I wasn’t actually able to make the 22-hour drive along with the boys and the horses due to work, so I flew in on the morning of Tuesday, September 16. I met up with the crew in the historic part of Fort Worth; we boarded the horses in the hundred year-old Exchange Street Livery, right beside our hotel. Holly was simply the “Belle of the Barn;” she had all the boys in the stable beside themselves!
I gave her Tuesday to get settled and rested before we hit the ground running polishing our act; I took the opportunity to do some Texas-sized shopping!
Wednesday morning we were up with the sun; Holly and I were both primped and preened by 8 a.m., then we took to Exchange Street for a little mustang photo shoot. That’s one of the coolest things about Fort Worth; it’s perfectly acceptable to embrace the cowboy culture, horses and all. Holly was such the parade pony, hamming it up with anyone and everyone that would give her a second look.
After the photo shoot, we headed over to Will Rogers Coliseum to check-in our steeds for the competition. While leading Holly through the hundreds of rows of stalls, I realized she was one of the few horses that weren’t wide-eyed and whinnying. She was calm, cool, and collected while she sashayed by the other horses. That’s one of the things I love the most about Holly-- she is completely unfazed by change; she didn’t seem to care at all that we were in the middle of a show barn, in the middle of a city 2,000 miles from home. She is so very confident in her own skin, what a little role model!
She and I worked a lot on Wednesday, getting loosened up and accustomed to the show ring loaded with obstacles before our competition on Thursday morning. The only issue I felt like we had was with the trailer we were required to hop into; she must have felt like it was a little too high. After working with it for a little while, she consistently consented.
Wednesday night was certainly a late night; I stayed at the coliseum until nearly 1 a.m. going over the obstacles with Holly, then, of course, we had to go through the pre-show beauty regime.
The boys and I headed over to the coliseum Thursday morning early enough to watch the sun rise, then each of us headed to our respective stalls to give our furry companions the pre-game, “Let’s do this” talk. Holly was ready.We headed down to the ring around 9:30, early enough to get her physical condition judged before it was time to go into the ring. Thankfully, they didn’t judge her juvenile warts! After the conditioning portion, it was time to show Fort Worth what little Miss Holly Golightly and I had been up to for the past hundred days! Before we walked into the ring, I was almost positive my stomach was going to turn inside out due to the colony of butterflies that had apparently taken up residence. I glanced at Holly; she was far more impressed with the bottle of water sitting on the gate then with the dozen other horse-human teams practicing around us. The moment before we stepped into the ring, I gave Holly a quick hug and kiss, said a little prayer, and hoped for the best. As we walked through the gate, I put my trust in Holly and let her take the butterflies away; we were ready.
The first obstacle was the trailer; flawless! Next up—360 to the right, then I had to pick up all four feet while she was ground-tied. The 360 went well, but Holly followed me when I moved around toward her hindquarters to pick up her back feet…I got docked there. Then we trotted off, hopped over a little jump, weaved through serpentine cones, and into a chute. From there, we backed out, trotted over spoked poles to a cone, then came to an abrupt stop. Holly did so well!
Later that afternoon, we were having lunch with our friends from home, along with another competitor, Matt Replogle, when Matt got the call; the results were posted! “Where did we finish?” I didn’t think the answer would ever come!
“Eleventh,” Matt said.
First I squealed, then I realized that I wouldn’t get the chance to really show-off Holly. I missed the top 10 by half a point! I was, and still am, tickled pink with our performance. However, I can’t help but blame myself just a little; “What if I would’ve…”
All second thoughts aside, I’m thrilled. Thrilled with Holly. She is full of life, determination, and heart. Needless to say, that little spitfire came back to the Bar T and is sitting in my barn as I type this ☺
The bottom line is that the competition was amazing; I’m so thankful that I was able to be a part of this incredible opportunity. I saw horses that could viably compete in any discipline successfully that were completely feral just a hundred days ago. I can confidently say that I will, along with my brother and my father, be back again next year. Except next year, I’m going for the under-saddle portion!
Stay tuned; I’ll post a video of our run within the next couple of days!
Also, if you’d like to see how my father fared, check out his blog at www.thebartmustangproject.blogspot.com.
