A Little Bit of Horse Craziness . . . .

I just saw a Finney stock trailer go by.  Of course, the driver honked.  Last night I saw the same pickup pulling a wagon with a beautiful black carriage.  Honk! Honk!

I'm thinking both times the driver was headed for the Bonner County Fairgrounds where the Idaho Draft Horse and Mule International Show opens today.

I'm also thinking I'll be dropping by there to take some photos of this first day of action.  

Thursdays at the show are great days for walking around the grounds because there's plenty of time to watch the owners and grooms gussying up their horses and polishing the harness.

In my mind, the preparation is almost as much fun as the show itself----definitely a lot of perfection-oriented activity which pays off with magnificence in the show ring.

In the meantime, there's a show going on down in Nampa.   It's hard to be more than 400 miles away when your sister is competing at the highest national level for Arabians at her preferred sport of dressage. 

So, we rely on technology to get our information.  Yesterday I started out with a phone call to Laurie.

She and Kevin were sitting on a hillside watching some classes.  They were bored.  

Here,  I must interject that even the most dedicated of dressage folks will tell you that the all-day routine at such shows could be compared to watching paint dry.

Dressage is individual, and when that horse and rider start getting ready for their assigned test at precisely X-time, the action heats up a bit.  

Lots of quiet primping, dusting off, combing, dressing, etc. 

Well, Laurie had done some of her morning activities, including taking Mani for a workout in an arena.

She reported that Mani had stepped on her big toe and squished her big toenail.  Fortunately, according to Laurie, he picked the foot opposite the one with the ankle which broke earlier in the summer.

"Now, I walk evenly," she said----limping on both sides.

Still, a little squished toe isn't gonna stop some intense competition later in the day.

She told me the name of the arena where she'd be performing in an actual "walk, trot and canter" qualifying class with other sport horses.  

Then,  we calculated about what time the class would occur and what time to be ready to watch here in Sandpoint, since there's an hour difference.

Later, I went over to help Barbara with chores.  We figured Laurie would be riding around 5:15 our time.  So, we finished up in the barn and went to the house where Barbara booted up her computer.

Of course, my sisters, like us, have satellite Internet, so we expected the video to run slow.   It did.  

We watched what seemed to be the tail end of one class, as riders were lined up across the arena.  Then, the picture went "offline" for about five minutes.

When it returned, we figured another class was starting.  Finally, horses came trotting into the Idaho Center main arena.  We knew Laurie would be toward the end.

Sure enough toward the end, a rider on a dark bay with four white stockings and a strip came in.  I yelled with joy.

We looked at each horse as it trotted by----noted the really pretty ones, commented on the ones where the riders were working too hard and, of course,  praised Laurie each time. 

The views were brief, and we figured we were probably missing about 75 percent of the real action. 

We saw no mistakes from Laurie and Mani during the entire performance, which sped by quickly.  Then, they lined up.

Laurie, No. 679, stood in the middle of the line where we could get a good view.

Then, the announcer called off the riders and horses who would come back for the finals on Saturday night.  With numbers starting in the 500s, we knew we'd have to wait.

Well, the 600s started and got closer to Laurie's number.  

Suddenly, the announcer called off a number from the 700s.

"Well, she didn't make it," I said, getting up from my chair.  Barbara sat there a second or so longer and then followed.

She said she wanted to bring the puppies over to our house to play in the dog run, so we loaded them up and drove to the Lovestead.

Barbara was in the run,  urging the pups to play with Foster while I walked to the house and heard the phone ring.

Then, I heard my brother Kevin on the answering machine:  Hey, you there?

I picked up the phone just in time and told him we had just watched Laurie on the computer.   And, that's all I said.

A rather excited voice could be heard in the background.  

"So you saw that we made it!"  Laurie exclaimed.

"Huh?"  I said.  "We thought you didn't."  

Then, two voices were yelling on the other end.  

"She DID make it," Kevin said. 

Turns out Laurie was NOT No. 679, as Barbara and I had thought.  Laurie's number is in the 800s.

Laurie was the last one announced to go on to the finals.  

Laurie and Kevin were beyond ecstatic, and I can report for certain that the mood sure changed quickly here at the Lovestead. 

Bottom line is that Laurie competed in a class of about 32 horses.  Sixteen will compete in Saturday night's final.   Top Ten Ribbons will be awarded as will award jackets.

That means Laurie has six horses to beat to make that Top Ten.  We're all keeping our fingers crossed,  and here in Sandpoint we'll be keeping much closer track of her exhibitor number.

We do feel bad for No. 679, but we're glad that wasn't our sister Laurie. 

Today she does a dressage test at 2:30 our time and competes in another walk, trot, and canter class a couple of hours later.

For anyone who'd like to watch via Internet, here's some information that Barbara posted on her Facebook wall:

Huge Congrats to Sister Laurie and her horse Mani who made it to the semifinals in Half-Arabian Sport Horse National Sport Horse Under Saddle Open. Tomorrow she will have two more classes. 

The first is Half-Arabian Training Level Dressage

Open. You can catch a live stream of her class at http://secure.arabianhorses.org/enews/MAH_Flash_20120917.html . Sign in and choose Dressage Arena #1. She is scheduled to ride around 2:19 our time 3:19 Mountain time. 

 

Her number is 833. She didn't have the updated ride time when she talked to us last. She will ride again in the Idaho Center Arena in her sport horse under saddle Amateur class in the evening.

So, the horse craziness continues. 

Happy Thursday.