Equine Comeback Challenge 2016

We had a fun time at the Rocky Mountain Horse Expo this weekend!

The adventure began with extensive packing of the horse trailer.  Fason ended up with a hoof abscess two days before we left, so he had to stay home.  The night before expo is always a time of reflection for me, and I paused to feel gratitude for my many opportunities, fancy horses, good dogs, and functional equipment.

It was a very full weekend.  Dewey performed in his encore exhibition as part of the 2016 Equine Comeback Challenge, I was interviewed by 9 News and The Fence Post newspaper, and Highboy did dressage and jumping with the Retired Racehorse Project clinic sessions.  We arrived Thursday morning and got settled in.  Dewey was a ham in the barn and in all his interviews.

We had a stall guard set up so he was contained in his stall but could hang his head out to greet his adoring public.  He spent most of his time nodding at pedestrians and schmoozing with the folks who stopped by to admire him. I couldn't let Highboy have a stall guard for socializing because he kept trying to rearrange the display table and lip wrestle with strangers.

We had to wait a little while for some arenas to empty out so that we could ride in them as preparation and exposure to where we would be presenting. 

After riding, Bit of Honey Training hosted a pizza party at the tack stall for the Equine Comeback Challenge trainers and events organizers.  It was fun to meet the other trainers in person!  We've all seen each other's names online as we got ready for the Challenge, but it was great to actually meet everyone. 

Once the horses were tucked in for the night, I locked the tack stall as always and we adjourned to our hotel.  As a barn dog in the big city, Miles was pleased to have a soft cushy bed to sleep on!

Then Friday morning dawned much earlier than we would have liked, so off to the barn we went.  Dewey had his pattern class at eight am as the first horse to go, and he did pretty well.  His right lead is difficult for him without a cavalletti to help him with a jump-start, but he did the best he could so I was proud.

This was the ranch riding pattern class, but it almost looks like we could be halting for a dressage test.  Dewey got lots of pats for being good, and he got a chance to schmooze with Mariah, the brains behind this whole operation of the Comeback Challenge. 

 Later that morning I also rode Highboy in the Retired Racehorse Project's dressage clinic session.  Highboy was still excited about being in a new place (imagine a frat boy on spring break - party on!) so he was pretty wound up.  Steuart Pittman was presenting the session as the president of the RRP and he liked Highboy, so I let him hop on and take Highoby for a spin at the end of the dressage session.  As a fellow event rider, he appreciated my very flat cross country jumping saddle, made for two point position over fences.  Highboy is not far enough along in his development to be ridden in a dressage saddle, his back is not mature enough to have a rider take a deep seat with him.  So I ride him in this saddle that is more similar to an exercise saddle from the track.

Some video of Steuart riding Highboy can be seen here:
https://www.facebook.com/kim.leonard.100/posts/10208871883371830?ref=notif&notif_t=like

Saturday was the trail class for Dewey, which I had expected to be his easiest phase of the show.  Dewey is normally a very calm and level headed horse, which makes him perfect for disproving the stereotypes of OTTBs being hot and difficult to handle.  Because of his lovely temperament, I often forget that he is only four years old.  This trail class was a good reminder that sometimes a young horse misplaces his brain, and Dewey seemed to have forgotten his just outside the arena gates that morning.  Despite being absolutely solid about backing, turning, sidepassing, and cantering at home, he insisted that he had no idea what I was talking about when I asked for those maneuvers in the trail class.  It wasn't a big deal, because horse expo is a great place for a youngster to make these mistakes.  He did go over the bridge nicely in the beginning!

After trail class was over we took some photos of the entire group of Equine Comeback Challenge trainers from this year.

I spent the rest of the day visiting with old friends, clients, and we spent the day shopping at vendors (miraculously I did NOT spend all my lunch money on tack or this flattering chair!) and enjoying a catered lunch hosted by the Colorado Unwanted Horse Association.

Sunday dawned with much anticipation regarding my freestyle with Dewey.  First I had to ride in the RRP jumping clinic session with Highboy, where he demonstrated just how scopey his is and how incredibly well he uses his back over fences to create an ideal bascule in the air with his body shape.  We didn't get many photos of it, but I can attest that he was fabulous over fences.

 Then it was time to hustle back to the barn and get dressed for our Wizard of Oz freestyle!  I was Dorothy, Dewey was the cowardly lion, and Miles was Toto. 

Walking around the barn and show areas in this costume was very entertaining!  We attracted stares and comments, prompting my oft repeated statement of "We do it all for the photos!"  A colleague of mine did her freestyle to music from Grease, while she was dressed as Sandy and her horse was decorated as Greased Lightning.

Once it was our turn in the arena to perform, we started our act by doing a little flat work, redeeming ourselves with nice turns, backing, and some trotting of a serpentine.

Then we jumped over the rainbow, and did our canter work as Judy Garland's voice from the movie sang about finding somewhere over the rainbow.

Gradually the music shifted to some munchkins encouraging us to follow the yellow brick road.  The well known chorus of "follow the yellow brick road, we're off to see the wizard!" played and we used this opportunity to parade down the yellow tablecloth yellow brick road.

Lastly we took a victory gallop around the arena, to show the crowd just how cool racehorses are.

Video of the whole performance can be seen at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZ0veZzQ7wI&feature=youtu.be

They asked us to stay until the very end of the freestyle so that they could get good group photos of all the competitors presenting that day.  Dewey took a little nap outside the arena and Miles enjoyed the sunshine while we waited for them to finish the other freestyles and calculate the scores for the folks who were competing.  During this time I was interviewed by The Fence Post newspaper, and the article should come out tomorrow. 

After they announced the placings for the Comeback Challenge I had to hustle back over to the barns with Dewey, hand him off to my friends who were there helping me, do a very fast wardrobe change myself, and grab Highboy so we could return to the Events Center for a conformation assessment with the RRP.  Highboy received glowing reviews on his conformation and way of moving.   My favorite part was when Steuart took a good long look into Highboy's face and declared he looked like a gangly goofball teenager with a sense of humor.  That's about as accurate as it gets!  It's true that he is not the horse for everyone, but he is the perfect horse for me.

It was a great weekend in Denver connecting with old friends, showing off my OTTBs, and performing as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz.  I am incredibly grateful for the folks who came and took pictures, especially Kimberly Hale Photography.  My working student, Jasi, was really the behind-the-scenes star.  She cleaned stalls, fed horses, ran around the show grounds, managed to find a great deal buying a pair of breeches for herself, and never once complained about the long days, short nights, or the excess amounts of slobbery horse kisses.  As I declare every year, it takes a village - and I'm grateful for mine!

The press release with the information about how the Comeback Challenge turned out can be seen here:
http://ahomeforeveryhorse.com/article/2016-rocky-mountain-equine-comeback-challenge-31929