We haven't had the best of weather luck at the Allegan APHA shows but we finally lucked out for the August show. Sure, it was a tad warmer than I'd personally prefer but it sure wasn't horrid in any stretch of the imagination.
This late into the outdoor horse show season I think we were running out of steam on the photography. Scott took all of these - got some nice shots too!
Me and Madison having our usual last minute pep talk.
Stanley will never be able to compete at the highest levels in hunt seat classes but he sure does love doing them and really give it his all. I'm always proud of both of them!
I've never thought of myself as a particularly sensitive person but this weekend might have changed my mind. For more than a week I was having bad vibes about Labor Day weekend. We were scheduled to race motocross at one of the toughest tracks in Michigan - one that by far sends out the most people in ambulances. I was just sure that one of the kids we knew (or mine God forbid) was going to get hurt bad. I expressed my reservations and really got nowhere besides everyone thinking I was over reacting.
I got home late last night and saw I had missed a message from a coworker but she hadn't left a message. I thought that was rather odd for her to call me on the weekend since we aren't social friends but didn't spend much time dwelling on it. This morning I checked my email and hers jumped out at me. Uh oh. She even emailed me at home.
My intuition wasn't all that far off. A man I know quite well, a customer about my age with 2 kids, was killed in a motorcycle accident over the weekend.
Equestrian Girl and I both like trail class. She's much better at it than I am but Stanley is good enough to know what to do with me so long as I point him in the right direction! This video clip of Equestrian Girl cut off the beginning but she had a great ride and scored 74 points - extremely high in this class!!
Equestrian Girl's favorite class is horsemanship. This class is judged on the rider and usually involves riding a pattern that would include all three gaits, backing up, and a pivot. Stanley is also really good at this class so this show, they decided to enter the Sweepstakes class to see if they could win a little money!
The young man in the orange shirt is her competition. Equestrian Girl watches the judge setting up the cones and tries to work out in her mind how the pattern will go compared to how it was written on paper.
The judge asks if they have any questions and Equestrian Girl jumps at the chance. We agree, you ALWAYS ask questions if the judge asks! You never know when they might give you some little pointer that will help you win the class.
Motocross Boy was in charge of photos for this class. He got the beginning just as they came around the second cone.
And he got the end just as they walked off.
But luckily I had grabbed the video camera and got the whole thing!
Even though there were only 2 in this class, Equestrian Girl kicked the young man's butt but good. She had a really, really nice ride and his ride...not so nice. She won more for the class than we paid!
Equestrian Girl had a great show at this last one of the season. She had blue ribbons in every single class except one easily getting the daily high point award. Her second favorite class is Western Pleasure:
We still love this red and white outfit - it really stands out. This was the first time she's worn her hair down in a pony tail. It does look pretty...but she probably wouldn't do this for Paint shows.
Such a pretty rider.
Daddy loves getting head shots!
Stanley was being such a good boy! Equestrian Girl asked him to move out a bit in the lope since this judge prefers a more forward motion and he complied just perfectly!
Daddy catching a contemplative moment again.
Smiles after winning the class and reaching down to give her mighty steed a pat.
Yesterday's post was about Hunter Under Saddle Class or as known at Open Shows - English Pleasure since we do occasionally have riders going Saddle Seat. So what's different about this group of photos to indicate it's a different class?
Equestrian Girl and Morgan Girl sharing a quiet minute while watching something interesting in the show ring. See the horse's ears all pointing towards where they are watching?
We've been working hard on getting Equestrian Girl to keep her chin up and LOOK up. She got a little carried away here and apparently cracked herself up.
This is better.
Turning to look where you are going is also good.
And this one she just looks plain happy.
More contemplative...
So what was the difference between this class and the last one? This one was equitation so it is judged on the rider and not the horse. How can I tell? Equestrian Girl wears her red shirt for pleasure and white for equitation!
Equestrian Girl getting a good luck hand slap from me while Morgan Girl watches.
Stanley loves hunt seat classes!
Equestrian Girl loves this class too!
And her chin is up!
Some of the classes get kind of crazy - this is only half the arena and half the horses showing.
Many of the same horses in this picture but you can see three more in the far background. I think there were 13 all together but there are often 15-20!
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