Windsor Fair

What a crazy time I had at the Windsor Fair team penning on Friday!  Being secretary for the club can be a busy, busy job!!  I only signed up for 5 rides - 1 in Pro-Nov and 4 in Novice.  I took quite a few pictures, visited with lots of friends, and enjoyed the fair.  The Pro-Nov ride went well - Tillie was very calm and well-behaved, but we didn't have a very good run because the cows were tough.

Tillie was perfectly calm about being tied up in a stall with all the other horses, some of them drafts, who don't intimidate her a bit.  ;-)  Until later in the day when she thought I was asking her to back out (I wasn't!) and met resistance when she ran out of rope.  She started pulling back, rearing up over and over again, and when she flung her head sideways, she got me right on the nose.  I still can't believe she didn't break it!  Fortunately, I was fine, except for a cut on the bridge of my nose, and she immediately settled right back down again.

Shortly after lunch, I noticed that Tillie's hay bag was empty, so I walked out to the truck and brought back an armful.  As soon as I walked around the corner she started nickering to me.  I walked into her stall, unhooked the haybag, bent over, stuffed the hay into the bag, rehung it and stood up.  This is what I saw....

"I'll have what she's having!"

When the Novice class started, I was really looking forward to some good runs - Tillie was not!  She was AWFUL!!  Out of control - spinning, bucking etc.  Her usual nonsense - wish I knew what set her off.  She was also spooking at everything, even though she hadn't been bothered before.  

However, during our 3rd run, even when she was fussing, I was able to position ourselves to be helpful and get our job done in the hole, and we did well enough to qualify for the callbacks!  I still firmly believe that it was my teammates that did so well during that run, not me.  I was psyched to be riding in the callbacks, but really feeling the pressure.  I so wanted to do well for my teammates and have a good run.  I was so scared by Tillie's behavior thus far, and really concerned about our last run.  But, we pulled it together!!  We had such a great run that I was in shock!!  Tillie did fantastic!!  And, when they were announcing the awards, I couldn't believe it when we came in second place!!!!  YEE HAAAA!!!!  One of the girls asked the president, as she was handing us our awards, "Can we do a Victory Lap for second place?"  The president said she wasn't sure, but then they asked me if I had won anything yet this year and I said "No".  They all laughed and yelled "Definitely time for a Victory Lap!"  The 3 of us galloped off around the arena, me hanging on to my hat 'cause I wasn't expecting that and had the stampede string undone...it was wicked fun!!