Besides the Egg & Spoon and Ride-A-Buck classes which are a fixture at
these kinds of affairs, the "Open Barrels" class was not precisely what
you would think.  The "barrel" was a large plastic sleeve open at both
ends.  It was placed at one end of the ring.  The competing horse and
rider dashed from the starting line at the other end of the arena to the
barrel, where the rider dismounted and crawled thru the barrel.  Then in
theory, remounted and dashed back.  Fastest time won.  The folks with
highly revved up speed horses were at a certain disadvantage: their horses
either wouldn't wait, spooked when the rider emerged from the barrel or
could not be caught for the remount.  I was most impressed by the paint
who wheeled on a dime and sprinted back to the finish line before his
rider had emerged from the barrel.

The "Gaited Pleasure" class I wanted to enter was cancelled for lack of
enough entries.  Consequently, Rudy and I competed in classes that were
timed or had a speed component..  We got second in "Musical Plates" (a
mounted version of musical chairs) and third place in "Walk-Trot" Flag
which required picking up a small flag from a bucket of sand on a barrel
and carrying it thru a simple course to plant in a similar bucket on
the other side of the arena.

Since we had not competed together in five years, I was pleased by
Rudy's sagacity, response and performance in the arena.  He was,
however, a little bit bad in the Grand Entry, which required him to
stand quietly in a line.  He was restive in the holding area--which was
the space where the sheep herd and emu are normally penned and which had
two pop up canopies for the entry table and the "kitchen".  He did not
object to the mob of horses or all the human activity--he just refused
to stand still.  As long as he could keep moving, he was fine.  Just
before our entry into the area for the second class as we waited "on
deck", Rudy started doing his little "popup" rears where his front feet
leave the ground by about 4 inches. I smacked him twice and he willingly
entered the arena and did well enough for third place.

Immediately upon exiting the arena I took him out of the holding area
and dismounted.  As I checked the girth, I discovered I had been riding
one hole too loose!  Rudy has enough wither that the saddle did not slip
sideways but it had slid forward.  The ground slopes steeply to the
in-gate and the damage might have been done at our first entrance into
the arena for the Grand Entry parade.  I scratched from the last class I
had planned to enter which was "Walk-Trot Barrels".  Fortunately, Rudy
didn't seem sore when I tested his back and I blessed the makers of my
endurance saddle and the heavy Western pad.

A show at home can be a challenging test because it means disruption in
a familiar environment. I was not expecting to ribbon especially when I
discovered that people were trailering in to compete at Traiteurville
rather then the St Clair County Show on the same day.  Rudy was
competing with a missing hind shoe and a slipped saddle and an
overweight, middle-aged rider who simply does not have the time to ride
every day.  I think he did rather well, earning two ribbons in two
classes!