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I-N-D-I-O By Meagan Browne-age 15 Golden Browne Llamas Phelan, CA So….I was asked to talk about the Indio Show this year that just happened, so I’ll relay it from my point of view. First of all I want to say that this year’s show was probably the best Indio show I’ve been to, it was the most fun! Preparing for the show was a hassle as always, running around and getting stuff together in a hurry. I had to get the llamas washed before the show, and about a week from when we had to leave I was freaking out because it was so cold. Luckily the weather warmed up just a couple days before the show and I was able to wash the two llamas we were taking, my boy Checkers, and then one of our little boys, Bopper. Once we got everything done (finally) we were on the road. We had gotten a late start so it was already late in the afternoon when we got there. It was dark by the time we got all our pens and everything set up in the barn. It looked nice and the llamas were happy to be out of the trailer and have room to move! That night we checked into our hotel and I was SO happy when I found out that not only did I get a queen bed all to myself, but that the hotel had wireless internet available, which totally made my day.
The next morning I was dragged out of bed and I groggily got ready, taking a shower and putting on my makeup in a sleepy rush. Then we went down and had the hotel’s breakfast. It tasted horrible but oh well, I was really hungry. We got to the show nice and early to get ready to show, I was excited since it was the first day of actual showing. All the youth performance classes were Friday. At first I didn’t really want to show, I was in a bad mood since I had to clean up the llama’s pens. Checkers had been to lots of shows before, and he has, after many, many long hours of grooming, discovered that the cleaner he stays, the less I brush him. He went to the bathroom in one corner of his pen in a neat pile, never walking through it, and he slept on the other end of the pen. Bopper was the opposite, he pooped right in front of the door, so when you walked in you step in it, and it had spread out everywhere and he had junk all over him. Thankfully my mom groomed him for me, that was one nightmare I was able to avoid, and Checkers wasn’t that hard, I just had to pick a few pieces of hay off of him. Once everything was set for them I sat back and waited for the show to start. Over the next couple of hours more people started arriving, and the barn that had been empty when we came filled up rather quickly. Finally the show was starting, and a judges meeting was called. The judge talked about how everything was going to work, and I was a little surprised to hear that we only got one refusal per obstacle in youth. Usually we had more than one. She said we wouldn’t be dismissed from the ring, but that we would have to leave the obstacle and move on to the next if our llama refused. Then the actual showing part started. Normally it starts with juniors, then intermediate and finally seniors, but somebody was running late so they decided to start with intermediate, and then do juniors and then seniors. I didn’t mind too much since I was in seniors this year though, my class would have gone last anyways. It was my first show as a senior, and every time they called intermediates I thought for a moment they meant me, it took a while to get used to being in a different age group. After the intermediates and juniors had finished, it was time for my class. We were doing obstacle first, one of my favorite classes. It wasn’t actually that different from intermediates, most of the obstacles didn’t seem much harder than in the younger classes. There was only one obstacle that Checkers didn’t do very well, one that I had never thought to practice. I had to put my llama’s feet on a bucket and then do a 360 degree turn on top of the bucket. Checkers knows how to stand on the bucket, but I had never tried turning him on it, so now I have something new to practice. He stood up on it fine, and turned, but he kept stepping off as I tried to turn him so it was difficult. He did the rest of the obstacles fine and seemed to really enjoy it, he does like to show. He was happy to go back to his pen when he was done, to eat hay of course. After I put him back I went out to watch the rest of the class show, and then waited for them to announce the placings. I won first, and I promptly danced off to show Checkers his lovely ribbon when it was all over. The next class was PR. I’ve always liked PR, though I can’t truly say why, I just do. This time they did it in the right order, juniors, intermediates and then seniors. There were some fun obstacles in the class, and Checkers did them all fairly well, standing still for the petter and being calm and relaxed for the rest. The only little thing I noticed was he brushed up against the side of the chairs that were being used for the backup, I was a little disappointed at that but it was mostly my fault for not directing him enough. We made it through the class without much difficulty and then I watched the rest of the seniors do it, then was told I had won first. I was pleased, and gave the ribbon to my parents to hold on to, lest I accidentally drop it or something, since I’m prone to be a klutz. By this point I was starving so I went out to get something to eat while the younger age groups showed in their classes. Of course, the fair always gives you too much food for a ridiculous price, so I was full by the time I was done, and I hadn’t even eaten all my food! The last class of the day was pack. It SEEMED like an easy course, but oh was I wrong. In truth, it was easy, very, very easy, but I still messed up. I went into the ring with Checkers, and I was just breezing through it, all happy cause it was going well, until we got to the underpass. It was going fine at first, he ducked and went under it, but once I got through I looked over my shoulder and guess what? The underpass had caught on the pack and he was dragging it with him. I was so embarrassed, I took it off his pack and was trying to fix it (I should have just left it) and while I was distracted he went over and started eating the leaves off the deadfall!!! Everyone was cracking up, which didn’t help at all, and then he had a leaf hanging from his mouth as we went through the deadfall, which I’m sure I got points off for. I took it out of his mouth before we went through the water so we didn’t lose points for that thankfully, and everything else went smoothly, but I was still really embarrassed about it. I was shocked when I got first place. I totally expected to get last place after that happened, so that was surprising. That was the last of the classes so the rest of that night was just to hang out and relax. LASC did a hamburger and hot dog BBQ for us and we had a fun scavenger hunt with all the youth. We went home early that night so we could go to bed early and wake up really, really early. Except we ended up staying up really late after all! The next day was the novice and advanced classes, so it was a time for me to relax. I showed Bopper in a couple of novice classes and then I was free!! We only signed him up for Obstacle and PR, though I later found out that Pack was the easiest class!!! The first class he did was Obstacle. I was already expecting him to mess up on the backup and foot, so I wasn’t very surprised when he refused to back up, and wouldn’t let me anywhere near his back feet, but he actually did really well on a lot of the other obstacles. He wasn’t really jumpy like I had thought he was going to be. The next class was PR, and he did really well in that, he stood still for the petter, and the only obstacles he didn’t do right were show teeth and backup. Again, he was amazing. He won fifth in both classes out of like, seventeen or something. The rest of that day I just spent time with friends and went around the fair. But wait, there’s more. Yes, more. There was a totally awesome fashion show that night! Everyone in it had to wear something made out of llama, and then they walked a llama into the ring, handed it to Jeremy, and then showed off their attire to the onlookers. Everyone was so funny to watch as they mock-modeled, and it was really fun to do, just goofing off and having a great time! The last day, Sunday, I woke up kind of sad, I really didn’t want to leave. I never like leaving the show, unless I have something to do that day. All morning I was just hoping time would freeze, so I could stay there, but of course, life goes on. That day we did showmanship, which is far from my favorite class. Luckily for me, Checkers was in an apparent good mood, and throughout the whole class he stood still and even lined himself up! When the judge asked me the question however, I got it wrong, but I’ll remember what to say next time it is asked. I ended up placing second, but the judge said that I would have won first, as a matter of fact she said I was really, really good, in those exact words, that she liked my technique and my focus was very nice. The reason I didn’t win though was because I didn’t turn right when she asked us to switch places. That was the deciding factor for the class, and only one person did it right. After that class was over they announced the awards, and I won Senior Youth Grand Champion, and Senior Youth High Point. I got a really nice bag and ribbon for that, which I liked. As soon as I finished showing we got all packed up, since the fair wanted us all to leave quickly so the goat people could come in. Right when they would let us out, we left, to my dismay of course. I was glad we got to go to this show. I really loved the show. Indio has always been my favorite. So, that’s Indio 2008. Over and Out.
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