All Western Open Horse Show

After two weeks and several hundred dollars, Bandit looks like he never had a problem. He was sound and did well today. Here's how we did in our classes:

Showmanship Amateur 1 of 5 (PAC point, yay)
Showmanship Open 3 of 3
Advanced showmanship 3 of 3
Horsemanship Amateur no call of 8
Horsemanship Open 4 of 6
Trail Amateur no call of 7
Trail Open 3 of 6
Country pleasure no call of 22 (buckle class,only placed 1-5th instead of 7th, bummer)
Western pleasure amateur no call of 6
Western pleasure open 3 of 6

The judge gave me advice to use more implusion for the lope. He complimented our jog and downward transition, but didn't like our lope. Of course, my trainer has told me this from time to time, but I didn't realize it was such a problem. Even worse, I don't know how to fix it. I've been working on this for three years and can't do it properly. My friends and trainer tell us we did well, but it doesn't feel like it. It feels like I'm trying to play basketball with people who are 6 feet tall but I'm only 4 feet tall. It just can't be done with what we have. I'm not sure why I can't be happy with just being able to show Bandit and get a very occasional first place, but I'm not. I think I'm the only one that gets one PAC point per show. Even a first timer got more points then me today. It's so depressing. I felt like crying more than once at the show today. That doesn't seem like fun to me. It's fun to practice on the weekends. But were not practicing correctly so it's not effective. I practice nearly every weekend, get grief from my husband for not being home, and still can't manage to do well. Is it really worth it? It doesn't seem like it but I have a hard time giving it up.

What happened Bandit??

All fixed up and ready to go home...



Bandit went to see the vet today. His was lame this last weekend, similar to the problem he had a year ago. At that time we tried several treatments and he seemed fine all year. But apparently it wasn't enough. So he's getting a different kind of injection this time.

Waiting for the vet to arrive...



First injection...




Second injection...



Now we wait and see how it works...