AMHA World Show Trip
October 1-5, 2007
(click on photos to enlarge them)

 

 

Our trip to the Worlds can never seem to be easy. The entire year had been rocky with several trips to the UGA vet school. Then there were some things that happened right before we left. I won't go into all the details but let's just say it was very hard to focus on the show and what needed to be done but somehow we did it.

The trip to Texas is always a grueling one for me. Thank goodness we had friends in Mississppi (just about at the half way point of 8-9 hours) that allowed us to stop there and unload. Glen Oaks is in Meridian Miss and Ms. Glen was nice enough to let us get the horses off and stall them so they could have a couple of hours rest, roll around, and drink and eat standing still. We also got a nice tour of her beautiful facility.

Deb and I had wanted to take Jammer back to see if he could better himself in his placings in Showmanship. I'm proud to say he did despite some very tough odds for him. He was blinded in his left eye in March of this year in a freak accident where my yearling kicked him "just right" in the left eye which detached his retina.

Thinking his show career was over at that point, Jammer proved himself the wonderful horse that he is by being his "normal" self when asked to do things - like drive (he went on to get his Hall of Fame in driving with that handicap) and do showmanship though he could not "see" his handler standing at his left side. He had to re-learn some cues and it is a testiment to his attitude and personality that he adjusted quickly to the situation.

 

Jammer placed third in a nice Open Showmanship class. Of course, Deb was disappointed that she missed getting a trophy by ONE placing.

 

We also decided to take my weanling, Luna, to show in her color class. Luna had also had a rocky year having colic surgery at only four weeks old but coming through with flying colors (details here). I had showed her in some of the local AMHA and AMHR shows and one judge had just gone on and on about how she needed to go a World or National level show becuase she was a top ten in color. When she went to the AMHA Eastern Regionals and won Reserve Champion Multi Color mare against some nice, grown mares I believed that judge might be right.

 

Being a weanling, Luna got very bored and tired of standing in a stall most of the week. By the time we got to her color class which was on the last day she was SO over the whole showing thing. She pitched the biggest fit I have ever seen a horse pitch. She was rearing and flipping before the class and she went most of the first direction with her ears pinned back because she was mad. She finally calmed by the time we lined up.

It's a good thing she's pretty becuase I would have hated to have gone through all of that for nothing. I'm proud to say she proved that judge right and top tenned in her color class.

 

Since Jammer was handicapped and we didn't want to push him too much, Deb decided she would take Eclipse, a gelding that belonged to a friend of ours. Eclipse has a very good pedigree and we knew he had the stamina to drive forever and he can jump anything but he was not shown much and just hung out in the pasture for the most part.

Deb took him for a few months and got him in shape and polished him up a bit. To our surprise, he made the cut for Amatuer county pleasure (very competitive) and then went on to top ten in both Amateur Hunter and Amateur Jumper. Not bad for a pasture pony!

Probably the biggest surprise of all was Bloom. Thanks to my sister, Sheila, for encourageing me to take her. I had not planned to - the year had been quite a drain monetarily due to the various vet stays at the UGA vet school - but Sheila insisted Bloom go.

She ran a wonderful Amateur Hunter course with me and we might have actually placed had I not "given up" and let my hand down coming up on the last jump and I let my rein knock the jump standard down. I was SOOO disappointed you cannot believe.

But, Bloom came back to make it all better by winning fifth place in the three year old Hunter Futurity with Deb. She got a huge neck sash and a nice futurity check. I don't think we had expected that of her. I'm so proud of her because she was my first baby born at Southern Crystal so she is special to me.

Deb poses with the three horses she showed. I'm amazed we got them to all stand up beside each other with minimal squabbling. Jammer is standing there loose with no lead rope actually -he's such a good boy! We had a very successful but tiring week. Thanks to all who helped make this possible - Richard, Mr. and Mrs. Boone, Sheila, and Deb! We love you all.