My "calm" horse had a very interesting first test. First of all, although this is the third time we have been to this farm, he (like most horses there) hates the warmup arena that is off in the trees. It was very windy, so I spent lots of time just walking him, then doing lots of transitions. He never did relax. So we entered the perimeter to wait for the judge's bell to ring. There were jump standards and large obstacles stacked against the fence, and he was pretty suspicious until I walked him casually past it. That done, I failed to turn him and have his other eye experience the monsters. We were doing pretty well, and picked up his wonderful uphill canter where he saw the jump monsters with the other eye. I have never moved so big and so fast on a horse. He really only spooked a couple of steps, but it was very impressive. We blew that move and the next one because I brought him down to the trot to recover. We got a fair score anyway. The next test he was a bit tense and he seemed to misbehave in a corner ( I know this judge likes good corners). After the class the scribe told me they were pretty worried when the cow showed up. I had not seen it, but a very large, pregnant, black and white cow has gotten through a fence, and was about 15 feet from the arena. Very interesting day, but Winston walked through the woods just fine after the tests. I have learned to consciously relax in order to get a horse to be comfortable, but Winston just didn't settle during the tests. These schooling shows are not entered into USDF scores, but we have real judges, and the only difference is that we don't have to dress up. It was still a good day with at least a couple of red ribbons.

Winston in 2001

Winston in 2000