The fly.

Snoopy and I went to a horse show this weekend, in Burbank.

It was the last show of our season, The Pink Show, which honors the exhibitors who have survived cancer plus remembering those who didn't. Everyone wears pink and the show does a lot of fundraising for the City of Hope.

The weather was supercali-freakin-miserable. In the high 90s. Hotter than blazes. A dress rehearsal for Hell. Hot. The horse show tried to keep us all in bottled water, but even they ran out. The first day I rode, it felt like the world was spinning by the time I dismounted. The second day, Niki got a touch of heatstroke. I'm saying, it was bad.

We did our usual classes, Green Trail and Novice Amateur Trail. It's a great combo, because our trainer, Niki, rides Snoopy in Green first, then I ride in Novice Am. I get to feel more confident, since he's seen the judges and the course and everything by the time I show.

It was a really good show. I obeyed most of my two major rules:

1. Ride every obstacle. (No defaulting to auto-pilot.)
2. Keep my eyes on my horse at the gate.

I say "most" because on the first day, I got him through each obstacle at the correct gait and on respectable lines. It was going fairly brilliantly until I got to the very last maneuver (isn't that always the way?), a back-up into a chute.

In the warm-up arena, there were poles to walk over at the chute's end. In the show arena, there were no poles. He backed straight. Then, in the briefest of nanoseconds, I thought, "Hmm, no poles. Am I done? No, we need to walk out." In that-much-time, Snoopy swung his hip left and tapped the pole with his hind foot.

Seriously, Snoop? Whaddup with that?

We got a 4th and 5th in the class, which wasn't bad.

But that was nothing compared to the next class day. I was feeling pretty confident. The course seemed easy. We walked in between some cones, then backed to the gate. I opened the gate and walked him through. We straightened and I asked him to back up so I could close the gate. That's when it happened.



He was attacked by a fly. Niki had sprayed him nose-to-tail, but a fly landed on the inside of his leg and Would. Not. Let. Go. I pulled back on the reins, but Snoopy kicked out with his back leg, trying to get rid of his tormentor. I wrapped my legs around him and pulled. That's when he turned his head and tried to bite the damn fly, slamming our bodies into the gate standard.

I pushed away from the standard and got him to back up, latched the rope and sent him jogging out, which finally loosened the pest from his leg. The rest of our course was as divine as I'd imagined. We hit every stride, our lines were great, and even our left turn in the box was smooth and flawless.

We coulda been a contendah.

It was one of those things you can't help or plan for and it was still fun to ride.

One of the fun parts of the show was the Trail Classic. I didn't participate but my friend Christine and her horse Bubba did. Out of 40 competitors, they came in 7th! So cool!

The whole experience made me realize how much I love showing trail. No matter how awful the conditions, no matter how early I had to get out of bed to drive to Burbank, no matter how much physical labor is involved (I muck my own stall, thank you), I still have great memories of it all.

* * * *

If you or anyone you know is interested in Snoopy's memoir, stay tuned.  This Friday, we're having a special!

I done good

Dear Diary,

I've been back from the horse show for a couple of weeks now. I would have written before, but I have a cold in my nose right now. I don't feel sick, but yesterday I had a runny nose. Now it's just crusty. Doctor Brigid came out and looked at me and thumped on my ribs and put something in my tushie. It's a good thing she gives me cookies.

She told Two-Legged Mom I didn't have a fever and my lungs sounded clear and my throat didn't feel sore. Honest, she didn't have to thump me and stick things in my bottom - she could have just asked. After that, everyone smiled and left, but my lunch tasted different. Sandy, the horse who lives across from me, said she heard them talking about giving me "anty boddicks." If that's what's in my lunch, it sure tastes funny.

It was a smaller show than the last one and I wasn't so crazy here, but I still liked looking around at everything. I wore my Super Snoopy jammies, as usual.

On the first day, Auntie Niki rode me, then Two-Legged Mom rode me. I've now learned that after they ride me, they listen for a big voice to say my name and then a number. So on the first day, I heard I had a number 3 from both judges when Auntie Niki rode me, and when Two-Legged Mom rode me.

On the second day, I mostly slept. Two-Legged Mom got me out and rode me a little bit, then let me go back to sleep.

The third day, we were in the show again. This time, I heard I had a number 3 and 4 when Auntie Niki rode me, and a number 2 and 3 when Two-Legged Mom rode me. They both were happy.

Two-Legged Mom took me back to my stall and got me all undressed. I didn't have to wear my Super Snoopy jammies, either.

I was tired.

See you later!

Dear Diary,

I'm going to a horse show! Two-Legged Mom gave me a bath today. Don't I look clean? Then Auntie Niki clipped the long hairs on my face and the fuzz in my ears and the hair on my legs so I look sleeeeek.

Tomorrow we'll go into the moving box and the trees and the road will go sideways and I'll go up and down and when it stops, I'll be in Burbank.

I'll let you know how much fun I have when I get back.

Snoopy

I went to a horse show

See this picture?

Two-Legged Mom and Auntie Niki took me to a horse show! It was mostly fun. I don't like to get a bath so much, and it tickles my ears when Auntie Niki holds the buzzy machine next to them. She holds them next to my legs and on my nose, too. I don't know what for, but Two-Legged Mom says I look pretty, so it must be a good thing.

But then I get to ride in the Big Moving Box. That's fun. I get to eat and hang out. This time, my friends Tommy and Sandy went with me. The floor goes up and down forever, and the grass and trees go sideways forever, and then we're somewhere new.

I recognized this new place. I was here last year. They have really tasty water here, but the shavings aren't very fluffy. Last year I had my head out of my stall all the time and was always calling out to my friends.

This year, I felt different, like I was too grown up to scream and jump around. Even when Two-Legged Mom took me to the pen to let me run on the long rope, I didn't want to jump around or act silly. I had work to do.

Auntie Niki and Two-Legged Mom were the silly ones this time. My jammies are a pretty bright color. Two-Legged Mom calls it "red". Auntie Niki thinks it makes me look like Super Snoopy, whatever that means. She drew something on my hoodie.

I don't know what it is, but it made them laugh. I like to make Two-Legged Mom and Auntie Niki happy.

I had fun in the show ring. I went over all the sticks, just like I was told. Two-Legged Mom told me to back into the flower box, so I did. Usually I'm not supposed to knock things over in the ring, so that was fun.

After that, we walked back into the big moving box and ate more food and then we were back home.

Life is like a bag of carrots. It's all good.

Now we be havin' some fun

We had such a good time at the Desert Hot Springs one-day show, we decided to try our luck at a bigger show. The Southern California Quarter Horse Exhibitor Association held their Show Me the Money show at the L.A. Equestrian Center in Burbank last weekend. It was four days of all the things Quarter horses can do - Western pleasure, English equitation, reining, driving, barrel racing, everything except working cows, probably only because cow rental can be expensive.

Snoopy and I limited ourselves to one event: trail. Our trainer, Niki, took him in Green Horse, and I rode him in Novice Amateur. Two classes on Thursday, two on Saturday. It was a lovely weekend.

I began showing by riding my other trainer Tina's champion, Copper Kist. Because I leased and didn't own him, I couldn't show AQHA, so I showed PCHA (Pacific Coast Horse Shows Association). They had about a gazillion classes that I was eligible for, and I showed in them all. Preliminary Trail, Adult/Amateur Trail, Basic Trail... I think I rode four classes each day, and they showed all four days of a weekend event. By the end I was exhausted from learning the trail patterns, much less riding them.

By contrast, learning one pattern and riding one class seems civilized. Snoopy tends to lack stamina, so two classes every other day still wears him out.

I know, I know, I can hear you all whining, "But how did you do?"

The first day we won 2nd and 3rd (the classes are double-judged) in Novice Amateur, and Snoopy and Niki got 4th and 7th in Green. The final day, we got 5th and 7th, and he and Niki got 3rd and 5th.

Each day, each course, had its own easy parts and rough parts, at least for me. The last day, I flubbed a trot-over by making him dive in too closely, but what I think cost us as much was that he was so tired, I was having to work to keep him moving. You never get style points when you make it look hard, and I don't think I was making it look easy.

It didn't matter, though. They were the most fun days, and the most fun courses, that I've ever done. I thought about what I was doing, and was able to communicate that to my big black gelding, more or less.

For those of you who've never seen a trail course, here's Snoopy being ridden by Niki in the first day's Green Horse Trail class. The audio portion of the video was mostly me laughing about something or other, so I muted that and added Hal Ketchum just for fun. If Mr. Ketchum doesn't want me to use his music, I'm happy to take it off. It was just such a perky accompaniment.




I only took this video for two reasons: 1) It's a new video camera and I love to play with my toys; and 2) Niki is four months pregnant here, and I wanted to show her that she doesn't look poofy at all. She barely has a vollyball sitting on her tummy.

Short but sweet.

This is a quick post, because all I really have to say is,

"lookLoOKLOOK!"

Uh-huh, that's right. I'm riding my horse. The black one. The broken one. I've had two rides on him now, under Niki's very watchful eye and he feels so good.

And tall. He feels really tall. I'm used to riding his mom, who is 15 hands when she has new shoes and stands up very straight. Snoopy is a solid 15.3, which means he's taller than I am.

He feels different than Frostie, too. Her jog (trot for you English riders) is very smooth, but mostly because she likes to shuffle her feet. His jog is very bouncy in a rhythmic way. You're on one of those slo-motion trampolines like you dream about, where you go way-far-up, then way-far-down, without the jolt of actually hitting top or bottom.

It's okay if you don't get it - I've tried to describe it to Tina and she doesn't get it either.

Their lopes (canters) have the same difference. They both give you the rocking horse feel, but Frostie's got a very sittable, shuffling lope; her son's lope is all slow legs and long hang time. Both feel good, neither feels the same.

Snoopy's left lead has always been his weakest. This is actually good, since my right leg is stronger and I can help him more with his left side. His injury has made him use his hip a little more than before, to compensate for a lack of flexibility in the ankle, which feels very pronounced on the left lead. As I loped him down the arena, I was aware of my seat shifting every four or five strides. It could have been due to riding in Niki's saddle, but it's definitely something I must fight against.

My next post will be in about a week or so - when I tell you all how the horse show went! Yes, Snoopy is going to his first horse show since the accident. Granted, he's not going in any classes, but he is going to travel to Burbank, hang out at the show, and be ridden in the warm-up trail. If you're in the area next weekend (April 28 - May 2), come on out to the L.A. Equestrian Center for the Hollywood Charity Horse Show and look me up.