Champion Coolie!

Sorry I’ve been MIA for a couple weeks - life has been hectic and I just haven’t felt like I’ve had the time to really sit down and write out everything that has been going on. Tonight, I’m avoiding washing my dishes (for...like...not the first day in a row...oops) and starting to type.

The Johnny update is a quick one because he’s been totally broken since blowing a big abscess out of the side of his frog. I’m not actually convinced that it’s finished exploding yet, and my wonderful farrier lives quite far away and isn’t headed out my way for another couple weeks, unfortunately. In the meantime, Johnny is certainly significantly less lame then he was during the abscess ordeal, but he’s more lame now than he was before it. His current regiment includes all day turnout, carrot stretches, and either handwalking/ground work or tack walking whenever I get a chance. Last week I think I walked him undersaddle twice and did ground work one day. I’ve been riding him without a bridle lately, just in a halter and lead rope and he seems to like that. I also bought him a dirt cheap, moldy, 5-point breast collar off a girl on FB. It cleaned up ok and seems to be helping A LOT to keep the saddle from sliding so far back on his muscle-less body. I’m in the process of working up a “rehab” schedule for him based on what the farrier finds in that foot when he finally comes.

Cool on the other hand, is AWESOME. This past Sunday,  Mo, Dee, and I packed up Cool and Mo’s mini Buck and headed to the first show in a local winter series. Mo and I have been planning on attending the series for the past few months, just as a way to stay in practice over the winter. The facility is indoors (although it’s always FREEZING in there), it’s not too far away, the food is good, and the classes are cheap. It seemed like the perfect idea for keeping our horses heads “in the game” over the winter. In typical Katie fashion, I decided the night before the show that I was also going g to show western (side note: western is NOT my jam. Also, although I have all the fun tack, Cool has never shown in a western class.)

See? I told you this was fun.

Anyway, so we packed up a zillion things, two horses and my kid, and headed off to the horse show for the day.

Dee showed Cool first in three different morning halter classes...her first time back in the show ring in 10 years! Cool is, of course, bred for halter and pretty much instinctively shows himself in the ring, so I figured it was a good place for Dee to get her feet wet again. And wet she got them because Cool was 3rd in the jackpot halter, 2nd in AQHA halter and 1st in the Open W/T halter, which was enough to qualify him and Dee for the grand champion class! He moved up a placing in that class and actually beat the horse that he had previously lost to, clinching the Reserve Grand Champion halter horse ribbon! To see us all there you would have thought we had just won Quarter Horse Congress or something LOL! But in reality, it was Cool’s best halter showing to date and Dee was SO EXCITED.

Next I rode him and completely blew our first English rail class as Cool slammed on the breaks right in front of the judge to sneeze and itch his face on his leg (really Cool? REALLY???) but he redeemed himself by winning our English equitation class so I let it go 😝

Next was western, and after piddling around at the stall for a while I suddenly realized that I hadn’t really been keeping track of the classes and we were UP NEXT so I threw his saddle and bridle on, passed my kid to Mo and Dee gave me a running leg up heading down the barn aisle. Ten steps of jog down to the ingate and we were suddenly showing.

Cool kept it together for the western pleasure class, which was a little surprising to me consider the small details of not really knowing how to jog or NECK REIN for that matter. I sat up as straight and tall and I could and tried not to brace against him. When the class finally lined up, I gave him a big pat, sat back, and waiting for them to finish calling places so that I could actually go warm up...that is, until I realized that the announcer was calling my number in SECOND PLACE, at which point in time I almost fell off Cool from shock. He went on to WIN the next class (western equitation) and placed 4th in showmanship after completely blowing his 270 pivot (oh well, better luck next time!)
I’m SO PROUD of him!!!

Dee and Cool in the show ring

  

Reserve Grand Champion!

Showing off all but the Jackpot ribbon (because we didn’t have it yet!)

I have to upload the pictures of my from my phone still...next time!

Peace.Love.Ponies.