Show Time!

Well, Curly friends, it has been awhile since I've blogged last, but I waited until I had something to share. Because of the Equine Herpes scare, the latest Event I was going to attend with Traveler was cancelled so we turned our attention to breeding and he has been one happy camper. And I focused on getting the horses ready for their first Open, All Breeds show of the season.

I worked with his 3 year old son, Timbuktu and got him ready for halter classes and Hunter / Jumper in Hand. I don't jump him while riding, since he is so young. But boy does he love to jump - he is just like his father. I have three full brothers out of Traveler and the oldest gelding, Khatmoondhu does not show the same passion for jumping. But Timbuktu was born to it.

We arrived at the show and I heard someone say - "oh, no the Curlies are here, now we really have competition.". They are getting a name for themselves in the local shows around this area. Since we work so hard to break into the very elite sport of Eventing, it was nice to hear that at least in this area, we have "arrived".

Last year I did not attend the year end banquet and so I was very pleasantly surprised to discover that Timbuktu had won the 2010 year end High Point award for Hunter and Jumper in Hand. He was grand champion overall last year and I received a nice plaque with a picture of him on it to display proudly.

But now for this show - it was a new judge and I was concerned about how he would judge my Curly. The previous judge really liked them, but I had attended some events where we wouldn't even get the "time of day". Not so for this show. The judge LOVED Timbuktu.

In Halter geldings young horses we placed 1st!!! And I am so happy to report that Timbuktu had great manners and listened to me while being in a new place with new horses and not having his brothers around for support. That's what I was the most pleased with - his ability to remain focused and calm under stress.

To top of off - since we were 1st in our class we competed against all Halter horses and received Reserve Grand Champion!!! Way to go Timbuktu!!! I have never received Reserve Grand anything before. So what a great surprise - I was listening to them rank the horses and when they got to about 3rd place I gave it up - thinking we were out, but imagine my surprise when we received that ribbon.

Here we are with our ribbons - 1st and Reserve Grand Champion!

And a close up picture for fun. You work really really hard for events and once in awhile it's nice to actually get some validation of your hard work and great horse flesh. I knew I had something really special with my Curly "boys".

And then for the second great surprise of the day. We entered the Hunter in Hand and Jumper in Hand class and here we are making our jump pattern around the arena. He was AWESOME! He listened to me, looked at the jumps and didn't even hesitate. In both rounds we had NO refusals but two rails down because I didn't line him up properly.

I "kiss" to him before a jump to let me know that this is a jump and he needs to go over it and he listened each time - jumped and came back to me ready for the next one. It was a really tight pattern and he did it. You just never know how a horse is going to react with new jumps, new distractions in a new environment and he acted like he was born to it.

We received 1st in Hunter in Hand and 1st in Jumper in Hand. It was one of those moments were the horse gives his "all" and goes above and beyond your expectations. I always get choked up when this happens - when they try their heart out for you.

In the Jumper class, everyone in the first round was disqualified and when it came our turn and we did it - the judge said,"that's how you are supposed to do this, folks." He actually stopped the class after our Hunter round because he said he was so impressed with Timbuktu's movement and jumping style - for a young horse. He asked him what I was going to do with Timbuktu in the future and said that if I didn't jump him, his potential would be wasted.

This was so gratifying to hear - because I really have to constantly "prove" Traveler - that he can indeed jump with the big dogs even though (actually, because he is) a Curly horse. It was really nice that his judge didn't look at the curls and discount him because he is not a typical jumping horse - but judged him on his ability to jump and his movement.

Here we are going through the starting flags.....

Timbuktu with all our ribbons - 3 1st place ribbons and the greatly appreciated Reserve Grand Champion.

My daughters also showed with their horse in the kid class - but since it's not a Curly I've only written about it on my personal blog. I won't say anything more than they cleaned up too.

Wow! What a day - and my dear husband was there to help and support me. Constantly worrying about the horses getting dusty - we all went home hot, tired and winners.