Thanks eddie, the wife and I really enjoyed that, along with some of the other presentations there. Riders like that always fascinated me. And a person that could train a horse so well. Even the trained horses, what we called "push button" horses back when we were competing, were a wonder. I've seen mediocre (slow) performing gymcana horses so well trained, they would put little kids on them to compete. Everyone knew the kid was just along for the ride, that the horse was doing the routine as it was trained to do. The horse would do a perfect run, just too slow to win. But that did not matter to that little kid, they were out there riding.
This reminds me of the Smith County Fair back in 1984. They had driving compatitions with teams and wagons, inside an arena. Our neighbor Cap Huffines, had a team of mules he had entered. Cap and one other person had driven a perfect run, so they were scheduled for a run off. Cap was scheduled to drive first. Cap drove to the entry gate and stopped. Cap dismounted the wagon, and had his son take his place in the drivers seat. Cap walked over to the announcers booth and picked up the mic. Cap told the audiance his son was there soly for the crowds piece of mind, that he was in control of the team. Then by talking to that team, and using only voice commands he had the team do the entire routine for a perfect score. The other competor came into the arena and went straight to the judges booth. He confered with the judges, then picked up the trophy and awarded it to Cap, telling the audence he could not compete with that. Then he asked Cap if he minded forgoing the compatition next year.
