6 30 2007
Abby's First Show :Well we survived. (:)
It was our first pleasure driving show for Abby. As usual I screwed up on the arrival/ show start time, soooooooooooo we were in a panic. Not the leisurely walk around for Abby, nor ME. I only found out where the ring was because the announcers building was right there and we were LATE. I threw on my show clothes and sort of tucked things in, grabbed my hat n' shoes, and apron. Glenn was at the trailer, holding (or trying to) Abby, who was high blowing, prancing in circles, and holding her little stubby drafter tail up Straight in the air. OH BOY, I could hardly wait to get in the ring w/ this explosion on four legs ! We were in classes # 3 & 4- nothing wrong w/ arriving, and going RIGHT in the show ring, ehhhhhhhhh ?? We almost had to. I had one pony class to let Abby look around some, which she did a LOT of. She was fascinated by all the horses and those lovely carts, but she zeroed in on a dark bay Clydesdale...
" CARLENE IS HERE ??????" ( Abby)
" noooooooooooooooo, that is a horse who LOOKS like her..." ( me)
" Oh". ( Abby)
We trotted some, I tried to find her slow trot- it had come along with her, as well as a nice working trot. I KNEW there was no way I'd get much of a strong trot as she was SO busy looking around. I let her- saw this as one giant " shopping " trip for my little black mare. And boy, howdy, did she ever get in some Serious window ''shopping''. She checked out the big draft crosses by the barns, those minis were amazing, the folks sitting in chairs in front of their harness supply vendor area might have carrots, yanno.... All in all, Abby had a BRAIN, and was settling down nicely on the outside of the ring.
Our class was called and in the ring we walked- harness that needs more adjustment (she is NOT as broad as Lynn or Carlene,and the traces only have ONE slot - will have THAT fixed soon) a 15 yr old cart that had been used around the farm for training babies and for working older horses. And me, with my shirt tail out in back. Thank goodness for LONG jackets. I had one shoe on and one kind of on, too, but my hat was good to go. I was SO nervous about how this one was going to behave (or MISbehave) that I couldn't have spit if someone offered me $500.00 to do it, my mouth was THAT dry.
The walk went well. Trot went well, then she heard another horse behind her in the sand " Mom !! WHAT IS THAT !?!?!??!!" Head shot up, ears flapping back towards the sound.As the nice quiet horse trotted past us, Abby's head swung around to see. " Oh, a horse" and my Abby-dabby trotted on a lot more quietly. Then a slow trot- we nailed that.THEN the words "TROT ON !" came and Abby had no clue, she has Only just begun understanding that at home, so I didn't press the issue. She slowed down to see the golf cart beside the announcers booth- she Likes golf carts! That was good, but there was a white bucket or something that needed a closer look, and we all but crowded the fence some looking at it- all at a good crisp working trot. Then a reverse, and Abby was getting a teeny bit tired now. She did Wonderfully the other direction, and what fun she was having then. She understood that the squeechy sounds behind her were other horses in the 'herd', and when they passed, she was fine w/ that. Luckily no one got too close- or things could have gotten scary for her - and me. We placed 5th- beat Two whole horses in that class. I didn't expect to place at ALL, but we have a pink ribbon (:) Abby looks good in pink, I think (:)
Next class was more serious- Novice Working Horse. HA- I had no Working horse, I had a chubby tired young black mare . We stayed in the ring, and did alright there too. She was much more relaxed..heck tooooo relaxed ! Abby just didn't understand about horse shows, and how you have to keep going even when there's a cute little mini outside the ring to watch. She walked when we were supposed to be trotting, bounced when a walk had been called and STOPPED in front of the ever patient judge as we were doing a diagonal reverse! (Lol!) The whole thing cracked me up- Abby could have sworn that human in the ring had treats in her hand (nooooooooooooooo way). By then I knew there was no way we were going to get anything, after all, this was all for Abby. We hadn't gone to win ribbons, instead as a learning experience. We got thru that second class and Abby was more than happy to stand in the line up, looking around. She liked being next to her Clyde pal a lot ; kept looking over at her. The folks next to us said how good she'd done, and I explained it was Abby's FIRST driving show in her whole life, and I was happy we'd not gone airborne over it all. They laughed and said "no, she had looked fine". I was a little embarrassed over the whole class. The judge came over and said I'd placed last - which I already knew, but thought was so kind of her to take that time. She said nice things about Abby, and I thanked her for that. < big smiles>
So, we were done. Abby wasn't as pooped out as she acted in the ring, as she had ALL three trot speeds outside ! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. She Totally surprised me in being such a slow poke. I had her figured the other way around, but nope, Again, she has surprised me 100%. I'm glad it was That kind of surprise though.
We unharnessed, loaded her in the trailer w/ some hay, got something to drink, and left for home. Glenn had some important things to get done this afternoon, and I was expecting a load of sawdust, so we wanted to get on home. Abby traveled like a dream, and was happy to be back in her stall. She was constantly looking for her carrots, which are now going to slowly become a thing of the past as she's been doing so great. Soon she'll have to work for 'praise' instead of working for food. :)
There ya have it- we came home safe n' sound with a happy mare and two bright pink ribbons. The MAIN thing is that she never ONCE even threatened to go up in the air, even with all the excitement before the two classes- not once. She was oh so brave in her very first driving classes- where the horses PASS you-
and I am Very very proud of this mare, once again.
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