E. and Curly had their first full day together at the fair. They completed the Western equitation and pleasure classes and the trail course but scratched on the bareback competition.
We arrived at the barn at 6:30 this morning to complete all the cleaning chores and get ready for the day's events. The trail pattern was a bit more complicated that what they've done at other shows this spring and summer. Since Curly was not in the mood to listen to E., it was difficult going. Here are a couple of pics showing him backing up through the Z pattern and also going up on the "bridge."
We don't know what her placing was for this event yet. They immediately went from trail into the equitation class. Curly was far from cooperative - too many nerves? - so again, it was tough going. But E. persevered and ended up with a red ribbon and 4th place. In pleasure, it was the same scene, with another red and 10th place.
Everyone in the club is amazed at how good Curly looks - called him a "diamond in the rough who's more diamond than rough!" - and think that by next year his training and behavior will have caught up with his looks.
The club is doing great with herdsmanship (a.k.a. barn duty). They got a perfect score for Wednesday and Thursday (only club that did!); scores for today have yet to be posted. They are really working at keeping the stalls clean and greeting all the visitors to the barn area.
It was a long, hard day for the girls. The temps nearly reached 100 and it was super muggy. Plus lack of sleep is catching up with everyone. Only two more fair days left....
Last night was fair decorating. Some of the more established 4-H clubs have amazing stall decorations. One has recreated a wild west town using old barn wood to cover all their horse stalls. Another club even has a little sitting area, complete with glass topped table!
Ours is a tad bit simpler. We have a young group and this is their first year out at the fair together. The girls had a great time running around, helping get ready. But the fun did eventually wear off:
This is what could mostly be seen at the barn:
I did notice that our group was one of the few that actually included the kids in set-up. Those amazing decorations from other clubs were definitely "adult inspired and executed!"
I wanted to add that as Curly and E. lined up with those 10 other horses yesterday I was very proud to see how nicely he is shaping up physically. He was truly one of the best looking animals out there. 
E. and Curly just finished showing in the halter class at a pre-Fair competition. And they did better than I expected! The judge gave them 90 points (out of a possible 100) and she placed 5th in a group of 11. Not bad! They were criticized for not setting up quickly/easily (they were both pretty fidgety for this part) and for not picking up a trot when she took him back to the lineup. I was just happy that he didn't act like a big ol' anchor at the end of her lead rope!
It has been a long day for E. She must have hurt her knee worse than we thought last Saturday (at least that's all we can trace the current problem to...). It was swollen and pretty painful all day today. She even quit her lesson short this morning due to pain. I gave her Ibuprofen, iced it down for a while and gave her a knee wrap to wear. That all helped but she still was very happy to put the horse away this evening. It was kind of cute to hear her announce to everyone, "I have my first sports-related injury!"
We are taking tomorrow off from all horse riding activities and will be sleeping in. Yahoo!
We've been up and out the door by 7:00 am every morning this week. Crunch time is here! And the riding lessons have been 2 hours long at minimum.
E. is quite happy with Curly's lope these days. He has very nice foot action and fairly good head placement, and is even becoming better about picking up the correct lead. He isn't always good at staying on the wall while loping, but that's improving. We are also happy with his general conditioning. He looks great!
She is still working hard on halter skills. Curly is beginning to understand what is required but is not always consistent. Everyone that leads him is quick to reinforce "the rules" - no walking past the leader, pay attention to cues, respect a person's space, etc.
The 4-H group is very supportive of E. and Curly, recognizing that she has the most challenging horse at the moment. But all agree that he is a sweety-pie and truly wants to please. As I've said before, with a little hard work he's going to be a great horse!
E. had her first trail ride on Saturday and she loved it! Her trainer took her up one of the surrounding mountains on a ride that lasted about 4 hours. Curly did really well and only hesitated at one stream.
The end of their ride was not so calm and uneventful, however. E. was trying to lead Curly across the highway to be loaded up in the trailer and as usual, he was being a non-cooperative anchor at the end of the lead rope. As she was pulling, her trainer whacked him on the rear (she told E. she was going to do this, of course) and he leaped forward, tripping E. and causing her to fall on the pavement. That alone is enough to make your heart pound a little. But it doesn't end there. Curly actually ran over E., clipping the back of her head with a front hoof and missing the middle of her back with a rear hoof by inches. E. ended up directly under the horse - a place a rider NEVER wants to be. In the end, E. only suffered some scrapes and bruises from the fall. Her trainer took them to a place nearby for milkshakes so that she could make sure E. didn't have a concussion - and to calm her own nerves! Did I ever tell you that riding horses is actually more dangerous than riding motorcycles?
We are so lucky that no real harm was done!
Curly will be receiving some intense training on being lead and respecting a person's space this week.
That was E.'s question last night as she left the ring after the walk/trot competition at the final night of Hot August Nights. She totally gets why she would never get a ribbon for the other classes but was very disappointed that she didn't place in this one. Both her 4-H leader and her trainer reassured her that she did do very well and then explained the few things that need to be improved upon. It is moments like these that make the 4-H group so wonderful - incredible support with clear instruction to boot. Anyway, it mostly boils down to an inexperienced horse and the need for more time. We all keep telling her, "Next year it'll be better!"
I've been taking E. out to the barn for 2 hour lessons in the mornings these past couple of days. It's wonderful in the early hours - cool and breezy - and the animals are much more willing to work. Getting E. out of bed is another story! She isn't enjoying the 6:00 a.m. wake up calls. Poor baby!
Cantering is becoming easier. Curly still resists E.'s signals but ultimately listens. E. is letting him get away with less and less, and hopefully soon he'll stop trying to get away with anything. It all just takes time....and they've really accomplished so much already.
