Piedmont did well too. Unfortunately, he came back from the Nationals with so much energy, that he was downright unruly in our first class. He bucked each time I asked him for a canter, and was being just a real pill. I had a re-visitation of his "Speedy Piedie" days. After the second buck, which the judge saw, I decided to just enjoy the class and say, "Ye Haw!" That was about all I could do. His second class was much better. Jenny lunged him w/ the sidesaddle on and he got all of the bucks out before we went into the ring. This time he did much better and actually earned the Reserve Champion ribbon he won. We would have gotten Champion, however, the idiot decided to canter when I asked him to trot... right in front of the judge at the end of the class. I could have killed him. Oh well, next year. :-)
We had the usual unwanted spectator participation and spooky horses, but for all intents and purposes, it went well. She bucked a bit in both classes, but both were in response to some children who were playing too close to the ring. I really wish that the fair officials would prohibit people sitting on the first row of seats in that arena during the state fair. We've too many people who inadvertently spook horses, et al. We were just very fortunate that no one was hurt.
All went well in the halter classes, one of Jenny's students took her little weanling filly, Sweety, in a both the open and AOTH classes and won both of them. Jenny took Piedmont in Halter; they won again as did Joel and he in the AOTH. Sarah took Tango in and got second (age group open) and a fifth (gelding AOTH). Unfortunately, we could not figure out what the judge was looking for, at least not in halter. We took RH Ishmael in Jr. Stallion, and thought he'd beat his competition w/out any problem. There was only one other horse in the class, and he was a u-necked, short hipped, short croup, short necked, plane horse. Yet for some reason, the judge choose him over Ishmael. Yet when RH Israel, Ishmael's full brother, showed, he won his class. The two horses are virtually identical, except that Ishmael has a more exotic face. She made similar odd choices in the other halter classes. We just decided that she had no clue about confirmation, and Jenny's putting her name on the "never bother to show under" category. It was rather disappointing, but, that the horse show business.
All told our barn came home w/ two championships, one reserve championship, four blues, two seconds, three thirds and one fifth (I think... I'll should double check w/ Jenny to make sure.)
