Missed a 1st place ribbon.....cuz of road apples!

To all you people out there that have had discussions on different groups about a horse that stops to poop in the show arena - I GET IT NOW!!!! HA HA HA!!!!  The Midwest Mustang and Burro Saddle Club had their horse show last weekend, and Tripp and I were in the Walk/Trot class.  The judge gave suggestions and tips to everyone at the end of the class, which was quite interesting seeing as none of us show Western Pleasure.  Well, I was told Tripp and I would have got 1st place - BUT he stopped to poop.  He doesn't walk and poop at the same time and I don't make him.  Apparently in the real show ring for Western Pleasure this DQ's you real quick.  Hee hee!!!  And we were even at the far corner of the arena out of everyones way.  :-)  Will I work on trying to MAKE him walk and poop?  Nope!  It is not worth it to me to smack, kick, spur, yell, whatever to 'teach' him to walk and poop.  It was enough for me to know where we were in the line up, which tells me that we have improved a lot.  I am more than happy with that and we are moving in the right direction.  And to those people who say "Out in the wild if he was being chased by a mountain lion he would not stop to poop!" I say, we are not in the wild being chased by a mountain lion, but if he was, he would have probably already pooped from fright, or he would be so scared and puckered up that pooping would be the last thing on his mind.  We have got some good laughs out of this one.  :-)

I think someone said there were 18 mustangs at our show this year, and a couple of domestics that one of the members brought for her kids so they had something to do all day.  They had a ball too!  One of my biggest highlights was getting to see people and their mustangs that I have not seen for a long time.

Seeing as there are so many pictures on this entry I am going to let them stay out of order....there will be a couple of miscellaneous pictures from the night or two before the show.

This is the gelding halter class.  Brian showed Tripp in the halter class.  I only keep track of that stuff when I am told I missed out on something because we stopped to poop.  Otherwise I would not remember.  :-)

    

I was working with Boom one night while Brian was trying to convince Tripp he wanted to be caught.  The sunset was so pretty that night...

 We were working with Boom and Tripp on trailer loading together.  We finally did get them in together but Boom would turn his butt and start kicking at Tripp, and we don't have a divider to keep them apart.  We played on the side of caution and Boom stayed home from the show.  When Brian would go out to get Tripp, Tripp took off running.  Oh my gosh, he was awesome!  Tail and head in the air, a trot the size of Texas...dang he looked good!  To me.....to Brian he did not look so great.  Hee hee!

Tripp ran down the hill on the other side of the small mossy pond and peeked thru the trees......

Then he moved a little further out so he could look for Brian.....don't think for a second that I was not laughing at his antics!

Ah ha!  Tripp caught Brian!  :-)  And Wendigo, Epona and Nevada watch with interest...and also glad it was not them.  

This was after the last class of the day...it was barrels and we trotted them.  Tripp had enough by then and on the 'home stretch' he stopped!  I finally got him going again and we made it thru the cones.  I got off and laughed....a lot!

April and Nevada and Tripp and I are getting ready for the Ride-A-Buck....

OH!  Brian and Tripp were in the costume class.  Yep, you guessed it!  Brian was the bee keeper and Tripp was the bee.  I am the bee supporter with my own antenna's.  :-)
Brian and Tripp in the costume class was one of my other highlights...it was awesome!
 

Close up of Brian and Tripp watching stuff going on...

Brian and Tripp with his antennas on, and Casey the helper.  Last year Casey made friends with Copper.  This year she made friends with Tripp.  She is such a sweet girl!

Brian and Tripp in the halter class...all there is to do is stand around so he was making the best of his free time.

More waiting in the halter class...

Brian taking care of Tripp between classes...

Tripp with his antennas on, and Brian with his bee tow-tie...

This was so cute....Beth, one of the members of the club also dressed up for the costume class.  She named herself Trixie, and she had a stick horse named Buck Fifty.  Casey adopted Buck Fifty and Brian was helping to hold Buck Fifty while Casey helped to hold Tripp...

Brian and Jay watching the show...

Brian and Brenda were chatting during the halter class and loving on their horses while others were trying to square their horses up.  Brian and Brenda were definately much more relaxed!  :-)

Casey and Buck Fifty with Brian and Tripp...

Casey loving on Tripp...

This is Cloud - he is one of the mustangs from the Hutchinson, KS Correctional Facility, and he was falling asleep while one of the girls was petting on him.  Nobody bid on him the first day at the Correctional Facility Open House and I did not understand it, other than the fact that everyone has their favorite 'flavor' of things...even in the horse world.  He was so smooth and such a sweetheart.  A couple in our club said that Cloud was a Curly, and they have a soft spot for them.  They ended up adopting him later!!!  The whole club was so happy he went to such a great home.

AH HA!  Here we go...my other highlight is Brian and Tripp in the costume class....check out Tripp's stinger!

 When Tripp walked his middle stripe would scoot back to the flank.  How do you like his leg warmers?  The judge asked each participant to show her their best move.  Brian said theirs was "Flight of the Bumble Bee" then he started to lunge him around.  The breeze picked up perfect, Tripp moved off so light, and his wings started to 'fly'....it was awesome!  Yes, they got 1st place.  This was Brian's first show every...he was very tickled.  And me, yes, I was too. 

One of the club members made chili so there were bowls of chili, chips and chili, chili dogs and I think chips and a couple other sides.  Brian had some chili and thought it was good.  

Here is Mack, another one of the Hutchinson, KS Correctional Facility mustangs.  He was another one that was not adopted that day until later.  Look at him now!

Glenn and Cloud...these two worked so well together...like watching a dance.

Jay and his wife Brenda.  Jay is the one who has Levi, the mustang that he was given for the EMM who has cataracts.  I am happy to announce that Levi has an appointment on November 16th to have them removed!  Yay!!!!

Jay and Levi....

Jay and Levi backing thru the cones...I think there were 4 or 5 cones to zig zag thru...

Jay and Levi getting ready for the egg race...
Jay and Brenda have never shown either, so they are kind alike us...try to follow the rules the best we all can...

Jay walking Levi thru an obstacle during the riding trail class...

Peek-A-Boo!

My friend Patti brought her horse Soxs, and this is her husband who rides a Harley.  I was razzing him about him wanting to ride a horse.  Hee hee!  Actually he does ride every once in a while - but he rides his Harley more.  :-)

It is easy to 'teach' Tripp to bow when he is eating grass...

It was too windy for the pieces of pipe to stay upright in the cones for the pole bending...so we just went around the cones...

Us doing the egg race...we were good until we started to trot.  I am just glad that the egg did not break where it first landed!

Tripp....I sure do love this guy!

I am smiling my egg into submission!  Ha ha!

I was practicing my bareback riding for the Ride-A-Buck...it has been a while and I still have a few nerves to deal with...

Before the show started I worked with Tripp in the round pen...it was more for me than him...

On our way out of the arena after the Walk/Trot class...
Here are some things I heard the judge telling people....don't post a trot, even tho a bit is a snaffle if it is had any kind of shank (this one had very short shanks) you ride one handed (even tho the rider was riding as smooth as silk with 2 hands), you DO NOT STOP TO LET YOUR HORSE POOP (snicker snicker - guess who that was!?), and something I heard later was something about you should have split reins in Showmanship, and don't wear a casual shirt in Showmanship. 

I liked this picture because of the Cowboy Shadow....I like to think of him as my guardian angel...

 Here is Levi, the blind mustang. 

Mack and his girl...

Another picture of Mack from the Correctional Facility.  The Open House was in June.  What a doll!

Here is Patti and Soxs.  His legs are awesome!  His socks have black spots in them.  Patti adopted him from the Hutchinson, KS Correctional Facility a while back....he is so big compared to Tripp, and he and Patti are amazing together!

Casey loving on Tripp...

Tripp needs a snack....I had his antennas zip tied to his halter so he wore them the rest of the day, and on the way home.  :-)  He is such a good sport!

Tripp loving on Brian...I love this picture....

There was a Liberty class.  You let your horses loose and have one minute to run them around, and one minute to halter them.  Well, the haltering rule ended up changing in the middle so I am thinking that maybe they just should not have that rule. We made it on time, and it was quite smooth if I say so myself, but other horses that were AWESOME to watch did not get haltered on time, so ditch the haltering rule.  It is about the animation and pretty, wild and free factor.  When I used to work at a vet supply we would set up a booth at horse shows, and my favorite shows were the Arabian shows and the Liberty class (and traditional costume class).  I was very excited about this....I hope they do it again!  They are taking suggestions and I will add my 2 cents worth on this.  It was so neat to watch them run, and some were just full of it and GORGEOUS!!!  Tripp used up all his animated running the two nights he ran from Brian. Hee hee! He just was not interested in showing off his stuff....BUT Tina got this shot of all 4 feet off the ground which is a great picture.  It is a small picture because I took it off our club site.

 Here is the bee getting his middle band adjusted...

There you have it....the fun from last weekend.  We had fun visiting and love on everyone's horses, and the kids that were there had fun helping hand out ribbons and riding their horse/pony. 

That is all for now...have things to do.

Have a wonderful day everyone, and hug the ones you love, whether they are animals or humans.  And if you can't hug them because they are not close by, call or e-mail them.  You won't regret it...

Until later, Karen and Tripp who is quite proud of himself for bringing home ribbons.  :-)

Sonic Boom is sorry he was a bully.....

Mr. Sonic Boom has officially had a full week off from anything we would consider work.  Other than leading by the jaw and doing some flexing, he has got to hang out with the smaller group and do his own thing.  Well....you know what they say about idle minds......

Mr. Boom was trying to get to a food dish that was not his, so Brian was blocking the way.  Eventually Brian made a game out of it and Boom was transformed into a working cow horse!  That dude was rolling back and forth on his haunches...he looked sooooo good!  After Brian and I talked about how awesome Boom looked and how great he moved, we then talked about the problem - Boom was challenging him.  Brian still won, but Boom doesn't need to be doing that, so we need to plan our 'games' better.
Then yesterday morning he charged my older mare and I jumped in the middle to move him back and he puffed himself up and moved towards me sideways!  Okay, now I was mad!  It was dark, he chased my girl, and now he is trying to bully me.  As Jay says....MOVE THOSE FEET!!!!  Up until these two incidents he has been fine.

I got home last night and to the big pen we went.....WE MOVED HIS FEET!!!!!  We did all of our basic stuff, then I tied my two things of water jugs together.  I can throw those things all over him, under him, etc., but he doesn't like them draped over both sides.  So guess what?  That is what we did!

Here is Boom trying to escape the jugs....

Here is Boom slowing down, and licking and chewing....now I am sure he is NOT thinking that the jugs won't hurt him.  I am VERY sure he is sorry he was being a bully!  :-)

 Now this is what I was waiting for.  He calmed down and walking like this in both directions.  

 Boom wanted a picture of himself looking cute and NOT like a bully.....

 HA HA HA!!!!  Boom still doesn't get the self portrait thing.  I try and he drops his head, which is good, but not when I am trying to get him to smile.  I said "Fine, nose it is...."

  The sun was so pretty thru his eyes....

 Noses of Boom and Epona.....

 There must be some salt or something else good in the dirt...... Tripp (look at his dusty nose) and Nevada are trying to eat it....

Me waiting for Tandee to finish her food......

I mix up a mash for her so she can eat it easier.  It makes her very cranky because she thinks I am treating her like an old 'person', but I also know she appreciates it because she can at least eat.  Not to mention she gets some good stuff that the others don't get.  She does have most of her teeth, but it is hard for her to chew the hard feed.  I got her when she was 5, and she is 29 now, so I think she deserves the special treatment.  :-) 

Even if I did not have her for over twice of my life, I would still say she (or any other horse) is worth it!

As far as Boom, he is going to be one of these horses that NEEDS to stay busy, so I will have to stay on top of him (literally!  Ha ha ha!!!!).  They are all so different because some of these mustangs, or any horse for that matter, are like Boom and need to be kept busy to keep them out of trouble, and there are others like Tripp who just go with the flow and whatever happens is fine...he just might need to be brushed up on some things.  Either way it is all good....another way to learn new things (them and me).

Until later....Karen and Tripp, who still had a dusty nose this morning.  :-)

A lazy day.....

Oh how I wish I was not charging my camera battery tonite!  I went back out and heard a couple of the horses squealing.  I ran back thinking it was Boom and Tandee .....  instead of seeing two brown horses in the barn lot area, there are several brown horses!!!  And a black horse!  Tripp and Boom are squealing, necks are arched and they are stomping.  They didn't fight, but what they were doing was GORGEOUS!!!!  They looked awesome! 
Tandee and Batman were at the bottom of the hill, and Wyoming was protecting both of them from the big group!  It was amazing!  Everyone started to run, buck and fart a while, then I weeded the outside bunch back out where they belonged.  I think that is the most fun Boom has had in a long time!  Dang they all sure did look good!  OH!  That darn llama was body slamming everyone too...hilarious!

WYOMING:  "You want a piece of this?"

The rest of the day was lazy and not near as windy as yesterday was.  I took down Boom's small pen so the barn lot is an open area again.  Yay!  He gets along well with the group he is with, so that is where he will stay for now.  He is also easier to get when I want to work with him.

Batman thinks everyone elses food dish is his too.....and they all tolerate him.  Even Boom....

HA HA HA!!!!  Boom was not wanting to do self portraits!  He will learn it is easier to give me the self portait, then I will leave him alone.  :-)

Boom and my red maple.....

I was playing with shadows.....Boom liked that.....

Wyoming thought he would invade Booms food dish, then Batman saw an opportunity to jump in there.  

Chase and the dust bath....

These three are going to be in trouble when Brian gets home.  Hee hee!  They have grass and weeds in the yard and on the hillside to eat, but they eat the dry bales....it really makes Brian mad.  :-)

Wy is taller and Boom is more stocky.

I got the rest of the paint off Booms rump today - got the curry comb out and it came right off.  Too cold for a bath.

Not much else is going on.....just relaxing and enjoying the critters.

Hope everyone is doing well!

Until later, Karen and Tripp who knows that his girl was thinking he looked GOOD tonite!!!