Chato Shines in Local Horse show

I really thought I was going to write alot more than I am, but the good thing is that I'm riding alot more than writing. Yes, I said riding. I've been riding him for about two weeks. We spent about a week in the round pen getting used to going forward, turning and stopping. Then we went out into the western arena. After that we went to the jumping arena. The 4H class with all the kids were riding around and he took it all in stride. I've had about ten rides on him now, so I thought it was time to take him to our local horse show to see how he would be around all the commotion. He was great so I entered him in a couple of classes; mustang trail and green horse pleasure. I was really happy with our classes. We even got a third place ribbon in mustang pleasure. Did I mention there was only three horses in Mustang Pleasure? The next show is May 3. I'm hoping to do better. Today I was in the English arena and the girls said "jump the small x jumps." He jumped them beautifully. Then I took his saddle off and rode him around bareback. He is really comfy and bareback is my favorite way to ride. I think I can really show him how to move off my legs more quickly bareback. Oh, by the way, the judge at our horse show is one of my competitors for the challenge. She brought her mustang, "Diva," to the show for the experience too, but she wasn't riding in the show. But it was really fun to get to meet somebody else who'll be competing in Sacramento. We even got to let our horses meet one another. We talked about what we were doing in our training, but neither of us divulged much info. Her horse is a bay also. The BLM has given all the trainers mustangs that are all about the same age, color and size to keep the competition as fair as possible.