Showing with Garbie

Garbie and I’s first attempt at a show was a bit of a disaster. Well, we didn't even really get to do the show part. But on the bright side Garbie handled everything around showing very well. It wasn't a big event, but a busy one. I did take Garbie to multiple showgrounds before to prepare him for the time we'd really step foot into the ring. He's such a reliable horse and I adore him for it. 

In another life, I can see myself showing much more avidly, it's quite the experience. 

Maybe I'll take the next year and enter some more, I've always been planning on it but never quite had the time, there's many other things I have to do. The Neravontii, my work, our family, all the adventures to go on. 

Garbie seemed like this show wasn't as exciting to him as to me. There was so much to see, beautiful horses and crowds of people. With whom I could talk about horses endlessly. It's one thing to gush about them to my family, but having the chance to tell new people about them is amazing. They did give me some strange looks when I talked about some quirks my critters have. Such as breaking down stall doors, or escaping stalls, or going catatonic when inside one. Looking at it, a good part of them have some sort of issue with being boxed in for long. I do get that feeling. The people seemed almost relieved when I told them that the horse with me was my perfect lovely sweet angel child. 

He was quite popular with the people I introduced him to. 

And I have to admit, it did give me a small ego boost to have him receive so many compliments. I think one or two people may have fallen in love with him or hopefully his breed. If they hadn't at the first meeting, they surely would after seeing us show. I was excited and hopeful that I'd get to talk about him and his breed more later. 

The showing itself went well, better than I anticipated. I didn't want to put too much pressure on us, we were there to have fun and try something new. Though it would be nice to get a ribbon and see how our training would pay off. And I do tend to get a bit competitive, well, maybe more than just a bit. 

Garbie moved like a dream. I knew he would, he always does. Floating and free strides combined with the elegant bow of his head. It's not overly fancy or pompous, that honestly would be too much for me. It was just right. Effortless, natural. He also worked through any mistakes I made with composure and grace. 

Our round ended soon, we got applause and I was proud of how we'd done. How Garbie had done. I made sure to reward him with hay cubes and pets. A ribbon wouldn't mean anything to him, but affection and rewards did. 

And I did get to talk about him and his breed at length, just as I'd silently hoped. I think some of the people who asked regretted it a bit, but a full account of what these horses are capable of includes their history and a crash course on their genetics. Garbies phenotype in particular. I did meet at least one person who was way more into genetics than I am, they knew a lot more too. I had everyone who dropped by give Garbie a hay cube and let him shof off some of the tricks he knew. Like smiling on command, or picking up someone's hat and putting it on their head. He made a few fans that day I think.