Chapter 10--The Halloween Show

After the hunter pace show, the owner of the farm, Ms. Candy, started getting ready for her gymkhana/fun shows again.  She had gotten the barrels out for barrel racing and the poles for pole bending were set up.  I watched the other horses race around the barrels and weave through poles when Nicole walked me out after we were done working on dressage.  I noticed that the horses sometimes would also work on the difficult task of cantering with flying lead changes. That was something I couldn’t do with a rider yet. 

 

One evening I asked Mister about all of what was going on.

“Mister?”

“Yeah?” he responded.

“Why is Candy having you all work so hard now?  She didn’t do this last fall or winter.”

He looked at me with an enormous mouthful of hay, “It’s time to practice for the schooling shows, so later we and our humans can compete at the fair.”

I never heard of a fair.  “What’s a fair?  Is it a particular type of horse show?”

“Nah, it’s just a location where the competition around here is tight.” He said still chewing up his hay.

I was trying to understand, “ So, the fair is just a place where they have competitive horse shows?”

Mister smiled, “Yes.  Susannah and I almost always win.”

I noticed his smile starting to disappear.

“She’s starting to get sick of me, though.” Mister sighed.

“Why would she be sick of you?” I blurted out without thinking.

Mister looked up towards the ring, where Susannah was riding a tall thoroughbred mare in English tack, “She’s taken more interest in Delia and only riding English.”

I felt so bad for him.  He was sad that his owner chose a different horse over him. 

 

It was true.  During the whole spring his owner only rode him on fun show days and on schooling show days.  She never worked with him in between those days"not even to get him in good shape for those events.  I noticed her being cranky towards Mister by over yanking at the bit, ignoring his best efforts and rarely showing any gratitude for his willingness to work and winning every class they competed in.  It never ever occurred to me that even such a magnificent western horse like Mister could or would be taken for granted.  I was always so very grateful that Nicole didn’t take me for granted.  I thought about it and realized how much she needed my best efforts even if she did ignore me or take me for granted and saw how Mister felt he had no choice but to be the best he could for his human.  He loved her.

 

Despite his human’s neglect, Candy always made sure that Mister got the adequate and proper care he needed.  I always made sure he knew how much I appreciated his friendship when we were together in the paddock.  It was still nice being with him when Nicole would ride me during the fun shows, even on days when she would just sit on me bareback and use her camera to take pictures of the other riders competing in the show.  I sometimes cheered Mister on when he was having a bad day at shows.  As the spring got warmer and got closer to summer, I really started to see how different our bonds with our humans had become. 

 

In late spring, Nicole and I took part in the fun shows almost every time they came to our farm.  She even started using a western saddle so she would feel safer and we could go faster.  I absolutely loved how she trusted me to gallop.  She even started using rope reins, which were longer, on days she either rode bareback or in the fun shows.  I really started to enjoy the fun shows as I gradually figured the majority of them out.  I found it to be a wonderful day of fun and a good break from our strict regime of dressage work during the week. 

 

By springtime that year, my bit got changed to a softer one.  Nicole’s and my communication was being hindered by largeness of my original bit in my small mouth.  My snaffle bit kept hitting me in the roof of my mouth.  So, Nicole got me a different kind of snaffle bit that had three sections instead of only two.  She called it a “French-link.”  Whatever it was, I appreciated it much better and we seemed to hit it off much better when it came to increasing our dressage skills.  Her aids were clearer and kinder which made it much easier to execute what movements I needed to do.  I was able to easily execute leg yields and the extended trot for her.  I also enjoyed the lead changing exercises.  Nicole had challenged me with many exercises as far as our dressage that spring and summer, but it felt great.  I got all my weight back by the late spring and I was growing more muscle.  I had filled out so much that Nicole found it fun to practice dressage without a saddle.  I loved it when she did that, because her requests were much clearer and when she made a mistake, she learned not to make the same mistake twice.  I think she really enjoyed working without a saddle too.  In noticing how happy Nicole seemed, I found that her overall health was even better than last spring.  She was more fit and relaxed.  She participated in more fun activities with me than before.  She trusted me a lot more than she ever had.   Every weekend, she spent the entire day with me either competing in the fun shows, or just leisurely sitting or lying on my back as we watched the other horses and ponies compete.  I even got to watch the western schooling shows with her.  It brought back memories of the past summer when we competed in English with the other western riders.  It was a sight to see.  Almost all of the horses were shinier than the sun shining off of my paddock’s pond and the riders glittered all over.  It was the fanciest thing I ever saw.  Even the geldings wore glitter that came out of a spray bottle.  I remember watching Mister perform and winning so many classes.  I remember him not caring whether he got first or last place; it was evident that he just wanted to make his human happy.  I watched her and she never looked happy.   I often would try to persuade Nicole to let me walk over so I could stand next to him, so I could comfort him.  I wish she had understood why I wanted to go over to where he was standing.  Most days she would let me stand with him, but there were other days when I felt it was more important to make my human happy. 

 

During the summer, Nicole and I became most active.  We would gallop in the cross-country field; practice dressage and some western in the ring and even go on small trail rides.  Nicole always was in her best element in the summertime.  However, I preferred the spring and autumn days.  In the late summer, I had allergies to the pollen and mold that grew on the farm.  It didn’t make me sick or anything, but it did make me work harder to breathe in general.  When Nicole noticed my new allergy problem she tried to keep my work out time short enough so I didn’t have troubles breathing.  I can’t complain.  She did what she could. 

 

During the late summer, my Scratches fungus came back on my hind ankles and my back had grown rain rot.  I hated the ridiculous fungi.  I felt bad because Nicole tried treating it the moment she discovered it, but it grew twice as fast and worse than ever before.  She even asked the veterinarian if there was anything she could do for it.  Nicole cured my rain rot in a matter of weeks, but the Scratches fungus wouldn’t budge until she made a peculiar white, creamy topical substance and put it all over the Scratches.   By the point she had started applying my new white medication, my ankles has gotten very swollen from the irritation of the fungus. 

 

I remember her having me lunge in the round pen to make sure I wasn’t lame.  I didn’t feel lame, but she said that I wasn’t using my hind legs as well as I normally have.  I couldn’t see my legs, so I trusted her observation.  She only rode me at the walk when she thought I was sore.  I never noticed it until I could feel the Scratches go away little by little.  Each day my ankles felt lighter and not as stiff.  She was diligent on applying the white medicine on my ankles.  One incident, she accidentally splotched it on my nose when I was trying to watch her apply it and I remember it best by the strange minty smell it has.  By the time the medicine started helping my ankles heal, it had started snowing. 

 

Fall had nearly left us when I participated in the last fun show of the season that everyone called, “The Halloween Show.”  Some horses talked of it in an excited manner while others dreaded the day.  I was curious, but decided to wait and see for myself.  As I anticipated that day to arrive, I noticed Nicole saying how I’m going to be some sort of bird for Halloween.  I was quite confused.  I thought to myself, “I’m NOT a bird!  Does Nicole think I’m a bird?!” as Nicole bragged about what this bird looked like. 

“I even made Bella a tutu!” Nicole excitedly chattered.

I looked at her, “What the heck is a tutu?” before I realized she couldn’t understand me. 

That evening, I watched out for all the birds that always fly around my paddock to see if I could find any that may have what they call a ‘tutu,’ but I couldn’t find any bird with one. 

 

As I anticipated the day of the Halloween Show, I noticed that the cold was taking its toll on Nicole’s system.  Her seizures were becoming more frequent and we would have to stop working early when she would have them.  I felt bad because I had gotten so used to Nicole doing the gymkhana games, which require the riders to lean over the side and do other strange things on our backs that I forgot to feel for her when her seizures occur.  Once she fell off or was aided off by another human, I realized that she was having trouble again.  However, despite her neurological problem, she still came out and was able to be with me.  She even hung out with Remington’s human more, which meant I got to hang out with Remington.  I really appreciated having more than one friend on the farm. 

 

Days grew shorter and colder, as winter grew near.  Despite the chill in the air and some early snow, that Halloween Show finally arrived!  I was excited to see what was in store for me.  However, I found that I was still a horse and NOT a bird.  Nicole came early that morning, just after sunrise, and brought me to the groom area.  To my appreciative surprise, she gave me a big breakfast and just let me hang out as she brushed me.  As the sun started to thaw out the frost on the ground, she started tacking me up in our western tack, but kept the cinch looser than normal.  She only kept it loose when I had a long wait.  I simply just hung out and watched all the other horses on the farm get brushed and tacked, until I saw a familiar trailer pull up.  It pulled up right by the groom area.  As it pulled up, Nicole ran up to it to greet a familiar human.  It was Kris!!  She had come to visit.  When they opened the trailer’s side doors, I expected perhaps to see Unleashed, but to my surprise Roxy, my own half-sister, and Unleashed were here.  I was so excited that I couldn’t help but to call out to them. 

“Unleashed!  Hi!  I’m here!” I whinnied.

Roxy called back, “Bella, where are we?”  Then she turned to Unleashed, “Daddy, where are we?”

Unleashed was Roxy’s surrogate father upon leaving our mother.  She thinks of him as her father. 

As Unleashed and Roxy started to call out to see if any other familiar voices would reach them, Nicole and Kris unloaded Roxy and put her in one of the two round pens on the farm and provided water and hay for her.  She was obviously too anxious to eat and I tried to call out to her so she would calm down, but she just wanted to be with Unleashed.

 

Unleashed was also a bit nervous upon arriving.  He anxiously looked around and snorted eagerly to try to catch any scents he could recognize.  He was so nervous that it took two people to tack him up because he wouldn’t stand still.  I didn’t blame him for being nervous, but as old as he was, I had thought he’d be a little easier for his human.  As I waited, Nicole gave me some of Kris’s hay for me to eat.  It smelled so different than the hay I usually eat.  I tried to wait patiently as Kris bridled Unleashed and took him towards the ring.  As I watched Kris go towards the ring I heard the loud speaker call out.  I knew the show was about to start.  I found it strange how Nicole didn’t want to warm me up first in the ring before the show started.  As soon as Unleashed made it to the ring, Nicole mounted on my back and rode me towards the round pen where Roxy still anxiously paced.  Nicole took me for a walk around the farm to warm me up as Kris and Unleashed followed.  Once we got back to the riding ring’s entrance, we waited close by next to Roxy’s round pen.  I walked over to greet my sister, but she interpreted my gesture of curiosity as a threat and threw her hind heels at me.  I laugh now, because I would have done the same thing at her age if a strange, bigger horse came towards me claiming to be my sister.  She knew me, but she was also at the age of trying to claim her independence and authority.  Roxy was now two years old.  She was starting to feel the effects of being a mare.  Not to mention that my sister and I learned to be dominant, strong mares from our mother.  However, with Nicole’s help, she has reassured me that not every stranger is a potential threat.   Roxy will eventually learn the same.

 

Kris had me hang out with Unleashed most of the day so he had someone he recognized.  He seemed less stressed out if he was either with Roxy or me.  As Unleashed and I competed in the normal gymkhana show, I began to wonder when was this one going to seem like a different show, like the humans seemed to rant on about.  I enjoyed watching Unleashed play in the gymkhana games.  He seemed to really enjoy himself, thus diminishing his anxiety.  By midday, he was calm as he normally is at a horse show and was in fact looking forward to the next class.  He didn’t compete in as many as I, because he wasn’t as fit and was 15 years my senior.  I overheard Nicole and Kris mention that he gets too stiff sometimes and she wanted to avoid it.  I found Kris’s reasons very thoughtful.  We horses like to live in the moment and make our humans happy.  We don’t often think about how it could affect us in the future.  We’re hardly selfish animals, but maybe that is why some humans try to look out for us too.  Of many humans I’ve encountered, I very much valued knowing Kris and Nicole. 

 

There was longer break than normal in the middle of the day.  During the break, Nicole’s mother wanted to ride me.  I can’t help but to laugh because nothing can quite describe how she feels on my back.  It’s worse than Nicole’s worst day riding me.  Nicole’s mother leans to far forward throwing her weight towards my neck, her legs swing everywhere on my sides and her hands communication to my mouth was so inconsistent that I found it easier to just feel for when she seems unseated.  What makes me laugh is this lady, with her swinging legs, bouncing seat and uncoordinated hands, asked me to trot and canter.  Her trying to stay with me during both was just unbelievable.  I did my best to stay slow enough for her as she asked to trot and canter.  However, to my surprise, she appreciated my effort.  When she asked me to walk again, she rewarded me with lots of patting and praise.  It’s times like that when it’s worth acknowledging how badly humans depend on us and how we must take care of them. 

 

During the day, Nicole and I did our best in competing against some of the fastest racers on the farm.  In some of our classes, Nicole made some minor errors and required me to slow down or even turn around.  I hated it when I couldn’t keep going in a race, but I guess there are some rules in these games for humans, like there are rules for me when Nicole is playing with me.  Nicole missed grabbing the flag in the flag race.  I think the cloth things on her hands caused the flag to slip out.  She also was forced to carry a very loud wooden bucket that somewhat distracted me.  We still did a lot better than many that day because many of the other horses, wouldn’t follow to their own rules as far as listening to their humans.  I felt bad about another time when I got really nervous about a bright orange looking ball that replaced the saddlebag used in the “Pony Express” class.  This requires one horse/human pair to gallop to the second pair at the opposite end of the ring and hand off the item being help by the human.  The bright orange ball looked like it was floating in the air as Kris and Unleashed brought it towards us.  I accidentally panicked and dodged away from it.  I eventually held still for Nicole, but as asked me to gallop back to the front of the ring, the floating ball followed us and startled me.  It wasn’t until Nicole firmly told me to slow down and rubbed the round thing on my neck.  I feel silly now; because it was just a strange looking bucket and I’ve seen a bucket before.  And if anything, buckets often mean good things like treats or mealtime. 

 

Earlier that day, Nicole let her youngest brother, Glenn ride me at the walk in another barrel racing class.  He felt so fragile and small.  I smile now when I think of when Glenn rode me that day.  He was as sensitive as Nicole, just lighter.  He was very sweet and I think he really trusted me, which reminded me how humans depend on us more than they realize.  I suddenly felt honored that Nicole trusted me with her youngest brother.  He even asked Nicole to let me trot back after the last barrel in the barrel race.  He was so light that I could barely tell he was there.  I tried very hard to be good for Nicole, being she was next to me as Glenn was on me.  I heard Glenn’s laughter and knew he was happy.  He even pet me when the race was over.  I believe I made a new friend that day.  I remembered him being a baby human when I first met Nicole.  He had grown since then.  He was probably the size of Ruby’s human, Haley.  Ruby was a fancy Quarter Horse, built like my old friend Hershey. We didn’t appreciate each other’s company, but we tolerated each other.

 

The last class I did was pony express and as soon as we left the ring Nicole called out to Danielle, Remington’s human, and rode me to the groom area.  She quickly got off and went for Steve’s car.  I thought she and Steve were getting me my dinner, but instead she had plastic bags full of strange looking objects.  She first put a strange red, sparkly cloth on my back end and tied it to the back of the saddle. 

“You look so cute in your tutu, Bella!” Nicole chirped.

I looked back to see it, “That is a tutu?  Are you kidding me?” I sarcastically looked at her.  “That thing is gonna make me a bird?”

 

Then she put on red polo wraps on my cannons, otherwise known as the foreleg of a horse.  Over the polo wraps she tied these strange looking human shoes.  As Nicole continued to tie the shoes on, I over heard someone call out, “Oh, my gosh!  Look at her ballet shoes!”

By the time I heard that, I was just getting a bit frustrated with my incapability to figure this whole thing out.  As I kept trying to think about what was going on, I noticed more horses coming to the grooming area as their humans started putting strange cloths and blankets on them.  Remington even had to wear paint on his barrel area and human hair on his head.  Nicole even put wing looking things on my back, fastening it to the saddle.  Then it hit me, “Wings!  Like a bird!”  I thought to myself.  I then realized that I wasn’t really going to be a bird, but she was making it so I looked like one.  She even painted my mane and tail bright orange.  I was curious to why she needed the human shoes, until she tried to explain it to a passerby who inquired about my costume. 

“She’s the Firebird"as in the ballet.” Nicole explained. 

I didn’t understand what she said and it seemed neither did the human who asked about it.  Nicole ran for the car as she left me at the post to graze on what was left of Kris’s hay that was put there that morning.  I looked over to the car and Nicole was changing her own clothes to a pink, flowing arrangement of human clothing.  In a way, it was pretty.  She came back to me and quickly put on a bright red flymask with feathers on my face and led me back towards the ring.  When I arrived to the ring, I was amazed with how many horses had the most peculiar materials on them.  Rusty, an old Haflinger, even had a huge bulk of wood or hard paper on him that looked like what the humans referred to as a boat or ship.  Another pony had a tutu on, but he told me that he and his human were clowns.  Unleashed and Kris had red designs on them that looked like fire.  She claimed to everyone that they were the Devil.  Another horse claimed he was a military horse as his human as dressed as an army sergeant.  I had absolutely no clue what all of it meant, but it was fascinating.  Even Steve changed clothes and claimed he and Nicole were the prince and princess who were rescued by the Firebird.  All these new human words I had no clue to what they meant.  I was nearly overwhelmed by trying to understand it, but it seemed like a normal event for everyone.  I didn’t mind it except for the feathers on my flymask tickled my nose and made it itch.  I constantly wanted to rub my nose.  I tried not to do it so often, but it tickled so badly.  As we walked together in the ring, the human shoes started to untie and swing around my ankle.  I remained quiet until I left the ring, but then I wanted Nicole to take off the shoes.  They were so uncomfortable.  Steve helped Nicole take off the shoes.  Nicole got on me for a little longer and just hung out with me in our costumes.   Steve seemed interested in taking pictures of us at the end of the day.

 

By the time the sun had begun to set, and the show ended, all of use were exhausted.  Unleashed was ready to go home and I was ready to rest with Mister.  Roxy, who had stayed in the round pen all day had settled, but was also ready to be with Unleashed and go home.  It was a nice surprise to be with an old friend that day and to see my sister again. 

 

Nicole untacked me and took off all of my costume parts, fed me dinner and let me eat the leftover hay as she changed into her riding clothes again and helped Kris put Unleashed’s shipping wraps on.  Steve stayed with me as Nicole helped her own sister load Unleashed and Roxy onto the trailer and close it up.  I watched them exchange a hug and call out to each other as Kris got into the truck.   

 

That was the strangest, yet neatest day I had in a while.  Little did I know that was the last fun show of the season since the snow came early and hard that year.  However to my surprise that wasn’t the last time I would see my friend, Unleashed, that year. 

Nicole since that show had been riding me in preparation for the upcoming western pleasure shows coming in the spring. I loved being with Nicole and learning new things, but Nicole had switched my bit again specifically for the western discipline. She always apologized to me when putting it in my mouth. She seemed to know that I didn’t like it as much as my regular fat, french-link, snaffle English bit.

“I’m sorry, baby.” She always started, “I’m not allowed to use the other bit for western. It’s against the rules. I hate that rule.”

Steve even asked how she knew that I preferred my other bit to the western one.

“How do you know she doesn’t like it as much?” he inquired.

“She isn’t very enthusiastic when it’s time for her to take the bit into her mouth. She also responds to it with less flexibility"more defensively whenever I use it when I ride her.”

She was right! The bit was more narrow on my the gums of my bar which applied a much more concentrated amount of pressure in one specific spot instead of my larger bit which applied the pressure in a more spread region on my bars. I felt the western bit was harsher. I know she would never mean to be harsh, but it was. She did her best to be as gentle as she could with the western bit as I did my best to be as laid back as I could to demonstrate what humans want for ‘western pleasure.’

Not to say that Nicole didn’t still work on dressage with me and keep me working with me on it when she could. It seemed like I was having a whole equipment issue that winter, though. My dressage saddle seemed to be getting tighter and less comfortable, but I never wanted to complain since the discomfort wasn’t unbearable yet. I forgot that I was still growing and that winter I didn’t lose weight. Mister helped keep me warm that winter when we shared our run-in shed with each other and some of the farm sheep. Nicole kept commenting on how she thought I was filling out and my neck was thickening. I couldn’t tell. I felt normal--perhaps I was growing. Who knows?

 

By the time I saw Unleashed again, the snow had come, twice! Kris had come with Unleashed to take me somewhere so “we” could have an ‘in-hand lesson.’ I haven’t had an in-hand lesson since I was a yearling!

“What more possibly could I learn from an in-hand lesson?” I thought to myself arrogantly.

I guess I was going to find out shortly. The farm was only about 10 minutes away from High Ridge. We unloaded rather quickly and were tacked up next to the trailer. I barely noticed my surroundings when we got there. There was still snow everywhere and if there wasn’t snow there were puddles. I did notice that my saddle didn’t stay on my back. Instead, a lady put her saddle on me. Her saddle didn’t have a defined shape to it like mine did. It sort of molded to my back as it sat there. It was strange. She said mine wasn’t appropriate.

“Whatever.” I thought.

The lady turned out to be a trainer for Kris and Nicole. They called her Leeandra. Kris and Nicole first lunged me and Unleashed before they thought we were ready for our in-hand lesson. Once we were warmed up, Leeandra had Nicole walk me around, holding onto my reins and dressage whip like she was riding, but from the ground. It was strange. She had no leg supporting me from behind and too much pressure on my mouth. Leeandra wanted Nicole to ask me to put my body into a frame from where she was. It didn’t work for me. After a few times around the ring with Nicole and I negotiating how to work our problem out, Leeandra came over and took the reins and started walking next to me. She took the reins even harder against my mouth, but used the whip to tap my sides to give my cue to move forward more. All I could go is up. She was starting to irritate me. Out of frustration I started trotting in place because I couldn’t do anything else besides trot in place. She was asking me to go more and more forward, but the reins were saying, “Don’t go anywhere else!”

Once I started trotting in place, Leeandra started to let me go a little more forward by letting a looser grip on the reins. Because she forced myself into self-propulsion, I naturally sucked in my gut and my head went into the dressage frame at the walk once we got moving a little more forward.

“What did you learn, Nicole?” Leeandra called from across the ring at that point.

Nicole looked into my eyes empathically, but then called back, “She needs to be more forward.”

I was irritated! “I needed to be more forward, my a*s!! I was doing everything I was supposed to be doing when my human is on the ground, being calm.”

I grumbled to myself the rest of the lesson as Kris and Unleashed actually got to do their lesson together as a horse and ‘rider’ should"with the rider on their back. I watched Unleashed trotted perfectly around the ring for Kris in a most beautiful frame for her. I didn’t know he had it in him. He had a grace in him that not many knew about. I knew the old man could jump; that was a given. I remember when he would once in a while mention a favorite jump here or there, but I had no idea he did dressage too.  I shouldn’t have been surprised though. Kris and Nicole both seemed like both pretty knowledgeable humans and though Kris admits Unleashed’s training was not her doing, to appreciate it is something that I can appreciate. I remember hearing through the herd at Spring Hill that Unleashed used to be a Grand Prix jumping horse for humans such as George Morris and Chris Kappler. I had no idea who these humans were, but Nicole and Kris did because they always mentioned them when talking about Unleashed to other newer humans.

 

I watched Unleashed go around the ring with such finesse and majesty in envy, “How can a 19 year old fart go around like that and I can’t even do that half the time?!” I grumbled.

When Kris and Unleashed were done with their instruction, Unleashed looked at me and panted, “Dear, sweet thing! Do you expect to get this right away?”

Nicole mounted onto me and I started walking next to Unleashed as he walked out a little, “Well, I would like to get some of it by now.” I said impatiently.

Unleashed smiled, still panting, “Bella, you are still very young. You have a long way to go. Dressage, especially, takes years to learn and perfect and 99% of the time…no one perfects it by the time they need to retire.”

I felt my eyes widen. There was no mistake about it. It had hit me that hard. Nicole was teaching me something that no one on my farm was learning how to do. Everyone else on my farm was either learning western pleasure or jumping only. No one was learning classical dressage. And if it took that long to learn it, no wonder why Nicole was so methodical and why…why…why she did everything she did. Well, except for her teaching me western for the fun of it.

 

Leeandra had Kris and Nicole walk us out in a frame on our backs for a while before we got to get untacked and go home. We were ready to go home. It was getting colder and we were getting hungry. Sadly, after getting home I heard Unleashed accidentally injured his hock on the way home in the trailer and was lame for a while. I felt so bad for him. He stoically took all pain and never complained; not ever! But Kris always knew when he suffered. Last I heard he was given lots of time off right before the huge snow came.