The Real Work Begins....

Once we had all the horses settled in, and got a good nights sleep, we arrived back at the showgrounds early on Sunday morning. We had 5 days to get the set-up done and horses worked before the show started. When we go to horse shows, we usually have at least 6 people for setting up. We only had 4 this time. Plus we usually bring along one of the guys from the farm to clean stalls, feed, water and keep the barn clean. We did not have that additional help this year, so AJ and I were in charge of stalls and feeding on top of setting up, getting the horses ready to be worked and when the show started, getting the horses ready to show. It was a lot of additional responsibilty in our already jam packed days.

The hotel we were staying at was on the showgrounds. It had been remodeled and I didn't think it was bad. But D thought it should have been nicer for what he was paying a night there. So he decided to put us up in a hotel they usually stay at when they go to Nationals that was a few miles from the showgrounds. D kept telling us that it was really nice, it was cheaper and we would really like it. So after one night in the first hotel, we had to pack up Sunday morning to move to another hotel that evening. When we got to the "new" hotel, the rooms weren't as nice as the first place and within an hour of getting there, all we could hear was music from the bar and people screaming really loud. It went on all night. AJ and I could.not.sleep. The next day, D asked us how we liked the hotel, and for us to be honest with him. We told him that we couldn't sleep and it was really loud. He said if it continued he would get us another room on another floor. Well, that night D didn't get any sleep due to a fight right outside of our rooms, security telling these people that they needed to leave and not come back, loud music again, and the real kicker was that we found out that 2 meth labs were discovered in that hotel recently. Lovely... D told us Tuesday morning that him and T were going to drive around and find us another hotel. So we moved hotels...again, third time's a charm, right?

Back to the showgrounds....AJ and I worked on getting the tack room and 2 ready rooms set up, while T and D worked on getting the framing done for the drapes, the kitchen/bar and dressing room ready. If you haven't been to an Arab show before, all the barns do really big set-ups that usually consist of a living room/sitting area. We rented leather furniture, dining room tables/chairs and a huge flat screen t.v. Basically our set up was living/dining area. It's a homey place for clients and us to relax, when we get a chance too! One of the really great things about U.S. Nationals is that we get live feed from the show arena's, so we could watch classes/warm-ups on the big screen t.v. This is the only show that we get a live feed to our barn. It made it so much easier to see what was going on instead of just listening to the announcer over the intercom.

By the end of Monday, we had our set up done, so then we were able to concentrate on working horses the next couple days. On Wednesday, I was helping D with a 3 yr old purebred English horse, Austin. This was only his 2nd show, so he was having a hard time settling in. I lunged him really good before I took him into the Pavilion for D to get on him. He had already worked Austin in the Pavilion the day before and he pretty much just walked and trotted him to get him to settle in. This day he seemed to be doing better, he was still a little spooky but held it together pretty good. I was standing in the middle of the arena when D rode him to where I was standing. I was standing to Austin's right side while D went to dismount. Austin bolted and turned towards me, went over the top of me, as I was trying to get out from under him. He hit my shoulder, side, came down my leg and onto my foot. If I hadn't attempted to run out of the way, he would have probably came down on my head. I had a hold of the reins and tried holding on to him, but the reins were covered in sweat and I couldn't hang on any longer. D hadn't been all the way off, so when Austin bolted, D went down in the dirt. I didn't see this part, but after Austin tried running over me, he spun and tried kicking D, and after we let him go (D was also trying to hold onto Austin) he ran off about 20 feet from us. D got up and asked if I was okay. I said he got my leg and foot and the pain was intense. I have been stepped on many times before, but don't remember the pain being quite as bad. We were able to get Austin quickly and D worked on mounting and dismounting. He kept trying to bolt every time D would go to get on and off. D told me that Austin did this the day before we left for the show and that was the first time he had bolted while he was dismounting. I had never heard that he did this before the show, and would have probably been a good thing to know, but D probably thought it was a one time thing. Apparently not. Once D got Austin relaxed while getting on and off, I took him back to the barn. D made the decision to not show him, he obviously needed more training. Later that day, I was finding it very hard to get around. My foot was really hurting. That night we all went out to dinner at a very nice Italian restaurant, and I could barely walk. When we got back to the "new" hotel room (which turned out to be very nice and quiet!), I iced my foot. It was black and blue and very swollen. I gimped around pretty badly for the next few days and AJ had to do pick up a lot of additional responsibility since I couldn't get around so well. She was awesome! Our clients were great and were making me sit down and ice throughout the day. One of the vet's even did a laser therapy treatment on my foot. I don't know if it helped, but I don't think anything could have helped at that time. After a few days, I finally could walk on even ground pretty good. But when it came to walking on uneven ground, like in the arena's, it hurt so bad. If I landed on my foot wrong, the pain was so intense. Speaking of our clients, they also made us lunch everyday and made sure we took a minute to eat. They made sandwiches, fajita's and just tons of good stuff. I don't know what we would have done without them!

On Friday the show started. We had a few horses showing. On Saturday, the assistant trainer, M, was flying in. We were really looking forward to her being there. We were pretty overwhelmed. Even though D decided to not show Austin, he did want M to ride Austin while she was there. M worked Austin and worked on mounting and dismounting. D then changed his mind and decided to show him. I think he was nervous about it, but he did it and he made the cut into the finals! Plus another farm was very interested in him after seeing him in that class. And all of our horses made their cuts into the finals until 7 days into the show, when we had a couple horses that didn't make their cuts. We had quite a few Top 10's also. A client got Top 10 in Sidesaddle and Showhack. Another client got Top 10 in Country English Pleasure. One of our farm horses got Top 10 in the Hunter Pleasure Futurity. Both our halter horses got Top 10's. One of our clients horses was shown by another trainer that had trained the horse. He got Champion in Showhack. All in all it was a very good show. D told me that it was our best Nationals ever. He was in a very good mood. And we ended up selling Austin.

Picture of the Championship trophy that was won by the trainer riding our clients horse in Showhack. That is my beer there....a much needed one.



On Friday and Saturday evening, D told us to take the nights off. They gave us coupons to go to the Patron's lounge and get ourselves some drinks, then we went and watched the evening classes in the Pavilion. We watched a Park horse class. Wow is all I have to say. A few days before we had watched an Amatuer Park horse class which was absolutely crazy, but this was the open. Wow. Crazy stuff. I didn't take my digital camera to Tulsa at all, I had heard theft is really bad at this horse show (Tommy Garland had a show saddle and other stuff stolen from his stalls on the last night, and he even had a groom staying at the barn!) So all picture's are taken from my cell phone.



The last 2 nights of the show were crazy. Besides getting both Friday and Saturday nights off to watch classes, every farm throws a huge party. There is loud music, bands, food, people (and drunk people) everywhere! It was crazy. We didn't stick around long after the classes, we were too exhausted to join in any fun.

Plus we knew we were leaving the next day, after taking the entire set-up down and loading it all back into the horse trailers...........

To be continued...........