And I was stung by a bee

Spent a long weekend judging horse shows.

Saturday sent me to Westlock where I found more than a horse show...there was a complete carnival, chuck wagon races, chariot races, physic fair and cow show! Quite the event indeed.

Some nice horses attended the horse show, and it was fun to judge, albeit a little warm standing in the middle of a sand ring for 8 hours! With prize money in all the classes (except bareback), some of the competitors had a pretty good pay day that would put dressage and some jumping shows to shame.

I was a little disappointed that there were no foals in the foal class, and only one yearling, but it was a very nice welsh yearling. In a later halter class there was a miniature horse braided up like a big draft...it was very cute!

We had some excitement in some of the classes with horses spooking at a sponsor banner blowing in the breeze and the excitement of the cows nearby. These open shows really test a horse's character!

There was one horse who really didn't want to be in the ring, to the point I actually had to ask them to leave a class...the horse would throw its head straight in the air and just head to the outgate regardless of any horses standing in the way. Later the owner was talking to me...turns out the horse was in some other classes and placing well but with a more experienced rider. The moral of this, is that naughty/nervous horses are just as often an issue with the rider rather than with the horse. Something I wish the riders that punished their horses for being fearful would learn and understand. It really bothers me to see someone (usually kids) yanking on their horse or spurring it when it is nervous. This is simply fear and lack of knowledge equally violence, and the adults in these kids lives need to teach them to take a moment and think with empathy before reacting with aggression. Good life lesson.

Sunday was judging trail in Darwell. Darwell is also a fair with cows and such. I judged the open show last year and was invited to do Trail this year. At these open shows, competitors who want to try for High Point have to do the trail element. Because trail takes so much time, it is held in a separate ring, and people go compete as they have time. We had set the class time to be from 10 to 2, so Rob and I got there for 9:30 to make sure the course was set up properly, and to post the courses.

Rob then took the dogs to Lac St. Anne for some boating adventures, and I waited for my first competitor. And waited. Then I got stung by a bee. I have never been stung by a bee before. It was gross...they leave behind bee gunk and a stinger. A stinger that needed tweezers to remove before my hand (the right one of course) swelled like a balloon. The trail course wasn't really that far from the main show ring, but the path between the two was fenced with field fence (not climbable), so it was a bit of a walk to the show office...and then to the concession to find a set of tweezers...meanwhile my hand swelled up to completely suck in the stinger. So that was fun.

Then back to the show ring...to continue waiting. I don't think my first rider showed up until noon. 2 entire hours I could have been elsewhere. I should have brought a book! At least it was nice out. The actual class itself was fun to judge! I was a little worried by course was too hard, but enough riders did it well, and only a couple couldn't do some semblance of each obstacle, so hopefully the competitors thought it was fair. The hardest advanced elements were a counter canter/lope over 2 poles, the side pass over a short pole, and having to back between two barrels, then around a barrel, then back between the first two barrels. For the novices it was more just remembering where to go!

An interesting observation was that when doing elements involving backing between obstacles, most horses (or was it their rider's) ended up being aimed right at the element they were avoiding! A couple horses almost sat on a barrel, and more than a few stepped on a pole in the novice backing challenge.

Overall though, it was not a bad weekend's work. Thanks to Beth and Stephanie for looking after the  barn on Saturday so I could be in Westlock!

Karen

 ....I would suggest next year we should go compete at some of these shows...but our horses would have to be able to function in sight of a cow, and I am not sure ours would!