We are in Texas! Ya hoo!!!!

Well crap! Something has happened and I am typing this in a Word Doc, then I will paste it into a new entry. I can open my Draft copy, but I can’t edit it or even post it as is. I tried to do this earlier today, but there have been Internet issues here at the hotel. Oh well…….so here goes again.

Hello! This is going to be short and sweet (yeah right!) because it is almost midnight, and we didn’t get much sleep last night.

We drove most of the day, got to our overnight spot, I got to ride Tripp a little bit and he did pretty good in spite of him being in a new spot and not being ridden for a week.

Not much sleep to be had….we slept in the truck. Actually Brian slept in the truck with the seat kicked back, and I slept outside on the hay bales. Two were flat and the middle one was on it’s side, so I had a hard time getting comfy. I wanted to be outside to listen to the night sounds. We got night sounds alright! Where we stayed, they just got thru separating mares from weanlings, and that is what we heard most of the night. Them and these sea gull type birds.

It got to be about 50 degrees out, and I was glad I had my good thick blanket. My only problem was when I kicked it off down to my waist, and I woke up with a layer of dew on me from the waist up. Brrrrr!!!!

I woke up at 3:00 and stayed up. I know I slept because I dreamt a little bit. I layed there all toasty in my blanket and waited for Brian to get up. We ended up on the road about 4:45 a.m. and rolled into town about 8:30 a.m. Dang! Traffic was atrocious! No need to remind me why I don’t live in the city!

We got checked in early and found our stall. It is at the end of an aisle…we were the first ones down there and it was like walking down a prison hallway! Okay, I don’t know that to be fact – it is what I would imagine prison hallways to be like. 

We got Tripp settled in and let him eat some hay and drink a little bit of water. Later on we took him for a walk. There is a small practice area close to our stalls so we hung out there for a while and did some basic ground work, and I let him sniff around on stuff.

There are time slots for each level/hip numbers to use the practice arena during the day. We headed that direction and I rode him a little bit. He was very jiggy with me. He is a touchy guy anyways, but he was excessively touchy and crabby. I even took the saddle off because something wasn’t right with him. I put it back on, rechecked it again, and took off. He was okay at the walk, but the trot was not good. He kept humping his back and swishing that tail. I knew something wasn’t right, I just didn’t know what it was. We rode over and around the obstacles I could….there were several people hanging out at each one for quite a long time. I never did get to ride him thru the ‘L’.

I didn’t stay out there very long – maybe ½ hr tops – and that is when I realized I was not nervous (YET!), I realized I was scared! Of what exactly? Don’t know. Part of it is being intimidated by other trainers levels – which is crazy! That is why there are different levels. So all of us can participate and show what we did with our different skill levels. Part of it is Tripp – with him acting so cranky, I was thinking that he was going to throw me on my head during the horse course!

Tonite I was going to saddle him up and head back down there, and I found part of his problem. The girth rubbed him! I really thought I checked it to make sure it wasn’t pinching him or curled under. It isn’t just one spot – it is the whole girth area. It isn’t a rub spot – it is swollen like it is very irritated. He even bit at me and kicked at me when I was brushing that area – and that is not him at all. So yes, now I am totally freaked out because I am worried about it not healing in time for the horse course. Maybe part of it is dehydration from the trip? Don’t know….one of the people who have a booth set up here has some ointment stuff they put in our ‘freebie’ bag, so I will put that on it tomorrow. I am hoping by tomorrow evening he will be better. I am using a neoprene girth and have for quite a while……HELP!

If I can’t ride the horse course, I will be soooooo disappointed! Will I regret coming this far if I can’t ride it? Heck no! That is what I signed up for…it is part of it! Period!

The horse course – they have a gate! He isn’t very good at scootching up to things, so don’t know how that will go. The worst that can happen is we don’t do it and I get a 0.

Anyways, that is all I have time for now. By the time I get this pasted in a new entry, it is going to be after midnight…..
We need to be lined up at 8:00 in the morning for the In Hand and body conditioning. They are doing the conditioning while we are in line for the In Hand.

Oh yeah…..WE GOT COOL SHIRTS!!!! Woo hoo! I will try to have pictures on here tomorrow.

You all give us some good thought on that girth issue! :-)

Until later…..Karen and Tripp