Horse Show and Thistles

Our local saddle club had its first show of the year Saturday.  Since I had to be there anyway I went ahead and took a couple of horses with me.  E had just had her wisdom teeth out and didn't think she should be riding and V was helping a friend photograph a wedding so it was just me and J.

 I showed Brother in the Western Pleasure classes and got a 1st, 3rd and 5th.  He had moments of brilliance but those were usually outside the ring.  Inside the ring he would get tense and speed up when other horses passed or rode up on his tail.   I think he is still growing too.  I measured him the other day and he is 1/2 inch shy of 16 hands.

 I took Otoelene and showed her in the Ranch Pleasure classes.  She got 3rd, 4th and 5th.

 I think these were the most popular classes of the day.  Otoelene did ok except for the pattern class where she was a total embarrassment.   There were 4 poles in the middle that we were suppose to side pass then walk over.  She acted like she had never seen a pole before in her entire life and refused to side pass then she hit one and spooked herself.  I finally got her to walk over them.  I'm going to be trying to forget that one for a long time.

The trainer with the other mustang came and carried the flag at the start of the show.  She was amazing.  She also competed in the ranch pleasure and trail classes and placed in everything.  The horse is very nice and the trainer is fearless.  

Then this morning I took Hank for a ride.  I haven't ridden him in forever and thought he might like a trip out of the field. 

I went on a ride around the farm to inspect my thistle spraying.  I have obviously missed several.  You can see the wilted ones next to the bright green ones.  It is very hard to keep up with which ones have been sprayed.  I lose my place when I turn around to make another pass.  Sometimes I think, remember that patch of 3 together and that's where I left off.  Then I get turned back around and guess what, there are about a 100 patches of 3 together, and they all look alike.   So after a few days when they start to wilt I go back and spray more. 

We also checked on the cattle and had a very pleasant ride.