles Brooks. He can be reached at http://www.brooksphotog.com/ Charlie was really great to come out for the entire weekend and film all the MMO action. Thanks again Charlie.

Friday morning was the in-hand trail and in-hand conditioning class:

Ima backing into the chute, she was awesome.... I on the other hand was not a good judge of angles and we got to close on this turn

From a halt, trotting out of the chute into the serpentine, was perfect.

Trotting right up to the front of the trailer and then loading at a walk, flawlessly.

Carrying the (not so scary)bag from barrel to barrel.

Halt in the box, then we did a 360' circle and on to picking up the feet.

Ima had a little trick up her sleeve, it is hard to see but I have picked up both her feet on the same side and she is balancing on her 2 right feet.

Our halt and stand at the cone for inspection was as good as any professional halter horse. I thought she would be a solid first in the conditioning, the judges thought otherwise and she came in 4th. When the dust had settled we were 4th in the in-hand trail and 4th in conditioning. The amazing thing is after these 2 classes: the first place horse had 56 points, second 55 points, third 54.5 points and us in 4th with 54 points. Only 2 total points separated 1st - 4th, that made us in 3rd place for the average. I was sure we were a solid contestant for the top 10 finals......