Highlights of the Extreme Makeover Contest

We had a lot of fun with this challenging competition and we have already decided to do it again next year. They are going to add $50,000 to the contest. They are also having a smaller makeover in conjunction with a horse fair in Wisconsin with $10,000 added. They are looking at doing other regional contests as well.

It was interesting to compare our horses physically to others in the challenge. Ours were on the smaller and narrower end in the size range.

Our horses performed so well. Mine felt like a broke show horse. I was able to ride him one-handed with the neck rein through the horse course. We were 2nd in the horse course only a .5 point behind Zane. It's a calming feeling to know I could trust him to perform. Any three year old can get stage jitters but Chopper rose to the challenge! I wasn't prepared for the difficulty of the in-hand course. I haven't shown halter since 4-H and this was much more technical than that. I'll try to summarize it for you: 1. Enter at walk 2. cross cavalletti (.5 pt deduction for every tick) 3. walk into "L" and back through. 4. Pivot 270 degrees to right 5. Trot (in very short space) 6. Stop and p/u feet. 7. Walk through Brush obstacle 8. Load in trailer 9. Trot cone slalom.

Zane and I really strategized on how to complete this correctly. It paid off. Algore was 3rd in hand and Chopper was 15th. Chopper's greatest difficulty was the trot. He has such a big walk and long trot that I had to really run to keep him running to keep him from just walking with me. Our penalties in this part were a nick at the cavaletti and breaking stride at the slalom. Boy were those cones close together! It was amazing to see Algore work. He has always been more nervous and he just dropped his head and did every maneuver so calmly.

The horse course was also very technical. Even an older, broke horse may have had difficulty with it. The transitions between obstacles were very hard. 1. walk in & mount horse. 2. pick-up left lead to cone (we had to pass right in front of all the judges/scribes who were sitting in folding chairs). 3. Stop at cone. 4. 180 pivot to the left 5. pickup right lead 6. lope around obstacles to center of arena 7. complete lead change to left lead (simple or flying) 8. Continue in Left lead to cone and break to trot (without stopping) 9. Trot into box and do 2 360's to right and 2 360's to left. 10. Pickup trot and trot through 2 W/W Panels. 11. Pick up right lead and lope to bridge (only 2 horse strides to show this)12. Cross bridge at walk. 13. Trot over cavaletti (again those penalties for nicks) 14. Trot into 'L" and back through.

After the intricacies of this course I was glad that I incorporate so much transition work into my daily training. Chopper had one nick at cavalletti and "L'. (As I said earlier in my blog, he was having trouble plowing through them). Other than that he was clean. You should have heard the crowd roar when Algore completed his course. Zane went 9th and no one had been able to correctly execute the course. Algore did reining spins in the box. The crowd roared when he did the first two. I'm glad Algore didn't jump out of the box with all the noise. Like I said before, he performed just like a seasoned show horse. He really put it all on the line.

There was some confusion on the composite scoring with my horse. Initially they miscalculated and left off 40 points of my score. As a result, when they announced the finalists, I wasn't one of them. We got it straightened out though and Chopper and I went onto compete. Unfortunately, this didn't give me as much time to prepare, but he did great in the finals. Next year I will do a more complicated finals presentation in the freestyle. I already have lots of great ideas.

It's hard to believe this is all over. I was impressed with a lot of the other horses and how far they had come especially since some had fairly green riders. A lot of the horses were very well groomed and presented. I felt bad for some of the exhibitors who forgot the pattern as they worked and got zeroes. Many of the horses "sold" well.

I have to tell you all a story about my horse that is so special. When we were waiting the judges' final decision, the finalist horses stayed in the arena. I walked Chopper around to greet everyone. (We were in a concrete ring with the crowd above us). A mother brought her little girl down the steps to see him. She had Downs Syndrome. As she petted Chopper she laid her head down against his forehead. He stood so still and quiet. Then she reached out and grabbed each side of his bridle in her hands and pulled. Most horses would have pulled back especially since his head was elevated anyway, but Chopper just stood and let her pull on him and lay her face against his. It brought tears to my eyes and those sitting by the rail when it happened.

Guy Woods from Texas (who is a very good cutting horse trainer ) won. Kitty Lauman was 2nd from Oregon, and Zane was 3rd. I was 7th.

I was very emotional the last day during the adoption. I wanted my horse to go to the right home and I know he did! He loaded up perfectly for his new owner and she has reported in the comments that he is enjoying his new grass. I have a feeling they are going to go well together. Hopefully we'll be able to post some photos of him in his new home.