I have some other videos that are uploading... one is of an actual mounted artillery division that was there, presumably in WWI uniform and MAN was that so cool. Haaaa oh Oh! And they'd stop or go, in perfect time, as the sergeant (??? I don't actually know the ranks) would call out the orders. Each horse was a BIG bay, and some reminded me very much of Sarge, who I miss a lot, if I'm honest.
The Tulsa Rough Riders were there, an all black relay team, and I wish I'd gotten their picture or video too. All dressed up and looking sharp... all their horses were built like Trigger, moved like Trigger, and most were very loud pinto in color. They had their rodeo queen with them and she has a rich, dark chocolate skin tone, and all decked out in BRIGHT silver sequins and long silver fringe, head to toe. She was honestly hard to look at in the sun. Wasn't my style, it was WAY over the top... but I can appreciate the effort and work that went into her outfit, so yeah. It was pretty cool.
Trigger... he... did okay. All in all, I can't say he was excellent. He did get so worked up, at the grand entries, around the rodeo grounds, and at the parade, that he was completely emotionally compromised. He wasn't listening to me, he wasn't 'with me'. He made it about 3/4 of the way through the entire parade route, and on the return to the stock yards, started completely losing his noodle. Pitching on the front end, wanting to run through the bit, ignoring me, crab-stepping, hopping sideways... and this was on paved road. I'd already had to choose my battles with him because the crowd will put their kids RIGHT ON the edge of the street, on the curb, and we were on the outside edge of the 100 or so horses and riders. I went through a LOT of snacks to slow him down but ultimately, I lost him on the return to the trailer. I got out of the saddle in the middle of the street, and hand-walked him to a large grassy lot, and let him just walk circles around me like he was being lunged. When he'd show signs of calming down, I'd let him stand still, ask him if he was done, and the answer would be NOPE. And he'd choose to walk and walk and walk and trot circles around me. He wasn't coming back to me.
SO the final 3 or 4 blocks to the trailer, I hand-walked him. If he started getting ahead of me and shaking and acting a fool, I just stopped, held out my arm, gave him a full 6-7 feet of split rein to run with, and let him walk circles around me. I could see when he was 'coming back'... he finally got to where he'd stop when I stopped walking, and just stand there like a statue next to me. There were some folks on their front porch, watching us and they got a good chuckle out of him stopping like that. Then I tested to see if he'd back up when I backed up, or if he'd give me two eyes.
By the time we were back to the trailer, he was settled down, but we were the last to come in. A lot of folks were already loaded and rolling out by then.
The grand entries, he was spun out, wanting to prance and trot all around the arena. We did okay, but Saturday night he wanted to run off with me to the trailer, fought me when I tried to circle him, almost smashed into a parked truck, then calmed down just enough I could get him to walk back to the trailer.
All those places were locations where it was NOT the time or place to have a good throw down with him. I'm certain he gave me the best he was capable of, so he didn't get reprimanded. It's just going to take time, like trail riding has, to get him to understand he doesn't have to get spun out and hyped up. We're not there to RUN or compete, we're just there to chill and dress up and show off a little. He wanted to show off a LOT.
All the horses were fine. Gina tried being a rude heifer, and our friend G said: Lemme tune her up a little. She got on her, and was no more in the seat than Gina blew in two. G rode her out, then put her feet to moving. They returned 5 minutes later and Gina had a whole new attitude.
AJ was hot, tired and cranky by Saturday night, but she loaded better every go of it. By the end of Saturday night, she hopped in there like a champ. She goes to the vet at the end of the month for a check up on her knee. She's doing great with it, but she gets a check up and an xray every 6 months.
And here's the vids:
Mounted artillery:
Trigger, Emotionally Compromised. This was him being 'calm' but compromised and watching the slack steer roping. I was trying to catch the hard jiggling his head does when confronted with sensory overload, and missed it each time.
