I Become a Bowling Pin

I am very, very sore right now.  I feel like I've been run over by a truck...I'll get to that though.  It was Sunday, so we headed out to the stable.  First stop was the pasture to get Artemis.  I brought my camera, as I'm sure you've already noticed.  I'm figuring out how to use the Panorama shot on it.  I love it but it's really funky to use.  Si came with us and Charlie came up to greet us.  He and Si started playing, and by playing he chased her and she absolutly loved it.

As you can see, they had fun.  And then Artemis and Ebony wanted to join in on the fun. 

This picture makes me think of Fonda.  I think she looks a lot like him in it.  Miss Artemis was in a good mood today.  She was very happy to come with us, although Charlie wanted to eat her halter as I put it on her.  Then he thought he'd help encourage her along by biting her.

We brought the three horses in, saddled up and let Artemis and Si run around the arena while we rode.  The ride was pretty uneventful, Socks did not buck.  Artemis is lazy and hangs out in the middle of the arena, only running if she can chase Si.  As we were riding it started getting busy there, with C bringing Eli in and L with Willow.  Charlie's owner was also there although she did not bring her horses inside.  We unsaddled after the ride and then went to go put Artemis away.  I led her out the door and then Artemis decided to try bowling, with her as the bowling ball and me as the pins. 

My best guess is that the dogs coming out the door behind her freaked her out.  That's the only thing I can think of, but she took off like a rocket, and unfortunantly, I was in the way.  She ran into my right side/back and knocked me over.  Then she decided to try running down the driveway.  I didn't let go of the rope and I tried to stand as she basically dragged me.  I did manage to dig my feet into the ground, but in front of the door we have a bunch of deep, soft gravel....things....I don't know what the proper name is...to keep it dry and while it does indeed do that, you have no grip in it.  So she dragged me with my feet sinking into the soft gravel several feet until she finally realized that she was not about to die, and then stood still and looked down at me, as if to say "What the heck are you doing down there?  How are we going to get anywhere with you lying down?"  I love her, but I wanted to kill her. 

So I limped over to her gate with her, and as my mom was undoing the gate, Miss Artemis decided she's Superman and could use her super-horse strength to demolish the gate.  Unfortunantly, we were in the way but she could handle the sacrifice.  She tried to push us against the gate and keep us there, to get it open.  Well the little princess got a impromptu lesson on manners and she realized that she is neither superman nor is she cut out for bowling.  She learned that we wait for the gate and we do not, ever, touch her handlers.  Or she will be in trouble. 

By the time we got back to the barn, I'm pretty sure a muscle in my leg was seizing up.  I could barely walk.  I kind of hobbled awkwardly and surprisingly, nobody gave me a funny look.  You have to love horses, you can leave walking normally and then come back after five minutes hardly able to walk and everyone just smiles and shakes their heads at you and your horse. 

As we were leaving I stopped to take some pictures of the pretty sky and moon.

There are two things I keep forgetting to put in here.  First, the other day, someone commented about Artemis being a yearling, since it was past January 1st.  I know that for Thoroughbreds (and maybe Standerdbreds?) they officially turn a year older on January 1st.  Is that true for other breeds?  I mean she's technically a grade horse, a Quarter Horse/Canadian Horse cross.  I hadn't heard about it being so.  Either way, I'll consider Artemis a year older on April 25th.

Second, several people have mentioned this to us over the past few months and lately we've been considering.  We've been told that we should enter Artemis in a few halter classes.  I'm not sure if either of us would be good at it, but the experience would be great, as I'd like to one day show Artemis (in barrel racing hopefully).  Any show experience we get before that is just as asset.  The problem is...I have no idea where to start.  I've tried to looking it up a bit, but I can't find anything for the new year.  I guess it's too soon.  I have no clue where shows are though, or even really what a horse needs to do for halter.  I'm going to have to do a bit more research before we decide.