The judge for the inspection process was German and she had just flown in the night before from Europe. Her companion judge was the president of the NASPR registry and that woman spoke fluent German as well. So, they conducted their inspections in German which is sometimes a stacatto, angry sounding language. It was actually pretty funny sometimes to hear this rapid fire guttural German come flowing from her mouth and then you'd see the handlers look stricken because they were certain she was saying something horrible abou their mare or foal. So, then the judge would see their anxiety and translate in english, saying something like, "your mare has a nice deep shoulder" or "her pasterns have a correct angle."
What was really funny about her in a good way was that she had really decided opinions. When we first let Hailee and Renny off their leads, Renny was confused and feeling a bit subordinate, so he immediately mounted Hailee. She took it in stride and then began her business of trotting and cantering quietly. Renny was still loopy and confused, so he kept bashing into her and getting right up in her business and under foot. So, finally, she picked up her hind leg and pushed it in his direction. I was mortified that she looked like she was planning on kicking baby, but the judge said, "Very good. She gave him a warning shot. She is a good mare. She teaches him well." So, Barbie and I just gave each other a look and laughed later! Barbie liked that the German judge preferred the mares!
All day long, the judge had cracks like this. For one bad-acting foal, she said that he was listening to his own music, but he needed to get another band. And then at the end of the day, of this very handful, naughty, dangerously misbehaving foal without boundaries, she said in front of everyone, "He is spoiled."
My baby was very good. The only naughty thing he did was my fault and it was a biggy! The judge was standing quietly beside him at the start of his inspection and he was a bit impatient because he'd already stood through his mother's inspection. She was standing admiring him, looking at his darling face, quietly assessing his sweet temper. He was rustling his lead shank a bit and standing quietly but letting me know that he was bored. When suddenly he put his little muzzle forward and gave a teeny tiny peck at the judge's butt. She just smiled and stepped away. he didn't really bite her, but he did put his teeth on her! Naughty boy. She then stepped forward and put her fingers in his lips to feel for his bite. He stood quietly and obligingly, so no harm, no foul!
But can you believe that I let my baby bite his inspection judge!?!?!!!! What a nut. I will do better the next time I bring a foal to inspection!