A few years ago, my good friends Mark Bodnar and Caprice Soltice and I used to joke that we should wear t-shirts that said "Have card, will ride", as we were amateurs that were always jumping in carts or on horses for people who needed an ammy rider in a pinch. Especially with somewhat tough horses that weren't quite amateur ready, we were always game to try. Hopping in a buggy or cart when you didn't necessarily come to the show planning to drive isn't such a big deal, as the clothing is a no-brainer. But have you ever tried to catch ride a western horse when you're not a perfect size 8 or 10?

With the dual arenas happening, it's inevitable that there will be conflicts, and it was late Sunday night that my friends at Valle Vista, upon reviewing the class entry numbers for Monday morning, realized that getting Caprice on a classic horse in the Show Arena was going to make it almost impossible for her to be on the amateur western mare in the coliseum during the same session. It has been 20 years since I last showed a western horse, but of course never one to turn down a ride, I told them if they could dress me, I'd do it.

So the photo at right is proof that you can find enough pieces to put the puzzle together at the last minute. While we didn't win, I did get the horse qualified for Caprice to come back and put in probably a much smoother effort in the championship. And most importantly, it was direct proof that this western stuff is a lot harder than it looks!

You can't miss the Taylor River Farm set up right at the corner of the warm-up ring heading into the main coliseum, so they are pretty much on display all day and all evening. Tonight you could tell things were abuzz there as we all filed in to watch the evening session. Sure enough, tonight was the English Pleasure Stallions and that means we could look forward to an appearance by Sarah Gove and her beautiful Cartier, a team that has been working hard together for the last couple of years in this division. Tonight they were able to celebrate a victory in this tough class that also included terrific rides by Mary Cockriel and Basic Black, Ultra's Special Agent and Steve Smith and Wendigo Lord Baden Powell and Stan Bodnar.

Today's sessions also included two huge World Futurity pleasure driving qualifiers--one for the two year olds in the afternoon that had to be split, and another huge class in the evening for the three year olds. Long time Futurity chairperson Barb Rudicel was positively beaming in the stands watching the results of her labors over the years. "Who's Your Daddy?" became "Where's Your Daddy?" during the three year old class when a lost shoe brought all the headers running into the arena and a rather annoyed "Dad... Dad!... DAD!!!" was heard coming from Whitney Bodnar as father Stan ran right past him on his way to who, we're not sure. But poor Stan immediately became fodder for Mr. Carrington's dry sense of humor, which made the shoe replacement time pass a bit quicker.

Note the familiar fedora in the photo on the right? Yes, that's Mr. Don Harris of Saddlebred fame, now married to our Queen of Morgandom Judy Whitney Harris, heading Ernesto Chavolla in the Futurity pleasure driving. It's a pleasure to see Mr. Harris giving 'Nesto a hand here at our Morgan World Championships and I hear there is a possibility we may get to see him grace our center ring this week in something more than a header capacity. I can't wait!

The day was capped off with a terrific Garden Stuffed Crepe at IHOP, the perfect late night dinner in my opinion.

--Tami Johnson