It's showtime again! After a much needed rest, I'm missing my fans and am in need of some time in the spotlight! We leave the weekend before the show so that we can rest at our friends' house in Missouri before continuing on to the showgrounds. The temperatures fall the further north we go. Nighttime temperatures in the sixties and highs in the eighties feel great! I'm very happy until I discover that the Midwest is home to predators. Predators that I have determined are highly skilled horse tormentors, designed to hunt and kill us one drop of blood at a time. Yes, I'm talking about horse flies! I was trapped in my stall with one and for all of my kicking and rearing, it still got me. When turned out, I found that they didn't like the shade. I spent my time in the turnout shed, cautiously peering out now and then. Now, whenever I hear a buzzing sound, I'm instantly on high alert. The other horses think I'm overly dramatic and stay out of my way so they won't get caught with my flying hooves when I try to annihilate the enemy.
I make it through the night without dying. Then the next day, Mike harnesses me up. The other four horses have already been worked, so right off I'm suspicious. Sure enough, he hooks me up single. Now, I'm all for showing off and all of that, but there's not a fan in sight. I give Mike a look of resignation and disdain but decide to humor him and work very nicely for him, thank you very much.
Early Wednesday morning we load up and head to Iron Horse. The last time we were there, it was the first outing with the four and we showed training level. We've come a long way, baby!
The grounds are beautiful with gently rolling green hills. We're settled comfortably and are left to munch hay in peace. The cleaning frenzy begins Thursday morning as all five horses are bathed and braided. It's Vet check day. The crowd of fans isn't as big as Live Oak but I'm not one to disappoint and strut my stuff with style and class! The team is fit and ready. We all pass easily. I'm taken back to the stables but the rest of the team is taken back to the trailer, harnessed, hooked and taken out for dressage practice. Tuff is a little concerned when they come back to the stalls later than I expected. Donovan is still new to his leader position and is a little nervous. It takes a while to get Tuff and him really working well together. Once they are settled and working through the topline, they look great. Mike hopes that he can get this look in dressage tomorrow.
I'm only slightly jealous as the rest of the team is braided for dressage. You know I could care less about going around in aimless patterns in the ring, but I am all about fan recognition. The feeling passes and I go back to my hay as the team leaves for their test. Sometime later, I hear the announcer introducing Mike's horses. They say my name but all I can do is call helplessly from my stall while not one single fan can see me! It was torture! The only saving grace is that they are welcomed as a team of Friesians! As if. My cutting horse mother must be spinning in her grave! Mike must have been disturbed by this announcement as well because shortly thereafter, I hear a loud crash. As I was to hear about later, the carriage hit the arena boards and a bit of demolition occurred. Now, it could have been from Tina's tendency to let Ruff pull which caused her side to hit the boards, but I'm going with the distracted Mike theory. So between the board crashing and Don's nerves, the test wasn't stellar. Back at the stalls, I console the team and promise them that I can help make up the difference in marathon and cones.
Unlike other shows that we've been to lately, there is no day off between dressage and marathon. Mike and his gators have been out studying hazards every spare moment since we've arrived here. The hazards are well designed, offering both tight and technical routes as well as some more open options for a chance to really go! We're all decked out for marathon, boots on, tails braided, and anything that might come loose taped up. Section A is a little muddy from yesterday's rain but isn't a problem for us. It appears that there has been some sort of time keeping error and dispite our best efforts, we accrue time penalties. Mike is mad! We all sense his temper and walk as fast as we can in section D. We come in almost a minute early! All of us (Mike included) cool off at vet check. We laugh when we're told that we get an extra five minutes because of the heat. It's springtime here! At any rate, we're more than ready for hazards. All Mike's practice has paid off. He drives us smoothly around the course. I don't even mess with him and there's no ducking involved. We miss one turn in the last hazard but recover gracefully. The team all agrees that it went well. We know we can be faster but Mike put in a great effort. If not for the time penalty in section A, we would be fourth.
Finally it's cones day! This is my favorite part of the game! Mike's not stressed at all. We're out of the ribbons and he's feeling no pressure. We warm up, pass the vet check and wait for our turn. With three teams to go, we see the team that was to go right before us heading back to the barn. Apparently, there was a problem at vet check. We adjust our warmup time accordingly, feeling only slightly rushed. We are announced and enter the arena. I love this part! We navigate the course beautifully. We have one ball down in the zig-zag. Then, Tuff hits one with his hoof! I would have been so embarrassed. I would jump,dive,or levitate before I would hit a cone! The last section of the course is muddy and we happily splash through it. After all, we're not the ones who have to clean harness and carriage! Anyway, we think we finish with no time penalties.(There was no clock in the arena, so we relied on the stopwatches of bystanders.) Mike doesn't want to go in for the awards presentation since we're out of the ribbons. I protest that I must satisfy my fans and he relents. All the teams line up and it's quite an impressive sight. They start calling the winners up and we stand proudly. When they announce us in fourth place, Mike practically falls off the carriage. Since times were not announced, noone knew the order of placement in cones. It turns out we were first! We were the only team to finish within time. Even though I still don't have a blue ribbon, I feel like a winner. This is the best victory lap ever!
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