Holiday Horse Show - Part 2

I took Baby Dax to his very first outing!

I had no idea what to expect of him.  When he was unloaded and tied to the trailer, he was obviously confused...
Where are we?
Why are we here?
What am I supposed to be doing??

I knocked the mud off of him, tacked him up, and climbed right up to head to the ring to school a little.

Well, in the ring, lots of chaos was going on and everyone was cluckiong and smooching to keep their horses forward over scary ground poles and cross rails.  And I just wanted Dax to walk around like a sane horse!

He just **KNEW** that everyone was clucking and smooching at *him*.
Baby Dax almost had a melt down...

So, before it got too bad, I hopped down and just held the reins in the middle of the ring, letting him absorb the choas without asking for a thing.  That derpy head finally dropped and he started breathing again.  Luckily, the goal at this show was *just* to get some miles on him!
I had entered him in the ground pole division.

I only managed to lead him over a couple ground poles before it was time to show.
So, in we go for our simple little baby ground pole course.  We weren't even going to make it over the first one!  All the decorations were so scary!  But, Baby Dax trusted that he wouldn't die, and went over all the poles...  although he never went over them straight...

Round 2, we were getting the hang of it on one side, but down the side with the spectators was still scary!

Round 3, though, takes the cake!  We were approaching the line on the spectator side, and we were actually headed straight!!  We were headed confidently forward with quiet purpose...  when a spectator blew her nose just as we came next to her!!!
Poor Baby Dax lost his mind and slid stright sideways!  I started cackling so hard, I don't know how I managed to get him back onto the line and over the pole, but somehow we managed.

We hit the under saddle classes, and he derped along with very little concern.  We lined up, then they announced the placings...  And he just didn't know what to do when everyone started clapping!  When all was said and done, I walked him over to check out the spectators, and he decided that maybe they were OK after all.

Sleepy Baby Dax in the back...

Once his duty was over, he ate a little hay, then promptly fell into a deep sleep...  You might notice his head (behind Cricket) his hanging as low as his rope will allow.  His eyes were closed, and he might well have been snoring...  I was worried I would wake him up if I got any closer, and Baby Dax had definitely earned that nap!!

Ribbon Tree!