baby fever

Shyloh has it. Bad.

Instant obsession

Two of the Gypsy babies and one yearling came to the show yesterday. Shy was enthralled! We were in Halter class and the mom was also in the class. The colt, Moon, came in the class to stay by mom. Shy saw him and stepped out of the line up to inspect him. I pulled her back, but she wanted to go to them. When they went around the line up to get back in line, Shy became very concerned that she could not see the colt. When she got her eyes back on him, she just stared. 

She says, he is mine and I shall call him baby. He must have liked her, too, because he kicked out at the other horses and not at her. 

And so began the giant distraction of the last show. Shy was very preoccupied with the babies. How could anyone not be? They are so so cute! And so well behaved. They took everything in stride. Even napped. 

Babies and Mommas

Most definitely not the reaction I thought Shy would have given with babies. Since she is so independent, I always figured she would be a terrible pony mom. Not that I would breed her. Although, I kinda want to now, but that is just seeing cute babies talking. Logically, not a good idea. 

Even though Shy, in her mind adopted Moon, she still had a great show. All of our trail in hand work had paid off, we placed first in the class! It was a well deserved placing, too. Shy really rocked that course and even performed a perfect off side side pass and backing in an L shape. She also placed third in Halter (with Reba getting Grand Champion) and fourth in Showmanship. 

Show pony!

Shy also performed as a lead line pony for Lily and Noah, since his pony did not come to the show. The kids had a little trouble keeping her attention (remember, she was trying to keep tabs on her baby), but they worked through it. Lily got a second place in their Showmanship class and a couple fifths. Noah got a fourth and a couple fifths. Not bad, considering Noah has had no practice with Shy and Lily's practice has been limited. 

Happy Lily. . .and Shy staring off looking for her baby. 

Noah and his ribbons. . .and Sh, again, staring at her baby. 

It was a fun and relaxing show. Everyone had a great time. Ponies were all good. Couldn't ask for anything more! More photos here.

Shy and Baby Cuillien. She squealed at her and she jumped up and ran to her mom. 

Shy and the yearling Ferdy. 

A match made in heaven. . .Shy napping during the line up and Lily doing Yoga?

Lily and Tommy

Reba taking Lily and Tommy for a ride between classes

Becky and Freckles

Regina and Beth with Art

10 classes makes for a tired, droopy lipped pony at the end of the day.

ice cream

The Good Old Days Show was put on this weekend. It is a long show that has English and Western riding classes, Pleasure and Draft driving classes, and in hand classes. I have went the past two years, once without Shyloh and once with Shyloh. This was going to be another year without Shy, but I am sure she was totally fine with that.

Since Shy was unable to get down to Ohio, Beth graciously offered me the use of her ponies for in-hand classes. Those classes would be trail in hand and ground driving obstacle. She would be taking Art and Rambo to the show. I accepted, then Beth made a friendly bet. . .loser would buy ice cream! And since they were in hand classes and the horses went one at a time, we could both use both horses. Challenge accepted. 

I told Beth that I would have to come down a day early to practice if I wanted a chance against her. So down to Ohio I went. We spent a little time practicing and more time killing horse flies. Those suckers were ruthless! They attacked in waves of two. Two horse flies came in, we (and by we I mean Beth) either killed them or they flew away after several attempts at killing them, then another set of two would swoop in  and we would have to start over. Ugh!

Ponies!

We decided to wash ponies and get them ready for the show the next day. The horse flies were relentless and continues their two at a time attack. But ponies got washed and clipped and sleezed up. Then Art and Rambo got put in the grassy round pen so they wouldn't roll in the dirt. Art decided to be an evil villain in his "costume" and was beating poor Rambo up in the round pen! So after a while the sleezies came off and the horses got put all back together. 

Super ponies. Purple Art was the evil villain and red Rambo was the super hero

Of course, when we got at at dark still for the show, Rambo had a line of dirt along his mane.  Rambo is such a funny horse. He is very busy and very mouthy and wants all the attention. He is so damn cute about it!

He sucks his tongue and holds on to the trailer. 

Once we got to the show, we braided horses tails and manes and got to showing. 

Donkey!

A Fjord!

Mule

Beth riding Rambo

Flo on Mick, Chelsea on Tom in the back

Farrier's daughter was at the show, too

Steve and Sally Sue in Pleasure driving class

Regina driving Art, they got reserve champion for the draft driving class!

Flo and her sweet new wagon!

The trail classes run most of the day so people can do them in between their other classes. So after Beth did her classes and the cart class with Regina (her youth driver), we waited for the trail results. And waited. And waited. Finally they made the announcement. . .

Beth took first with Rambo in trail in hand and I took second with him! I also took fifth with Art. Beth also took first with Rambo in ground driving obstacle and I took second with him. I took sixth with Art in this class. Looks like I owe Beth some ice cream!

Our selfie with Rambo

My ribbons with Art

It was such a fun day and very low key. Ponies were good and Rambo was a blast to line drive. I am so glad I got a chance to use Art and Rambo at the show. Thanks Beth!

Beth got Reserve Champion for the draft division!

double judged show

Yesterday we had a double judged show for our Northwest Ohio Driving Circuit. Unfortunately, I could not bring Shyloh since all the fees were doubled as well and we were only bringing one trailer. It was rather relaxing to visit and hang out and not have to worry about showing.

Jaime was taking Isaac to help prepare him for fair in a week and a half. Noah was showing his little Meatball. And Terry was showing Reba in the cart classes.

First up, Jaime had Isaac in Halter class. He placed first with both judges, then went on to win Halter Champion under both judges. How awesome is that?

He is a nice looking horse!

When Issac was brought into the ring for cart class, he began to act up. He started rearing and hopping and refusing to go forward. With a horse as big as him, it is easy to get intimidated by his baby tantrums. Luckily, Beth showed up and was able to walk Jaime through the tantrum and Issac straightened up. 

Isaac did very well during the class and ended up taking first and second. Later Jaime asked for feedback from the judge who gave them second and she said that Isaac was having baby brain. So, basically, he just needs more miles and to grow up a bit longer. I think he is going to be a forced to be reckoned with in the next couple years!

He has the nicest, floaty-est trot.

Terry took Reba in pleasure cart class and pleasure reinsmanship class. Reba did great and they took a first and second place for one class and a second and third for the other class. Her feedback was to work on lengthening the trot for the road gait, not speeding it up. 

Fancy!

It seems that everyone is getting fancy for the driving classes now. Even Bethany got all dressed up to take her mule, Millie, in the draft class.

More fancy

Noah showed his pony, Meatball. They were adorable together. Noah got his first blue ribbon on the riding class! It is hard to beat a cute kid on a cute pony, both decked out in English attire and tack! They also took home a third and a lot of fifths. Noah doesn't care what place he gets, he just has fun showing his pony.

Super cute

Beth brought Rambo to ride around on since she is working on making him a trail pony. He is really good for her and she even took him in a fun class, Splash and Dash! They took second! Wish I could have stayed to watch them, but we had to leave.

I also got to ride in the cart with Jessica and her Gypsy, Sairose. Youth riders need an adult to ride with them, so I said I would. I like riding with Jess and her mare, they are a great team. The only problem is the arena is very hard to drive in, really makes the horses work to pull the carts, and does not make for a very comfortable ride for the people.

As always, it was a fun time with friends and horses. And even though I am not taking Shy to fair, I am excited to support my barn and be a part of all the action.

Isaac and his Mini Me, Gracie

lucas county fair 2014

This past weekend was Lucas County Fair's open show in Ohio. Jaime, Kyle, Terry, and Beth all took their horses and of course I went along. We planned on doing halter classes and the cart classes. It was also supposed to be Isaac's big debut into the fair show ring.

I felt like a groom because I helped braid manes and tails and get horses all ready for the show. It was fun.

Two handsome dudes!

Halter class was first as always. I got to show Notch. I am proud to say that Hidden Creek Draft Horses cleaned up on halter!

My noble steed for the day

Isaac was Grand Champion Halter, Reba was Reserve Champion Halter, and Notch took 4th place for draft halter.

Yay!! Go Hidden Creek Draft Horses!

The judges loved Isaac and Reba.

There were a bunch of riding classes before cart. Kyle and Terry chose to ride.

Clutch decided to chase a Haflinger in the riding class

Reba was giving Terry a hard time

In the mean time, Notch started acting strange. He was sweating and would not calm down. It may have been the roller coaster or the giant inflatable Spiderman bounce house that he could see from his spot on the trailer, we will never know. But it was giving him runny poops and making him so anxious. So, before cart classes, Jaime chose to take him home. Which meant that Isaac and Reba had to leave. We were all really sad that they had to go, since we were looking forward to seeing how Isaac would do in cart classes and the judges wanted to see both Reba and Isaac under harness.

Clutch and Rambo

Terry and I stayed behind to help Beth with Rambo and Art. She needed to change the cart over a few times in between classes. Then, a band in the tent right behind the arena decided to start drumming and making music, which Rambo was not a fan of. . . At all. I offered to head him during the lineups to keep him calm and even then he reared a few times in the cart. That is typical Rambo and didn't scare Beth, but she worked him out of it. Art did not mind the music at all.

Love me some Art!

Flo and Nick

Beth and Rambo

Overall, it was a nice, small show. The show moved at a relaxing pace that didn't make you feel like you had to rush between classes. The breeze made the hot weather bearable. I drank about five delicious fresh squeezed lemonades. And hanging out with friends and horses is always fun.

first show this year

What a weekend! We had our first show with the Northwest Ohio Driving Circuit (in which my horse no longer drives) and I think it was quite successful. I was so busy on show day I took a grand total of three photos, so I am borrowing photos that friends took. 

We loaded up the horses (seven total, plus three carts, four harness sets, five saddles, and a plethora of other necessary tack) and ended up taking two trailers and three trucks. No joke. We go big or go home. 

We left slightly behind schedule, but not as late a usual so we got to the show with time to spare to get horses ready and decorated for halter classes. While me and Shyloh didn't place in halter or showmanship, Shy and Lily got a fourth place! Even Shy's smile at the judge when we were setting up didn't seem to help our chances. Noah showed Meatball for the in-hand classes and got second place in showmanship! And Isaac took home a third in halter.

While we were waiting for the other participants to finish their patterns in showmanship, we could hear Tommy from the stands asking if it was his turn with Cwutch yet. So cute.

For in-hand trail, me and Shy had the best class we ever had. Shy performed every obstacle perfectly. I felt great coming out of that class and we placed second! Beth and Rambo took first place. 

While Shy did great with me, she gave Lily a little bit of trouble for her trail-in hand class. Now we know what we need to practice. 

For this show, I bit the bullet and did the riding class. I mounted Shy near the trailer and she gave me so much hell when I tried to get her to walk away. I almost gave up, but Beth walked me through it and got us to the ring. Once Shy saw Clutch in the ring, I had no more problems from her, my frustrating buddy sour horse. Shy was great during the class, it was walk/trot, but we only walked it since we haven't been working on trot and I wasn't comfortable with it in such a large arena. 

After we did the reverse, Shy thought it appropriate to stop right in front of the stands, spread her back legs, and pee. And not just any old pee, a five minute long pee that was gallons and gallons and gallons. Right in front for everyone to see and comment on. I kept saying, is she done yet and the unanimous response was nope, each time. Classy, Shy. 

Shy did great and even kept her composure when another rider got bucked off from a wasp that was bugging the horse. Luckily, the rider seemed okay and got back on. My only complaint from that class was that she kept playing with her bit and trying to eat the shanks when we were lined up. 

Lily was up next for lead line riding on Shy. And since Shy did so well during the riding class, I decided to sign up for the ridden trail class, just to see. . . Shy took all the obstacles very easily. We veered from the pattern on purpose (I let the judge know), but we did walk over the bridge and do a couple of the other obstacles. 

For the last lead line class, Lily rode Shy through the trail course. I held the lead line loose, and Lily worked her through each obstacle on her own. I only had to interfere once during the back up when Shy was crooked and I just scooted her rear end over. And they took first place! 

Our classes where over, since we weren't driving, but Terry was driving Reba in her first classes and Notch was being driven by Sierra. Sierra took a couple ribbons with Notch and Terry got a first and second place with Reba for driving. 

It was a really fun and busy show. Hidden Creek Draft Horses did well as a team. And I know what I really want to work on with Shy, trot and trail. I think we can do well! And Tommy said that maybe he will get some wibbons next time.