Camels, balloon hats, and schoolkids, Oh My

Today was the first day of the horse-show portion of the annual Nairobi Agricultural & Trade Fair.

Talk about a horse of a different color! Usually, shows here feature lots of horses and competitors, a sparse but knowledgeable audience made up predominantly of competitors, competitors' family members and pets, and the odd (as in occasional, rather than strange) boyfriend or girlfriend.

This show features a tiny handful of competitors, a HUGE audience (in horse show terms, anyway), and a thrilling bass beat provided by the entertainment going on in the main stadium a few hundred yards away.

The cozy, cliquish familiarity is entirely swept away by the presence of  hundreds of people with little experience of horse sports and a stolid refusal to be caught up in our own heartfelt enthusiasm for this oddball activity. I have titled the image below "Huh?", which seems to sum up the audience attitude.

And I'm not sure these guys really got the finer points of our warm-up for the Preliminary Dressage test:

I was not surprised to learn that Joya takes a dim view of camels. There were about a dozen camels at the show, giving rides to delighted schoolchildren, and making their own feelings known through their distinctive growl/rumble/roar. Which I think is the part Joya really doesn't like. Unless it's another version of the old horse-not-a-horse problem that makes donkeys so problematic.

We were pretty pleased to come home with a 1st place ribbon and a cute cup in the Preliminary Dressage...and to make our way around the Division I jumping course (70 cm) with no rails down and only a couple of mild freak-outs. Brought down a few notches by a very low (and deserved) score in the Novice B dressage...and heading back tomorrow morning for Division II at 80 cm, and if we go clear and are feeling brave, perhaps Division III at 90 cm as well.