excerpt
It was a big day for them. With over sixty riders in their class,
the competition would be tough. After all, it was the best of
the best. Joel and Tanya both knew that the name of the game
here was to score in the top twenty and advance to the finals
tomorrow night. But as they say, it really is one day at a time, and
in this case, one run at a time. With that in mind, both Tanya
and Joel saddled up and headed to the warm-up arena, knowing
that this is what it was all about for them. This is where it could
all come to an end if they didn’t get the best they could from
themselves and their horses.
Both of the horses showed exceptionally well. Joel got a solid run
from the buckskin and scored a total of 216 from three judges,
which put him in fifteenth place and qualified him for the finals.
There actually were five judges rating each performance, but the
scoring system threw out the high and low score and used the scores
of the remaining three. Joel was pleased with his performance. His
nerves had cost him at least two points, and if he could leave his
nervousness behind, he could do better in the finals.
Tanya did even better. Winning the hearts of the crowd on the
pretty palomino, she put together one of the best runs of the day
with a combined score of 225, which was only beat by her new
friend Cody. Joel had felt real proud as he watched the amazing
Tanya ride the palomino with a skill and competence that he
knew he could never match.
Manolis Aligizakis 