He's finally back in the game!

Snoopy was back in Burbank this weekend at the Lights! Camera! Action! Horse Show, held by Track One Events. This time, Tina rode him in the AQHA Green Trail. The class started at 7 a.m. both Thursday and Saturday. I live in Orange County, which is about 50 miles from Burbank, so I had to get up at Oh-My-God-Thirty to get to the Equestrian Center.

I missed Thursday's go by about 15 minutes due to traffic. Snoopy was back at his stall being unsaddled when I walked around the corner.

"Do you know what your horse did?" Tina asked.

Knowing Snoopy, I couldn't say.

"He knocked over the wheely cart."

The "wheely cart" is a three-tiered metal cart that holds our brushes, sprays, bell boots, etc. Apparently, Snoopy had gone out of his way to make contact with the cart and send everything flying into the barn aisle. The good news, if you can call it that, is the racket and rocketing equipment didn't scare him. He looked over the mess and pronounced it good.

I was only surprised that Tina was so surprised by this. She knows what kind of goofball he is.

"I moved it away from him," she protested.

Not far enough, Tina. Not far enough.

Most horses are tied to their stalls with their lead ropes. Not Snoopy. He gets a chain, because he gnaws through rope.

We called him our "junkyard dog".

As for the class, he showed well on Thursday. So well, that he got a FIRST and THIRD! That's right. After spending several hundred dollars on the show, I got a $10 iTunes card.

On Saturday, he tried really hard, but Tina misread the course and took him over a pole he wasn't supposed to take, which caused him to break from the lope. You could tell he wanted to figure out how to do it correctly, but it was still just ugly. Tina was still kicking herself after the class, but sometimes things like that happen. The poles were set up like a wheel and she just got it into her head to take all of them.

He was a little tired, too, so his trot-overs were a little clunky, but I was still proud of him. Tina says I need to show him in the next show, which will either be in Temecula in July (can you say, "dress rehearsal for Hell?") or back in Burbank in August.

Stay tuned!

Back on schedule, two years late.

Snoopy and I went to the Hollywood Charity horse show last weekend!

It was his first show in two years, and although he didn't show, he hung out and behaved like a gentleman. Well, mostly. The first day, he screamed a lot and wanted to jump out of his stall to go – I don't know, somewhere ELSE, I guess. After he'd been out for a lunge, he settled down and enjoyed his stay, except for calling out to any of his friends when they left or returned.

While he hung out, I was a working gal. There were three horses from our barn to be shown in various events. One of the owners could only be there two of the five days, one of the owners is physically limited as to what she can do, and one of the owners is a child with lovely but inexperienced parents to help. Our trainer, Tina, couldn't be at the show due to a family health crisis, which left the whole show to the other trainer, Niki. She's good, but it's hard to get three horses plus clients ready for classes that are back-to-back.

For those of you who haven't been to a show like the Hollywood Charity, certain western events require a lot of bling on really pretty horses. Here's Snoopy as an example:

For this picture (and to be shown), Snoopy was first "trimmed." His muzzle hairs were shorn, as well as the hair inside his ears, the long lashes under his eyes, and the hair around his feet. This makes the horse's outline look really clean to the judges. Next, although you can't see it, his mane was banded. This is a process of putting little ponytails all the way down his mane, which is then cut to about 2-3 inches in length. It makes the mane lay very straight and quiet, adding to the clean outline. Because Snoopy doesn't have much of a tail, he's wearing a fake tail here. Don't laugh – lots of horses wear them. It adds to the balance of the look.

Now just stick on a colorful saddle pad, and a saddle and bridle with lots of silver, and voila!

What do riders wear? Something like this:

This is a showmanship outfit, but you get the idea. Lots of sequins and rhinestones, like you've been attacked by a Bedazzler. Every time I dress up like this, I feel like visiting a karaoke bar to sing a few Patsy Cline numbers.

On show days, you clean each horse off with a damp rag, spray a conditioner on them to make them shiny, wash their face, including their nostrils and ears, and usually paint their hooves black with a fingernail polish-like substance. For a little extra shine, a dollop of baby oil on their muzzles makes them look fresh and dewy. Seriously.

So I helped Niki get the horses out, made certain they were shiny, brushed their tails, added the fake ones, got them saddled and out to the arena with their riders. After the rides, I helped unsaddle, rinsed off sweat, washed tails (fake and real), and put them in their jammies.

Jammies?

When we're at a show, we want the horses to stay as clean as possible and not rub the rubber bands out of their manes. So we have stretchy hoods to protect their manes, sheets to keep their coats clean, and bags for their tails (we braid the hair).

After all this was done each day, Niki and I would get Snoopy out and work him. One of us would lunge him, then she'd ride, and then she'd give me a lesson. Lessons during a horse show are interesting – you're trying to ride in the same warm-up arena with a bunch of competitors and everyone's trying to stay out of everyone's way.

The first day, only Niki rode him. The warm-up arenas were stuffed to the brim with reiners, so you really needed Advanced Steering. It's like riding among dive bombers. Out of control dive bombers.

The next day, I got to lesson during the English classes, so I was weaving in and out of big, long-legged horses and riders, all decked out for Hunter Under Saddle classes. Thrown into the mix was a small child who couldn't steer on a very patient horse. Niiiicccee.

Niki and I were alone in the warm-up pen on Saturday, mostly because it was time for the evening extravaganza, and everyone else was in the main Equidome. It was a fun lesson. Each time he was out, Snoopy was completely relaxed and seemed happy to be at work.

I'm not sure when our next show is, but I'm hoping that at least he can be shown by either Niki or Tina in the Green Trail Horse class (a class for horses with less than 10 points in trail). If I can get my lesson schedule more consistent, maybe I can go out in a Novice class with him.

Fun!