At 1:12 p.m. Mountain Standard Time today, keep your fingers crossed and do so for about five minutes. It's okay to do that figuratively and just think good thoughts about my younger sister and her horse as they execute their assigned pattern at the Arabian National Sport Horse Championships in Nampa, Idaho.

Laurie and Rusty will compete individually but among 42 other contestants from throughout the nation in a dressage-oriented class. At its completion, a champion, a reserve champion and National Top Ten ribbons will be awarded to the top finishers. With judges watching, each horse must complete a designated pattern, which demonstrates gaits, transitions and overall poise and willingness to perform.

It's stiffer than ever competition for Laurie and Rusty, and to win will involve strict discipline from start to finish. Today's class is an training-level dressage, which does not include the fancy footsteps seen in more advanced dressage. To get to the Nationals, each horse and rider must earn a certain number of points in regional and local Arabian shows. Laurie and Rusty come to the competition as Region 5 champs in two categories.

The pair will be competing tomorrow and Friday in two more classes where they hope to finish with respectable scores and maybe even some ribbons or trophies. This national show has a website and some links which indicate the daily placings. So, after the good thoughts sent from around the world, we encourage you to check in and see how they did. The site can be found at (http://www.arabianhorses.org/competitions/nationalevents/sporthorse/2006/). Final results should be available by late afternoon or evening.

Needless to say, years of hard work, training and practice have gone into this week's event. Laurie decided to set this year's national championships as a goal because it was located fairly close to home, albeit nearly 500 miles. In the late 1980s, she and another of her much-beloved horses named Rishmah traveled to the Arabian National Show in Albuquerque and took a Top Ten ribbon in Show Hack (another dressage-related event).

We're all pulling for her to bring home another ribbon or two this year. So, keep those fingers crossed today, tomorrow (9:10 a.m. MST) and Friday (1:37 p.m. MST) wherever you are. Then, check the results.