Leo's First Show!

Well, this past Saturday was my first opportunity to take Leo to a horse show, and I'm happy to report that she did wonderfully! The show was in Fennville at my old trainer's barn (she has a large indoor arena which was where the show was held, and two large outdoor arenas). I was really looking forward to this particular show because A) it was a casual show (no show clothes, bathing, etc required), B) it was in a location that I was familiar with and knew the people running the show, and C) there wasn't going to be a ton of people/horses there to overwhelm Leo with her first experience.

Friday night Adam & I went to Sieger's house to pick up his trailer, and Adam gave me a crash course in driving & backing up a trailer (we had his '06 Jeep Grand Cherokee hooked up with a trailer hitch & wiring so we could use that to haul - it's got a V8 Hemi, so it towed like a dream). The driving part isn't hard - you just have to do everything slower and make wider turns. Backing up was a little trickier, but if you go slow and just think through where you want to put the trailer it's not so bad! We kept the trailer at our house Friday night because I didn't want to deal with dropping it off at the barn, unhooking it, and then re-hooking it back up the next morning. Needless to say our little tan shoebox of a house in Grand Haven probably looked really weird with a big horse trailer in the driveway!

My friend Desi came with me on Saturday, sans-horse (she's the one that was at the show last summer that I took Sweet Pea to), and we arrived at the barn Sat. morning and parked up by the road (didn't want to get stuck down by the barn in case I couldn't get the trailer turned around the right way). I've been practicing loading Leo into Leatha's trailer (thanks Leatha!) so that when the first show day finally came we didn't have issues getting her loaded. It only took about 5 mins to get her into the trailer - once we pulled some grain out she went right in (it's always about the food!). She settled down right away and off we went!

It took about an hour to get there, and we arrived about an hour before the show started. I walked her around and lunged her a little bit to stretch her legs and let her look around, and she behaved VERY well. She was talking a little bit, which I expected, but she didn't seem to be overly-agitated or looking for her barn buddies...she was just curious about where she was. I paid to have a stall there (right next to the indoor arena), so when we were done looking around the grounds I just brought her to the stall & put her in to munch on some hay. Within an hour she appeared right at home.

I took her in five classes:

• Halter (Mares 2 Yrs & Older) - 4th place
• Showmanship (19 & Over) - 1st place
• Western Horsemanship (19 & Over) - 1st place
• Western Pleasure (19 & Over) - 2nd place
• Jr. Horse Western Pleasure (5 & Under) - 1st place

During the in-hand classes (Halter and Showmanship) she was a little fidgity, but that was okay (I wasn't expecting her to be perfect); I haven't practiced the in-hand stuff as much as I should have over the winter, so she did very well considering how little we'd worked on it. I warmed her up in the indoor arena for the riding classes during the 45 minute lunch break, and she NEVER ONCE batted an eye at anything in the arena; there were mirrors on the walls, other horses warming up, kids running around the aisles on both sides of the arena, windows at one end of the arena looking into the lounge/food area (with people walking around), and she behaved perfectly. Our riding classes went well - she didn't perform any differently than if we were working at home, which was more than I could have hoped for.

She didn't have a problem drinking water from the show grounds, and she just munched on hay throughout the day. When we were finished with the show and went to load her up, it only took two trys to get her into the trailer and she went in (grain helped here, too). It was another quiet ride back, and when we got home I put her in a stall, gave her her supplement, and put her back with the other horses. She and they didn't seem to be at all affected upon her return - it was a total non-event.

Overall it was a really great experience for both of us; I feel MUCH more at ease now about taking her places. She really handled herself well, and I'm looking forward to seeing how she continues to handle things at other places and shows during this summer. And thanks to ALL of the Thunder Hill Barnies for being such great friends and supporters - you guys have been awesome and I'm so glad that I'm a part of our little Thunder Hill clan! Have a great week everyone!

PS - I forgot my camera for the show, so unfortunately I don't have any pics :(

Glasses Found!

Whooo Hooo ... Amazingly, we found Julie's glasses on our ride in the woods the other day. And, believe it or not, they are in perfect shape!

saftey first!!!

Hi Barnies,
I think it's time to address some issues with safety at Thunderhill. I think if we all blog the problems we have seen it may help to prevent a future wreck..
here are two of my biggies

1) riding down the isle of the barn:
reason for danger...Lots of stuff lines the sides of the isle i.e. pallet that garbage can sits on,Used hay bin,hay cart ,grain bin, mounting block etc all these things could hook a leg and make your horse go down splitting your head open like a watermelon.Also the cement can be very slippery. If your horse spooks only for a second he slips and falls both of you break a leg. If this happens when a bystander is close think how rotten you'll feel while they are recovering from bumps and bruises.

2)Tying horses in the barn
Horses should be tied with a quick release knot to the main uprights of the barn.
The line between the horses head and the post should be no longer than your arm.
they should be tied at or above eye level.
Don't tie horses that aren't used to each other too close
If you can't tie for some reason like setting back.. please stay in close reach in case there"s an issue

These are just two of my issues.I'm sure you all have your own pet peeves.LETS HEAR THEM.
Why don't you write them in the body of the blog so we can make a list and maybe post it at our favorite place...Thunderhil Farm


Be Safe
Happy Trails
Pam