AoA descriptions

Seyton felt super uncomfortable as his handler, Simon, led him into a dressage ring, with a low white picket fence, sandy surface, and green bushes along the white fence. The sand crunching under his paws made his fur crawl. He hated the sound and the feeling of the sand under and in his paws and paw pads. Seyton looked over his shoulder at the other Tokotas and Tokis that were beginning to take their places at the edge of the ring. He watched one of the Tokis, a reddish-brown female, who looked like she could stand in her one spot forever! He wasn’t sure how she would be able to breathe! If only anyone knew how badly he wanted to roll in the soft grass on the other side of the white fence.

The halter he was wearing, with a golden or steel name tag with his name imprinted on it, suddenly began to apply pressure to his muzzle and head. He stepped back, wanting the discomfort to go away. Simon, his handler, turned to him, petted him in an attempt to get him to calm down, and released the pressure on his halter. The pair had started working with halters and lead ropes just two weeks before this competition. Simon petted his nose and muzzle and Seyton began to calm down after a bit of petting.

As Simon tugged on the lead rope and held onto Seyton’s halter, making him walk towards their designated spot by the judge. Seyton began walking and Simon let go of his halter and the judge was already beginning to judge all the Tokotas and Tokis. Seyton could feel Simon’s hand on his back and down his hind legs, moving them into the correct conformation stance. Simon held Sey’s lead rope taut, forcing his nose up in the air. Simon smiled at how well he thought Seyton looked but Seyton on the other hand thought his head his poor head was going to pop off. Simon snapped his fingers in Sey’s face, catching Sey’s attention again. Once he had his Tokos attention, he gave him a bit of cooked chicken, which was enough bribing for Seyton to behave.

Cooked chicken for standing here? Sign me up! The Toko thought.

The judge comes up to the new competing pair, with a clipboard in his left hand and a fountain pen in his right. He walks around Seyton, running his hand down the Toko’s back, his ribs, and his hind legs, and seemingly asks Simon for something. After that small conversation, Simon lifted Seyton’s lips and opened his mouth for the judge to check out his teeth. Seyton was confused and he hated this teeth checking thing the judge was making him do.

The judge writes something on the clipboard before announcing to the handlers to begin a jog for them and a trot for the Tokos and Tokis on the edge of the ring. Simon tugs on the lead rope and hands Seyton a piece of the cooked chicken to get him to trot for the judge. The judge, standing in the middle of the ring, writing things down on the paper. 

After the judge waved everyone to stop the trots, the judge did a quick check of all the Tokos and Tokis, the judge returned to the center of the ring, gave a quick speech, probably telling everyone they can go home now. All Sey wanted was the cooked chicken Simon had. The judge had said something Seyton didn’t know or understood what the judge was saying but Simon was freaking out, which made him freak out. Simon hugged Seyton’s neck and he backed up, panicking by Simon’s reaction. The judge walked up carefully and tied a single red ribbon to Seyton’s leather halter.