Gaming???

At the barn I board at, we have quite a few gamers. They go to the local saddle clubs and run Barrels, Key Race, Pole Bending etc. and it all looks like so much fun!
In an effort to get Diamond out into the big big world, I try to take her EVERYWHERE. She LOVES watching and seeing what happens outside of the barn.
This weekend, we are taking her to a gaming show. We will go into the arena with all the chaos and crazy hot horses, and when they call our number, we will walk/trot through our events. The first will be Cal Stake, and then we’ll have a little rest as they go through some other events, until they get to Poles, Flags, and finally Key Race. So she knows what’s going on and expected of her when we get there, we practiced a little last night.
First, we did Cal Stake. She eyed that pole like she wasn’t sure what it was all about, and took a wide turn around it. After a couple times around, she didn’t mind it one bit and was turning nice and tight to the pole.
Next, we did poles and she was a complete CHAMP. After I walked her through twice, she knew the pattern and didn’t need as much assistance from me to complete the course.
After poles, we did Flags and she was NOT having the flag pole next to her (this is extremely difficult for us also, because she’s still a two hand “training triangle” type of steerer, so the pole is moving over her neck the entire time), and then she spooked when I put it into the bucket. She took a quick turn and a couple of trot steps, which being bareback, wasn’t the easiest thing I’ve hung on to, LOL!! So we went back to the barrel, and practiced hearing the pole move in and out of the barrel until she stood calm and relaxed with it being dropped and banging in the bucket. We then picked up the flag and carried it back to the first barrel. One thing I did notice though is that she didn’t mind the blue barrel nearly as much as she did the red one...
Finally, we did Key Race. She was a little confused with the poles stood in a square. She thought she was going to weave in and out of them like in pole bending, so it took some coaxing to get her through the center of the square, make a 180 turn, and back through the poles.
By the time we were done practicing, we had quite an audience, and Diamond LOVES performing for an audience, so she was being especially in tune with my cues, which was the exact opposite of how our practice started. And all this while a fellow boarder was practicing her polo whacking the balls all over and cantering around the perimeter of the arena. I think it was a great experience and practice for our first gaming show next weekend. Tonight, we’ll see if we can get a few more people and horses in the arena to get more chaos going