Our
morning started bright and early, up at 6 AM, at the fairgrounds by 8 and the
horse show started at 10. I felt more rested having stayed the night in my home in my bed. The kids had lots of support with Grandparents and Aunt Alice coming to watch. Most years we did not have horses in any morning
classes and everything started for us in the evening. This year Jayden was
excited to have Ace entered in Halter and Showmanship class. Amanda T. was very helpful
with Jayden showing her all kinds of show pointers and helping braid his mane and
clip the extra hairs on his nose. Her and friend Alyvia supported each other in their classes. Ace looked very impressive for a non-show horse. She showed in the gelding class with 9 horses. She ended up with a
purple ribbon in third place. The top two horses were halter horses and could
not be beat, they even had fake tail extensions. We were very happy with how
well Ace did.
">On to showmanship, Jayden got a blue and third. That was a little
harder with a pattern and setting up her horse. They both did really well for a
first time. After lunch it was Jake’s turn on Winnie. He was signed up for
Trail class. Winnie is pretty easy going and will do almost anything so we
thought it would be good for Jake to start out. He knew the pattern, but wasn’t
really paying attention when the judge went over it and watched the kid before
him do it wrong. He wasn’t in a good mood about it at all. He used the wrong
hand for the rope gait, so made it very hard for himself. Eventually he was so
far stretched out hanging onto the rope that I thought he might fall off. I
yelled at him to let go and he did. He crossed the bridge great, walked over
the logs instead of trotting, then loped, then backed through two logs. Winnie
went on them and through them, but she did back. Last he made an awesome 180
turn inside a box. That looked really nice. I thought he should have placed
above some of the others that had more problems. He was pretty sour about the
whole experience. I was getting frustrated with his negative attitude. Finally I just told him I was
going to pray out loud with him while he was still sitting on his horse. Once I did that with him, I could see peace
come across his face. I felt better too. Jacob did not know that he would be the only kid riding in the Novice Walk-Trot and the Novice Western Pleasure class. He did a good job in both classes doing what was asked of the judge and taking the correct lead on Winnie. He got a trophy in both classes. How I wish Jayden could have had that same opportunity when she started 4-H. The look on Jake's face said it all. He was trying to hold back a smile and then he just couldn't any more. He was beaming and kept saying he was very surprised he got a trophy. From that point on, he was enjoying himself and the whole horse project.
Jayden was in walk trot and
western pleasure classes. Her horse fit right in with the show horses, except his his
head does not hang to the ground and he doesn't move at a super slow speed. He placed well too, purple and
second place in western pleasure. Horsemanship was a bit upsetting as the judge had the kids ride a pattern without stirrups. The judge claimed Jayden had her stirrups when she really did not. You really can't argue with a judge, so she choked down her red ribbon. 
The night ended in the fun class of costume. I was proud of Jayden and her creativity. She came up with the idea of a Jockey. She made the fly mask into a jockey mask and added all the extras. She found a jockey shirt on ebay. I thought she really looked the part. She held her 2 point position for most of the judging. She got my vote. Jake was the Lone Ranger, naturally as he has a white horse. Unfortunately he could not ride his horse without wearing a helmet and without his cowboy hat, he really didn't look the part, so he had to walk.
Luke, well he is easily entertained.
Comments