HAHAHA
Best story ever. ......well at least I think so.
One of my friends I used to show with was just starting out her 2006 show year with a horse show in Monterey Virginia. I was going with her, and we were both going to qualify for the 4-H state show.
The directions we had gotten from the show staff turned out to be the most heinous, dangerous combination of slim mountain roads plagued by switchbacks, steep grades, and cliff shoulders one could possibly imagine. Of course, we had to bring the
steel, four horse straight-load,
living quarters gooseneck hitched to a '93 Ford F-350. As you can imagine, it was one of those "tell-me-when-it's-over" "JESUS CHRIST! Watch-out-for-that-cliff" journeys you always seem to go on with a foal, I repeat, a foal in the trailer. Yeaa........
It was the girl's newborn (as of April. It was July when we went to the show) palomino qh colt. The mother was a speed horse specializing in pole-bending and barrels.
The truck actually broke down once, and on every downhill grade we took, the brakes spewed the thickest cloud of smoke, it was a miracle we could actually see where we were going. Looking through the windshield as we rounded each switchback, you could see the ground disappear in front of the truck and give way to open sky. The cliffs worried me the most. It really did seem as if we were going to go over a few of them. Just remember the trailer we're hauling...
Well, we did make it (as you guessed since I'm writing this) to the show, barely on time. The show staff were initially quite short with us for our late arrival, but the girls father, the blessed man doing all the driving, gave them a piece of his mind. After that they were more than accommodating.
Well, my events went by early on (champion western pleasure, and damn straight after that little jaunt through the mountains
) and soon it was time for the speed events. The girl was all saddled up on the mare, and I was left with the baby. It literally dragged me around the show grounds until we got close enough to its mom. He stood next to her as we waited for the girl's number to come up, and when it did, he dragged me ringside and tried to get inside to his mother. The spectators were giving us "ooh's" and "awwww's" and little kids had made a ring of worship around the foal. It eventually settled in next to the rail to watch it's mother compete.
Well, I was standing there with it's lead in my hand, fending off the kids, and not really paying too much attention to what it was doing. As soon as the girl and her mare made the first turn around the barrel, the foal let out a deafening whinnie for such a little guy. Right then, the barrel pattern turned into a rodeo. The mother went into a bucking hopping combination that would easily unseat the best rider. The girl went sailing over her head and landed right next to the barrel. I'd be lying if I said I didn't laugh at her some. Actually I did a lot of laughing. Next thing you know, the mare is right next to the fence, nosing her foal, and the announcer is trying to announce the "disqualification" through fits of giggles. Well the girl gets up and comes stomping over and takes the mare and foal back to the trailer. For all her effort, they awarded her a free lunch from the lunch counter.
That mare never competed successfully again, but she did make a very good mother.
For the journey back, we took a more tame route, if longer. All the horses got back safely. Miraculously, there was nothing worse than a few minor scratches on their pasterns. It actually took me about 3 months to get my horse back to the level of trailering comfort he had displayed prior to the Monterey show.
:P 
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