The Hermanator Dominated - OK so I am proud of him

Herman had his first outing on July 1 and he was all business. I was a proud momma and was busting at the seems.

His first ride was not until 10:30 so I figured I had some time when I got to the barn at 6:30 am to get Herman's whites white and his browns sparkling. Right when I got to his stall and realized that his white were brown and that his brown was mud, that I was told we were pulling out in an hour.

I have never scrubbed so fast and furious in my life. His body I got pretty good, but after the 4th time washing his tail I was forced to accept that his white tail would have to just be a few shades of yellow. Baby Powder to the rescue I thought.

We get loaded up and begin the journey to the horse trials. I followed Susan darn near the speed of light to the show. Susan had some problems entering the field where we were parking. She almost took the fender off of her new horse trailer. She was a bit upset and understandably so. The funny thing was her horse did not move. He could have cared less.

We got in without any further excitement. I got Herman under his fans, which everyone was pretty impressed with. Having a draft cross, you try to have them conserve as much energy as possible, so if fans help keep them cool when it is hot out - then so be it. I got lots of questions about my portable power supply. Who knew no one had found these things in the Y2K stupidity or for running sump pumps when the power went out!

The long and the short - Herman was sitting 5th after Dressage. Show jumping was kind of scary and Herman had 12 faults for refusals. The crowd oowed and ahhed and I have to admit I watched from between my fingers. In the end he got around and aired everything. Not a rail was dropped or touched but the faults dropped him to 13 place.

Herman was a machine cross country with no faults. He ended 9th out of 25. Sheri did a great job of getting around safely and when all was said and done - there were no scratches, bumps, or bruises. At the end of the day - THE BAR WAS OPEN!