We got our World Appaloosa Showbook today, and who is on the cover? None other than Zippy!  It is a close up head shot taken by Darrell Dodds earlier in the year at our farm.  What a surprise!

This past weekend the kids entered in a local horse show. Things started off great with Sarah and Joe in showmanship. It’s a class where you show your horse in halter and are judged on how well you do it. They both did great. Joe ended up with a first and 3 seconds (there were 4 judges). Sarah made a small mistake on the pattern and ended up with thirds. The next class was leadline and Drew was amazing. He did everything perfect and I as the proud father was really impressed. He got a first, a second, a third, and a fourth out of seven little leadliners. What he likes best was that he won another trophy!

The following day did not start off as smoothly as the first.  Fanny was bull-headed with Sarah, so we decided to just go with Penny for both kids until we improve rider/horse cooperation. Fanny rides just fine for me and Kari, but once a little person gets on board who doesn’t know how to make her go under all circumstances, she resists.  In her defense, she had never seen a real pole or pole bending class (we used cloth markers yesterday to practice) nor had she seen barrels.  She didn’t spook at all, just balked and wanted to back up into the corner of the outdoor arena all the time like the roping horse she is, waiting in the “chute”.  It was very hard for Sarah to make her move out and both of them were really frustrated.  We need more practice. Better safe than sorry.

On Penny both Joe and Sarah showed well for their first times out in games and horsemanship classes.  I was proud of them that they remembered the patterns of the classes and kept a good attitude through it all. Special thanks to Buddy Deb who was there to cheer us all on and to Buddy Gail who was very helpful in giving the kids tips on how to remember each pattern they’ll have to do tomorrow for the first time. Gail was super, actually trotting out the patterns on foot herself to give them a visual on which way to turn, how fast to go, where the hangups were, etc.  What a very good friend she is.  

Penny was laying down a lot after coming home from the show. Her temperature was normal and her respiration calm, so a phone conversation with the vet ruled out major issues.  But we are still concerned and keeping an eye on her.  Maybe she was just tired after a busy weekend because she has been eating and drinking normally ever since. Very soon we will be starting her on Regumate, which helps mares retain their pregnancies. We’re going to do everything possible to see a healthy Penny foal next year!