While most junior-high students were sleeping in on Saturday mornings this spring, Ryan Short was up early and at the Hollywood Hill Saddle Club Arena in Woodinville by 7:30 a.m. warming up both his vocal cords and his trumpet.

The son of Mary and Andrew Short of Bothell, Ryan not only is the announcer for the horse shows each month May through August, but also plays the national anthem on his trumpet at the beginning of the show. He turned 13 on June 30.

“There was a scratchy old tape recording I was supposed to play on a tape player while holding the microphone by the speaker,“ said Ryan. “I knew I could play my trumpet better than that.”

He asks the audience to rise and face the arena’s flag and then plays the “Star-Spangled Banner” from the balcony of the announcer’s shack. Ryan is a student at Canyon Park Junior High where he just finished the seventh grade. And he was the only seventh-grade trumpeter in the school’s select jazz band, as well as being a member of the seventh-grade concert band.

Back in the announcer’s chair, Ryan calls for the first class of horses and riders to enter the arena. He also makes announcements promoting the cook shack menu and other information handed to him throughout the day.

The horse-show judge tells the ring steward what she/he wants the riders to do, who in turn uses a walkie-talkie to communicate with Ryan, who then announces the instructions for the riders over the loudspeaker.

“My grandpa, Tom Short, is very involved with the Hollywood Hill Saddle Club and last year he suggested I sit in with the announcer,” said Ryan. “Eventually the man who was announcer could only do mornings, so I started filling in for him in the afternoons while I was in sixth grade.”

Having grown up around his grandma Joyce’s and grandpa Tom’s horses in Woodinville, Ryan is comfortable with the nomenclature pertaining to horses and horse shows. He’s been on many trail rides with grandpa Tom and family since he was old enough to sit in a saddle and signal instructions to the horse.

Ryan will continue as announcer this summer at the Hollywood Hill Arena (his next show is Aug. 13) besides working on the adult-level black belt in his kung-fu class.

Other summer plans include a horseback trip with grandpa and re-reading all 4,100 pages of the Harry Potter book series. “That’s only 60 pages a day,” said Ryan, “which I can easily do.”

As for the future, he’s thinking about a master’s degree in engineering or computer science. No doubt whatever he chooses, Ryan will excel at it.

• Linda McCune gave Ryan’s dad trumpet lessons when he was 10 and gave Ryan his first trumpet lesson when he was 3.