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.....
