Walla Walla Fair & Frontier Days Open Horse Show

I had pre-entered Sinwaan into the Fair's open halter show in the "Other Breeds, 5 & Over" class.

I aimed to be at the barn by 5 am to feed Sinwaan and give him enough time to eat. Well as it turns out I didn't get to the barn until about 6 am. I fed him and sanded his hooves while he ate. He got through about 3/4 of his breakfast and then I decided I needed to move him to get working on the grooming for the show. I put him in the shower stall and started with clipping his whiskers. He was fairly co-operative. I also clipped the underside of his jaw and his bridlepath. Once I was satisfied that he was tidy I hosed him down. Well he hated me for that because it was only about 50 degrees outside. I thoroughly washed out his tail with Quicksilver to try and make it white again and washed the rest of him with a rag since I had forgotten my bucket to dilute the shampoo. I scraped the water off of him as fast as I could and once I was done he was shivering. I then spritzed him with Show Sheen all over.

I tied him at the end of the barn so he could be in the little bit of sun that was just coming up and I put a fleece blanket over his back and rump to help prevent cramping. Well about then Ruth showed up (7 am) and she got to work on detangling his tail while I worked on his mane. Then Ruth braided and wrapped his tail. We added hoof oil to his hooves and baby oil to his muzzle and around his eyes. I added a little vasoline to his forelock. I thought about adding gel to his mane but it was laying fairly flat so it didn't look like he would need it.

I was worried about the time but as it turns out we got pretty much everything done by 8:15 am and loaded up and hit the road.

As we pulled into the fairgrounds I could not believe the crowd of trailers. Where on earth would we park? I was glad Ruth had a little trailer, easy to navigate. Some fair workers motioned for us to turn in the first gate and then stamped our hands and told us where to park. Another man pointed at a spot once we pulled around back. We had to pull straight in with no outlet to the front. We unloaded Sinwaan and pulled off his blanket, and I swapped halters. Well wouldn't you know the moment I touched the clasp for the show halter it just fell apart. Half of it dropped into the gravel, lost forever. I freaked out for a second, wondering why this was happening to me NOW? Then I tried putting the chain around the concho and it looked like that would work. (Relief!) Ruth unbraided his tail and he looked just fabulous.

We walked over to the big indoor arena where I thought the show would be. Nope, it was full of cows. Shoot! That is where I told my brother to meet me. I looked over to the outdoor covered arena, full of sheep. Where the heck is the horse show?! I asked one guy and he had no idea. So we wandered over to the outdoor arena and I saw some horse ears and figured that had to be the place. Ruth held Sinwaan while I went to the registration table and got checked in. I was number 507. I took it back with me and Ruth pinned it on my jacket. Sinwaan was edgy but not unmanageable. Would he set up for me? It's been 10 days since I have even seen him, quite a vacation he's had.

The halter show was set to begin at 8 am on Sunday morning, and was divided into Paint, QH, Pony, Mini and Other. They ended up combining some classes (ages) so even though we got there about 8:25 am we didn't have long to stand around and wait for our class.

Yet I took him over to a corner where we would have a little room to work. The first couple times I tried to set him up he would step sideways or jump around, trying to see all the sights and sounds. After a quick correction he got down to business and stood nicely for me a couple times. After that I led him back to ringside to wait for our class. He relaxed after a couple minutes and rested, enjoying the breeze.

I saw Kasey and she asked about Kittee. I told her I hadn't seen her, so she must have gone looking. They showed up just in time, as the Other Breeds class was combined for all ages. Cripes, I would be showing against them after all!

We had a sizeable entry for our class, but I did not learn until later that there were 11 entries. We were next to last going in the ring. The judge was about 30' feet in from the gate and we walked up to him, and then trotted to a cone and then went to our place in line. I was going to let Sinwaan relax at that point until I looked over and saw the judge looking over all the horses so I set him up quickly. He did great for me. Although the darn cologne on my hand didn't seem to work for him very well :-) Sure did stink! The judge seemed to start from the last horse in the ring, looking at them from the rear, side and front, and asking the age. He did not take too long in judging, although I was able to move Sinwaan around a bit and set him up about three times.

My mom showed up to watch the class, and Jenee and Maddaly were there too. Ruth and Jenee' both took some super photos for me. (Thanks!!)

As they called the results, they started out by saying "First place... 500...." I was waiting for her to say "and seven" but she didn't. Darn! Second place... ?? Third place is "number 507, Shana Bobbitt' WAHOO!! I trotted Sinwaan down to the exit gate. I didn't see anyone handing out ribbons though. Oh well. I talked with Jenee' and Ruth and my mom for a while. My brother couldn't get in without paying so he gave up. Matt was going to video tape for me but I had our gate passes and he didn't have any money.

Rosey, the McKuster's Arab filly placed 4th.

I came back later and asked about ribbons, they gave me a sticker and told me to trade it in for a ribbon at the exhibitors office. The woman in the office had no idea where the ribbons are. Back to see Heidi...she gave me a ribbon. It is a nice small rosette. Heidi also signed my Open Show form for AHA. We'll see if I get a point for this placement or not...worth a shot!