We all had a fabulous time. “We” being: Karen Steinhoff, Dennis Makemson, Linda Frankland and Luis Castaneda.

The judge, Raul Risso, seemed to be in a very playful mood and had the performance exhibitors on their toes. Gone, it seems, are the days of two circles to the left or right, back up, and go through the serpentine. Performance classes at this year’s National Show were a challenge even for some of the most experienced and professional riders, and definitely not for the faint-hearted. Also, forget doing anything with two hands if you’re an amateur.

Exhibitors were asked to back up straight halfway across the arena; go through the serpentine (prettily represented by red flowers in pots) laid out in an “L” shape; paso llano through a passageway of 6 – 5’ shrubs, spaced just wide enough that the horse could pass through, and then back up through the shrubs. Hmmm... that produced some interesting results. Quite a few horses decided they were most definitely NOT going to back through shrubs; others backed half-way through the shrubs and then simply had to turn around and see what the heck it was. Only a few made it all the way. The judge also, at times, asked riders to perform ever smaller figure eights around him and the ring steward. One rider, of course, managed to clip the judge with her stirrup!

A few riders were a little perplexed at being asked to back up without using the reins. Thank goodness, though, that Luis had Karen and Dennis practicing almost through hoops before the show because both Merengue (Dennis’s stallion) and Orgulloso (Karen’s gelding) performed beautifully. Karen won the blue in the Performance Gelding class and made it to the Championships but those shrubs did her in!

We all tried very hard to win the $5,000 vacation being raffled – organized by Joy Redman, thinking that we might get a trip to Peru for their National Horse Show but despite our best efforts – the prize went to Barbara Alexander. We also did our best to support the silent auction and there were certainly some fabulous items on which to bid. Karen won an 18x20 photo by Lee Locke and, of course, her choice is going to be her winning picture, waving her blue ribbon aloft! Lee Locke did her usual fabulous work with the photos and I urge you to go to her website and check it out.

Luis is now setting up a maze and asking the horses to back all the way round the track at the ranch in anticipation of next year’s Nationals