Show Recap: Day 1

Slightly boring recap ahead... My brain isn't 100% functioning yet.  Something about a horse show hangover, which I swear is a real thing...

Our "B" show came and went with a bunch of successes (some larger than others) and a bunch more sunshine.  I can't exactly recall the last time that I managed to get a sunburn in Seattle... in March... but I'm pretty sure it won't happen again any time soon.

The warm weather made the frantic packing/loading/organizing that much more enjoyable and after making literally 100 trips between my tack locker and truck/trailer we were ready to load the ponies and head out.

Gus and Prair loaded happily and walked off calmly.  Though I realized that Gus likes to "sit" on the butt bar and managed to rug burn off a big patch of his tail.  Totally sad. 

We arrived earlier than I'm used to for schooling day, which left plenty of daylight for getting organized and a few rides in.  First order of operation was (clearly) getting the trunk situated and fully filled with all necessary items for the weekend.  I'm pleased to report that the lid organization was total perfection as was the extra side table the flips out for some added counter space.

Also, the large wheels were invaluable and immensely helpful.

amazing.

S hauled two ponies in another trailer - one of her client's and then her own tiny little welsh mare who is potentially the cutest thing ever.  I don't get to see her very often because she's boarded at another facility for the moment but holy wow that thing is cuteness personified.

big beak. tiny beak.

Cricket (the pony) got a nice school in and her first ride ever in an indoor arena.  She took the whole thing in stride and was a perfect little pony for her adorable little rider.

Prair was a bit of a tweedle.  She was so amped up that S opted to take her to an outdoor ring where she could school without a lot of traffic and slowly brought the mare back into orbit.  After about 20 minutes of canter figure-eights, they revisited the indoor to jump some courses with more success.   Prair was really balancing nicely through the corners, getting her changes (more) reliably and staying soft to the fences.  She didn't bat an eye at any of the fill under the jumps, so really it was just managing her tendency to get distracted with other horses in the ring.

I assumed that Gus didn't need a schooling ride so he just got walked around the property, fluffed, buffed and kissed goodnight.  S and I indulged in our pre-show mexican and margaritas before doing a quick night check and getting some sleep before a freakishly early wake up call in order to feed, groom and prep three kids and horses for the walk/trot classes in the morning.  Our plan was as follows:

Saturday:

Wake up ungodly early.  Prep ponies. Prep kids, try to keep everyone on board.  Take picture sof cute Gus in the walk/trot divisions.
Send Prair & S around the Pre-Green's - except there weren't enough Pre-Green Hunters to fill the division so instead they went in all the warm up classes at different heights.
I added a 2'6" medals class for me and Prair - and two flat classes for me and Gus.

Sunday:
No more walk/trot, so no panicky early morning.  Maybe do another flat class with Gus, maybe not and look for a couple of divisions for me to take Prairie in depending on the entry counts.  Easter had a lot of the competitors leaving after Saturday, so I didn't want to commit to a division that I'd be showing alone in. We ended up in the Long Stirrup which was perfect.

Play by plays to come, but by the time we packed up for home we came away with plenty of loot.

I gotta say that relative to Eventing or Dressage, there are way more ribbons to be had in Hunter-land.  Makes the 9 year old ribbon princess in me very happy.  :)

More to come!