E. did a good job getting herself and Curly all ready for the first class - showmanship. The judge was super tough and even though E. performed fairly well, she only got a red. In fact, out of 13 participants, only one received a blue. That set the tone for the whole day and the girls were quite frustrated with the judging. Other parents and I decided that we've all gotten used to fairly generous judging in previous shows!
After showmanship, E. and Curly tackled the trail course. It didn't contain anything too difficult...except for the BIG SCARY GATE! Actually it wasn't the physical gate that was terrible, it was the clanking sound that it made as it was opened and closed. The judge gave E. about 5 minutes of trying to manage it and then excused her from the obstacle. Here's a pic of the two of them in front of the monster:
The worst point of the day came next: bareback equitation. E. has very limited experience riding Curly bareback, so before entering the show ring she asked the office staff if there was to be any cantering. Since they replied in the negative, she went ahead and gave it a try.
Well, they were wrong; the judge asked the class to canter and Curly decided to start tossing his head. E., who is not skilled enough to handle anything out of the ordinary when riding bareback, barely kept her seat...and was scared to death by the experience. But she did stay on! All of us parents in the stands were quite amazed and proud of her - he really was challenging as he tossed and turned under her. After the class was over (red ribbon), E. (crying her eyes out) declared that she was done for the day. I can't say that I blame her, but I also know that she did handle the situation well and that she could handle the horse even better with a saddle. We had a heart-to-heart talk, and her 4-H leader also talked to her about how she really did do an amazing job...and we convinced her to try the next class.
It ended up that Western Pleasure was not a pleasure for E. After watching Curly toss his head again as E. asked for a lope, the judge pulled her aside to recommend that she tighten her reins to have more control. While normally good advice, that is not always the best thing for Curly - he sometimes behaves even worse with the stronger contact. And not 30 seconds after giving this advice, another rider's horse decided to take a nutty and bucked his rider off, barely missing her with his hooves as she flew over his head to the ground!
Western Equitation was not any better, although E. and Curly did a pretty good job on the pattern. Another red ribbon and thankfully the end of a long day!
We have been talking about all these events over and over, trying to decide what is the best thing to do next. Sell Curly and get another horse? (My first inclination, and also fully supported by Hubby M. Seeing his daughter so upset was no fun!). Or keep Curly and try to work out these kinks? This morning, that seems like the more sane thing to do. He really is a nice guy - until you ask him to work! He's a bit lazy and thinks he can get out of doing his job by scaring his little rider. But this might be a trainable behavior. He's generally sound and in good health and has pretty good conformation. And we all think he's beautiful. And most of all, E. really does love him. That makes selling him super hard....
We'll approach our trainer about doing another 30 day session with him in the immediate future. I'm pretty sure it will be money well spent...
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