A "loaner"

This is my hubby Ron at a QH show in Pine Bluff, Ar. a few years ago. I had hauled my Weiscamp gelding down there to show in a few western pleasure classes. With the over 2 hour drive down there, and the few classes offered for me, I decided that Ron and Homer my horse ( named after Homer Simpson) were going to give it a go in the men’s western pleasure as well. Why not, right?

Well…..except for the fact that Ron had hardly ever rode the horse before much less shown him. You see I do this once in awhile to my good natured hubby and he is always a sport about it. You see this wasn’t the first time. Ever since the one time threw him on cold turkey like that, and he won a BIG class he’s has been a real trooper about it. That time I was on “a loaner” all day. I used to show a horse named Scooter for a dear friend who used to board him at our farm in Shirley, In.

As it was that day with Scooter I had already won several big WP classes in a row. Ron just happened to be standing in the wrong place at the wrong time right near the exit gate. I stepped down off the horse and told him to “get on!” He looked at me puzzled, and I repeated myself, “get on! The judge really likes this horse!” You see Ron was supposed to ride his own horse in the men’s WP, but we pulled a switch at the last minute. Ron’s looked changed from puzzled to startled and then he exclaimed “but…but…I’ve never even rode this horse” To that I answered “ “He’s broke isn’t he? GET ON!”

So he did. Much to all of our delight, (me, owner Linda who was watching, and our kids) Ronzo as we affectionately call him, threw his leg over, put his feet in stirrups that weren’t adjusted for him, promptly went in and WON the big men’s WP class! He won a fair amount of prize money as well which he informed Linda he was keeping for the dirty deed we had just pulled on him. (Normally I gave her all the winnings to Linda help offset the cost of showing her horse) Linda laughed, Ron beamed, and from that point on he never again gave me that “are you CRAZY?” look when I slapped him unexpectedly on a "loaner”