Needless to say, the death of the filly did put a certain pall over the weekend, but the decision was made to go anyway. Jenny and Joel started the weekend without any rest, but they figured that they would have enough help with the rest of us there which would allow them to get some rest, so off we went.
We took Piedmont and Selah of Rohan. The plan for the show was to get Piedmont qualified for Regionals in Halter open, Halter AOTH, Open Hunter pleasure, and if possible, sidesaddle. Selah, a yearling that Jenny had bred was there cause Jenny wants to sell her or trade her for breedings. She's a nice little filly, and in this horse world, it helps to build the filly's rep by having her compete in class A shows and win. The schedule for the show was definitely in our favor. On Saturday, the first two classes we were to compete in were Hunter classes in the late am, then came the Halter classes in the pm. Sunday am was the Sidesaddle class w/ one more Hunter class Sunday afternoon. the arrangement was a good one for us because it insured that Piedmont would be nice and tired for the sidesaddle class. He does so much better when he is tired. :-) So we were very hopeful for the outcome of the show.
We did have one very pleasant surprise awaiting us upon our arrival on Friday PM. There was this very pretty gray head sticking over the stall door on our same barn isle. I made a comment that the horse looked like RH Israel (Ishmael's full brother), but I knew that Israel was not supposed to be at the show. Jenny walked up to the horse, took a good look at her and said, "I know this horse." It turned out that the gray mare was Orchid of Rohan, a mare that Jenny had bred (and daughter of the mare I'm leasing to breed to Ishmael). In the stall next to here was very sweet little chestnut mare who was just as pretty. Her name was Sweet Lilly, and she, too, was bred by Jenny and sold in eutro. So, family greeted us upon our arrival. Very cool.
So, How did we do? Well, we scratched the first class Piedy and Jenny were to go in cause we were too rushed to get to the gate. However, Piedmont won his next hunter pleasure class. Then we took him back to the barn, gave him and Selah a bath, groomed them to w/in an inch of their lives, and showed them in Halter. Piedmont won the open gelding over 5 class, the grand champion senior gelding and supreme grand champion Gelding. Then Joel took him into the AAOTH Gelding
Class and won there. Next Jenny Showed Selah in the yearly mares class and got second out of 7 or 8 fillies. Then Sweet Lilly went into mares under three and won her class, and Orchid went into mares four and over and won her class. Sweet Lilly and Orchid when back in, and Orchid was named grand champion senior mare and then Supreme Grand Champion Mare. Basically, Jenny's breeding program swept the open Halter classes. We started to wish that we had brought AA Manhattan w/ us so that it could have been a clean sweep, but we were very happy w/ our results.
More importantly, we got Piedy and Selah qualified for all of the events that we wanted to except for the sidesaddle class. (Something that was pointed out to me in a very good natured way by our grooms, Leigh and Linda. Not that I needed the reminder. :-) )
Sunday morning we got the Piedy together, tacked him up except for the bridle, and then went to watch the Western reining classes. There were supposed to be 4or 5 of them, but turned out there was only one. I started to head back to the barn to change thinking that I had plenty of time when the announce meant was made that they had cancelled all of the remaining reining classes, and that the next class was the sidesaddle class. Needless to say, I started to RUN to the barn. Jenny, in her infinite wisdom, calmly walked to the show office and put a tack change hold on the class so that I would have enough time to change, my grooms could get the Halter on Piedmont, and we could tighten the girth. I was a bit harried, but managed to get everything together w/ the help of my very understanding grooms, ( I know I spoke sharply once or twice, but they informed me they understood). We got out to the gate, got me up on the horse, arranged the skirt, and I took a deep cleansing breath to relax. No need to let the adrenaline spook the horse. Once I was settled, Jenny told the steward, and the hold on the class was removed.
Ironically, in this show which had on average 5-6 entries per class (even in the Hunter Pleasure classes which usually average 15-25 in a normal class A show), the sidesaddle class had 8 entries. We never have that many people riding in sidesaddle. It never happens. five riders is a large class. I actually didn't get a head count while I was in the class cause I was working too hard trying to keep my horse moving and look good doing it. It was a good class. One of the riders came into the class and had problems w/ her horse, her saddle slipped (been there, done that) so she decided not to compete. That meant that there were seven of us in the class. Piedmont and I had no tack problems, the saddle didn't slip (thanks to a new saddle pad I made. It has that tacky paint on it like what is used for the bottom of slippers.) In other words, we got through the class cleanly. We also placed! (ya!!!) We got fourth, which means we actually beat 4 other horse and riders. This is the best placement we've done. It is all very encouraging. Granted, we didn't qualify for regionals, but we did well, and I think we might actually start winning a few of these things. Maybe my new goal aught to be winning a blue in the state fair? Hmm..
So, all was good at the show. The final ribbon count for Piedmont was one supreme grand champion, one grand champion, two blues, and two whites (Jenny got a fourth in her second Hunter pleasure class on Sunday). Selah, of course, had her red. So we were all quite happy and really enjoyed the show. It was nice to go to one where we were only responsible for two horses. I think I could get used to this. I actually had timeto breath and take an occasional nap. :-)
