Coppers First Horse Show...

Two weekends ago the Midwest Mustang & Burro Saddle Club had a fun show, and fun it was! Copper has not been exposed to anything scary other than us, so it was time to take him on an adventure. The show was about 3 1/2 hrs away and he got exposed to all sorts of things. The first thing was unloading in the dark at a friends house - we stayed Friday night with her, then left early Saturday morning. Another friend who caravaned with us had their faithful little mustang, Kahlua, and their little 2 yr old Kiger, Cord. Just having them close by helped Copper with his nerves. Saturday morning we left early and headed to the Topeka, KS area.

When we got there I unloaded Copper and walked him around. He was very tall and wide eyed most of the day. Most of the pictures are not going to be in any particular order because I am tired.

Here the judge is riding her QH around, and he does not know what to think about the deformity on that horses back! (My friend Jill mentioned Copper's reaction to deformities of other horses...and she is right! He has issues with it!)

Copper is thinking there is something very wrong here...just doesn't know what...



Mid day Diana came over and wanted to know if I would like her to pony Copper. I let her know he had never been ponied before and she was not worried. Most of the time he did just fine. He did finally get away from her when they were coming off the big step and Copper went back and forth behind her. Something finally spooked him and he left her, but other than that, Diana and Copper both impressed me! You see, Diana is bareback!

Here is when Copper was doing much better...



Here is where Copper stopped...he found a friend in another field. We thought the gate was closed, but it wasn't. So Copper went visiting.



I thought this was a funny picture...Copper's nose...



Copper wanted to be cool like Brian, so he wore the hat...



Copper wants to know what the deal is with all these deformities! Just look at this one! ACK! (April and Nevada in the costume class)



Copper did not know what to think of the big barn - and this will be a problem in TN if he doesn't realize it is okay. He did alright part way in, but if we got too far in, he got very nervous. I have a friend with an indoor arena - I might call her to see if I can take Copper over to 'practice' being inside.



Visiting with Becky...Copper was getting used to the flag by now...



Copper doing some more visiting by the flag...



There was an obstacle course by the arena, so we walked around out there for a while. It was a good place to take him by the arena to watch the others (which he did not like one bit) and it was a nice quiet time to practice the obstacles.
He did very good!

Here he goes up the step...



Copper met a friend...



Here we go thru the Smurf Tunnel....



And here we come back out of the Smurf Tunnel...



Hanging out by the flag...



Copper and Brian are watching the show...



Saturday night we stayed at another friends house, so it was another experience unloading in the dark. Honestly, I think I was more nervous that Copper was, and he was pretty nervous.
It was a fun day but a long one. We sure do have a lot of work to do before TN.
My friend Jill mentioned that Copper was a Right Brain Introvert, but I had not made time to read up on that stuff. Then at the show Dona mentioned that he was an Introvert also! We went to the TX EMM to be spectators this past weekend, and on the way back I read about the Right/Left brain stuff.
Copper is majorly a Right Brain Introvert with a touch of Extrovert. That explains so much because I kept thinking he should be getting certain things better than he is. Nope, that is not who he is, so it is up to me to make things as easy as possible on him. It will take longer, but he is so sweet, it will be worth it!

I am tired...signing off for now...

Until later, Karen and Tripp