News Flash - Cityboy wins 3rd place!

It is okay to laugh at this picture. I did not know my shirt had come untucked and looked so dorky but hay! Its is my first ribbon on my horse! And as everybody in the horse world knows, its all about the ribbons! Or the occasional saddle. And sometimes a really big belt buckle.

We had a very busy and very fun weekend. Saturday was, as always, a Westernaires Saturday. Kira rode in her tenderfoot class and all went well for her. Ebony was well behaved. (Ominous for shadowing for later).

Two of our friends from Westernaires did not have their horses. One is dealing with some colic issues (but he is doing better this morning) and the other hurt a tendon in his rear leg (but laser treatments are improving his condition greatly!). We offered to let them ride Ebony and Mariah. They accepted so off to Dressage they went. Here are the three horses in the same class. I took this picture because this may well be the only time it happens. I only had my cell phone with me so the pics are not the best. I have really got to start bringing my good camera with me every time. You never know when something cool is going to happen.


This picture is really kind of neat. I have mentioned in the past that Mariah is known as Mega-Legs by some of the girls who have known her since we first got her. It is a nick name that is well earned. A lot of these girls (including the one in the picture) do not want to ride Mariah. She doesn't neck rein but moves very well off of leg and seat commands. And she does have two blue ribbons in dressage so the young lady agreed to give Mariah a go in dressage.

I think the smile says it all. Mariah was a mostly good horse. She has some dressage experience so she knew what to do and actually did it. She had a little trouble standing still in the corners at first but did settle down in line. My guest rider really enjoyed herself so that was good.

Remember how Ebony was so good for Kira. Well, Ebony got herself kicked out of dressage. She started out okay but she had a different (but accomplished rider) on her and I think she just got nervous. Ebony kicked another horse. Hard. And got sent out of the class. I felt so bad for our other guest rider. Ebony is usually very good when a rider is on her so I don't know what happened. I do know that Ebony is a bit more high strung than the other two and think she was just nervous.

I missed the rest of the ride. I had to take Ebony back to the trailer because Ebony and Beamer were constantly calling to each other (which is pretty weird considering Ebony is always picking on Beamer) and that makes Beamer a bit unresponsive. Apparently I should not have taken her back to the trailer. After Ebony left, Beamer went rodeo on Kumi. Twice. Kumi was riding bare back because Mariah was using Beamer's saddle. Kumi stayed on but she was not a happy kid when she got back to the trailer. On the whole, I guess it was a fair Westernaires weekend.

Sunday my trainer did an obstacle course for horses. The course was laid out thusly:

• Walk through cowboy curtain
• Walk over teeter-totter
  
• Carry a rain slicker down the arena at a lope
• Go through a pool noddle barrier
• Carry a water buck from one barrel to another
• Pop a balloon on your horses back
• Walk over a tarp on the ground
• Jump a small jump
• Walk through a kiddie pool filled with water
• Carry and egg on a spoon and trot a figure eight
• Open, go through and close a gate.
• Step in a tractor tire
• Load your horse in a trailer
• Do it all while holding a card between your leg and saddle.

Each obstacle was worth up to 5 points so there were a total of 70 points. Here is how Mariah and I did:

• Cowboy curtain - No problem
  
• Walk over teeter-totter - Lots and lots of rearing but no points. We had to go around it.
• Carry a rain slicker - Major blow up. She bolted down the rail in a side pass but I was not well seated so I dropped the slicker to get her back under control.
  
• Go through a pool noddle barrier - No Problem
  
• Carry a water buck from one barrel to another - MAJOR blow up when I pick up the bucket. But I stayed on as we went blasting around one end of the arena. I didn't spill a drop of water but I did have to have the pick-up rider hold the bucket while I righted my saddle. Once that was fixed, we very calmly put the bucket on the correct barrel.
  
• Pop a balloon on your horses back - Everybody expected a major blow up but she barely flinched.
  
• Walk over a tarp on the ground - Lots and lots of rearing but no points. We had to go around it.
  
• Jump a small jump - She did it very nicely at a controlled lope.
  
• Walk through a kiddie pool filled with water - Lots and lots of rearing but no points. We had to go around it.
• Carry and egg on a spoon and trot a figure eight - We did it!!
  
• Open, go through and close a gate. - We did it but didn't get full points because I took mu had off the gate
  
• Step in a tractor tire - Got one foot in it.
  
• Load your horse in a trailer - Much to everybody's surprise (except mine), I rode her into the back of the trailer and back out, calm as could be.
  
• Do it all while holding a card between your leg and saddle. - Still had the card between my leg a saddle at the end of the ride.

Time: 21:49 minutes, score: 23. And that was third place. But we had a great time and a couple of slices at pizza.