Our first class wasn't scheduled until after 3pm on Friday. With that in mind, I went ahead and volunteered to steward the futurity because they couldn't find anyone else (wanted to try to give back the Club). Well it ended up that Art didn't get out of his stall all day and the futurity didn't end until 1:30pm - with my class scheduled to begin at 2:30 pm. I had one hour to prep him and he came out of his stall bug eyed and hollering for every horse in site. I did what I could, but he was so anxious and insecure that no amount of riding was going to take the edge off - so away we went in our first class with him, high headed and barely containable. He shouldn't have been shown. I ended up last under both judges and to make matters worse, he wouldn't stand still in lineup - he was just half-crazed. I took him back to my trailer and switched to a western saddle and went off to ride him down a bit. It took awhile, but he finally calmed down and would walk and only hollered every other lap. I wore him out, I wore myself out and I wore Dave out watching us.
The next day my strategy was to ride him several times during the day to get him calm enough to show. It wasn't working, he was tired, but still anxious about the other horses - not scared, just wanted to qawk at every single horse in his vacinty. He was wearing me out. I then decided it wasn't worth it for me to wear his legs out for a stupid SPB class of two. I decided to scratch him from the show and take him home. I wanted one last time in the warm up arena with other horses just to get him out there. He eventually relaxed enough to walk and trot without being too upset, but he just would lope correctly - even picking up the wrong lead most of the time.
I took Art home and put him away and thought about my actions, what I could have done differently, should I have just stayed and got him showed - did I make the right decision. I'm still thinking about that last one because I'm sure that my class is getting read to go in as I type. The one thing that hurt the most was other people's reaction to my quitting. While some said I was doing the right thing and there was always next year, a few made me feel bad, including this especially nasty Vet who has a superiority complex. I'm not too fond of this woman and she made me feel pretty bad about myself and about Art. I'm also unhappy with my club for their disregard of the SPB classes. I never felt more of a second class citizen then I did at this show.
I still love Art and have high hopes for him. Still working on his AQHA papers and once they are in place, I may never go back to a APHA show. I'm thinking instead of going to a big Open show series that they have in Phoenix every month instead while waiting for his QH papers. More competition and more acceptance for Art. Sounds like I quit more than the show this weekend, I'm pretty sure I'm quitting APHA too.
