Saturday morning Jayden and I were up
bright and early, had continental breakfast, checked out of the hotel, got to
the fair and did chores all before 8AM. After Tex got his hay, it was time to
saddle and start day one of the horse show. Jayden showed Tex in the 2nd
class of the morning, halter. Tex looked so pretty and slicked up and clean. I
was so proud of Jayden as she decided to band her horses mane all by herself.
She didn’t exactly know how to do it , but saw a picture and took off. It took
some time and patience, but what made me proud was SHE did it. 
There are many things
about the fair that irritate me and today I saw it all. As I looked through the
barn at the many parents grooming, banding, and fixing up their horses for
their kids. One girl the same age nearby, her mom even saddles her horse for
her. Down the aisle I noticed another girl had set out her table in front of
her stall in preparation to hold all the many trophies she was expecting to
win. Wow, I thought how very confident one must be to do that. Halter went
well, Tex is no halter horse but he got a blue and was in the top half of the
class. He didn’t even have an artificial tail. Don’t even get me started on
that!
The first riding class of the day was trail class. Tex did a great job
for Jayden. He went through the rope gate, trotted over logs, picked up his
correct lead for the lope, backed through the L shape without much trouble, did
a 360 turn in the square, and finished by side passing over logs both ways. In
side passing, he bumped the logs a few times but never stepped on or over. I
was impressed. The judge was not. Jayden got a red ribbon and was disqualified because while
backing, she picked up her other rein for a second. Only one other girl
was in her class and during her pattern, dropped the rope, hit the logs, horse did not back the L
and spun, and rolled the logs and did not do well side passing at all. She took
the trophy. That was a hard lesson and I was not a happy mama. I was so disappointed and discouraged. I thought that was an obvious win for Jayden and
I was waiting for her to get her trophy for the year. I was most disgusted with
the judge. He also told the two girls in the class he could tell they are both
barrel racers and are just showing in these classes to get points. Wow, he
already picked them out and for the rest of the day he has already formed his
opinion. UGH! This being a 4H show, they should not disqualify for something so
minor. The juniors even got disqualified as many were inexperienced and used
roping resins and two hands the whole trail class. He really criticized them in front of the audiencee over the microphone. I was upset with how the judge was handling this youth 4H
show. Mark was upset too and told Jayden maybe she should just draw out for the
rest of the day as this judge has already pegged Jadyen and her horse. I was
upset but told Jayden she is here and worked all spring for this we might as
well keep going. We aren’t going to let that judge get the best of us. And so
we perservered. The rest of the day ended up going well. Horsemanship, Walk
Trot, and Western Pleasure, and bareback walk /trot. In Horsemanship the judge told Jayden and Paton
that he had to "choose the lesser of the two evils" since they were the only two
in the class. Oh that judge just burned me! I would like to have had a word with
that man. She won Western Pleasure and took a trophy. That was pretty sweet.
The judge told her she would do well in a Ranch Western Pleasure with a horse
like Tex. Jayden was pretty tired of it all and opted not to do the costume class. It was a rough day of ups and downs and it was good to be done. The show was over by 6. Mark took the boys home and Jayden and I went back to the hotel to rest and get ready to do it all again in the morning.
There are many things
about the fair that irritate me and today I saw it all. As I looked through the
barn at the many parents grooming, banding, and fixing up their horses for
their kids. One girl the same age nearby, her mom even saddles her horse for
her. Down the aisle I noticed another girl had set out her table in front of
her stall in preparation to hold all the many trophies she was expecting to
win. Wow, I thought how very confident one must be to do that. Halter went
well, Tex is no halter horse but he got a blue and was in the top half of the
class. He didn’t even have an artificial tail. Don’t even get me started on
that!
The first riding class of the day was trail class. Tex did a great job
for Jayden. He went through the rope gate, trotted over logs, picked up his
correct lead for the lope, backed through the L shape without much trouble, did
a 360 turn in the square, and finished by side passing over logs both ways. In
side passing, he bumped the logs a few times but never stepped on or over. I
was impressed. The judge was not. Jayden got a red ribbon and was disqualified because while
backing, she picked up her other rein for a second. Only one other girl
was in her class and during her pattern, dropped the rope, hit the logs, horse did not back the L
and spun, and rolled the logs and did not do well side passing at all. She took
the trophy. That was a hard lesson and I was not a happy mama. I was so disappointed and discouraged. I thought that was an obvious win for Jayden and
I was waiting for her to get her trophy for the year. I was most disgusted with
the judge. He also told the two girls in the class he could tell they are both
barrel racers and are just showing in these classes to get points. Wow, he
already picked them out and for the rest of the day he has already formed his
opinion. UGH! This being a 4H show, they should not disqualify for something so
minor. The juniors even got disqualified as many were inexperienced and used
roping resins and two hands the whole trail class. He really criticized them in front of the audiencee over the microphone. I was upset with how the judge was handling this youth 4H
show. Mark was upset too and told Jayden maybe she should just draw out for the
rest of the day as this judge has already pegged Jadyen and her horse. I was
upset but told Jayden she is here and worked all spring for this we might as
well keep going. We aren’t going to let that judge get the best of us. And so
we perservered. The rest of the day ended up going well. Horsemanship, Walk
Trot, and Western Pleasure, and bareback walk /trot. In Horsemanship the judge told Jayden and Paton
that he had to "choose the lesser of the two evils" since they were the only two
in the class. Oh that judge just burned me! I would like to have had a word with
that man. She won Western Pleasure and took a trophy. That was pretty sweet.
The judge told her she would do well in a Ranch Western Pleasure with a horse
like Tex. Jayden was pretty tired of it all and opted not to do the costume class. It was a rough day of ups and downs and it was good to be done. The show was over by 6. Mark took the boys home and Jayden and I went back to the hotel to rest and get ready to do it all again in the morning.
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