District Horse Show Results

Our District Qualifying show for State was Saturday.  Any horse that goes to the State 4-H horse show has to qualify at a district event.  E took 3 horses, just in case.  One year Pep went lame 2 days before the state show and she had to substitute Hank and show him.  

 Pep was really on her game at the show.

 E won the Western Showmanship class.

 Then got on Brother for the pleasure classes.  Looks like pink was the color of the day.

 She was 2nd out of 8 in Sr. Western Pleasure.

 And in a very crowded class of 16 for Go As You Please, they were 3rd.

 Then it was back to Pep for Equitation.  If anyone else had been in the class I'm sure she would have beat them but as it was she was the only rider.  Pep was put through all of her paces including an extended trot.

 Then E whizzed Pep through the trail class.  Practicing the gate every time we ride has really paid off.

 She didn't look twice or hesitate at anything and ended up winning the class.

 This is where Hank spent his day until the trail class.  To qualify for State you only have to go in one class and E didn't want to show hunter so trail it was.

 After 2 trotting circles to warm up in they went.

 It was a bit more of a reach than she had with Pep at the barrel.

 But he sailed through everything like a pro and ended up 3rd.

This was before the trail results so add another trophy and 3rd to the ribbons.  Now E just has to decide which horse to sigh up for the State Show before next week, tried and true Pep, or something new with Brother.  Hank is just on standby.

Just Kit Sunday #54

I didn't want to miss another Kit Kat Sunday but Kit hasn't been cooperating much in the picture posing department lately.  I wanted to take a picture of him last night but he was no where to be found.  Same this morning.  Finally, when we came home from church I got my camera and went looking.  

 Looks like he found a nice spot to rest after his all nighter.

I didn't know the roof of my car was so shiny.

In Bloom at the 4R's

Looks like my flowers are hitting their stride.  But it's turned off dry here now so it's hard to say how long things will stay pretty.  

 The Black Eyed Susan's are bright eyed.

 And I have a few purple asters blooming.

 It's really hard to get a good angle to show how spectacular the sweep of day lillies along the drive really is.

 I hope this gives you the idea.

 And the cone flower are showing themselves.

 How cool is that?

 I love the pink phlox.  But anything pink I pretty much love.

And who can resist purple drumsticks?  Flowers rock!

Good Fences #14

This is the second year that we have had to do a skills test to qualify for the State 4-H Horse Show.  They added this as an additional  measure to try to make sure everyone could handle their horses safely.  This is a good idea in theory but sure makes it difficult on the parents in practice.  The closest one to us was over an hour and a half away, so I contacted a neighboring county's volunteer leader and we set up our own test day. 

New Arena Fence in Bland

 We had 8 4-Her's participate and it took over 2 hours to get through all of the skills,

 which included being able to put your horse into and take it out of a stall.  Brother has never been in a stall to my knowledge.  He was a little nervous but handled it well.

 There was also individual riding skills and riding in a group.

Part of my frustration is that one rider couldn't get her horses to do some of the skills but was passed anyway because it was a "baby horse"  (5 years old) and they still had two and a half months to work with is before the show.  So what is the point of the test anyway?   You just can't regulate everything when it comes to kids and livestock.  Sometimes life is unpredictable.

For more Good Fences click HERE.

4-H Trail Ride

After the long day and horse show Saturday, we had a 4-H meeting and trail ride on Sunday.

 We had a good ratio this time, more 4-Her's than adults 4/3.

 We've had 2 new sisters this year at most of our meetings.  This was the first real trail ride they've been on an the longest ride.  They and their horses did great, really fit right in.  Their horses were barefoot but all of the rocks didn't seem to bother them any.

 J rode Brother.  He (Brother) was a little anxious but settled down and did fine.  We had two 16.3 hand horses with us that took the lead and even out walked Jessica (at 14.2).

 E and Hank took up their position in the rear.  E says she likes it there.

She did manage to sneak in front of me at a water crossing though.  We made the Horse Heaven trip in record walking time of 2 hr and 25 mim.  I think everyone had a good time.

Update on Otoelene

The farrier had wanted to leave the bar shoe on Otoelene as long as possible in hopes that she would grow enough hoof to trim out the bad and still have some left to nail back into.  She lost the shoe the day before he was coming back.  The  hoof wall had looked like icing melting off of a cake.  

 After the shoe came off it just looked like a jagged mess.

After he put a smaller bar shoe on with no pad this time, he trimmed more of the hoof wall away.  

This is what I had April 11th.  I'm not sure much progress is being made but there is little to do but wait.

Warning, Even More Horse Show Pictures.

Our Saddle Club had it's first full show of the season on Saturday.  The weather was nice even if it was a little windy.  We ended up taking Pep for E to show, Wrangler for me and Brother for both of us.  V was going to show Hank but changed her mind because there is a history of a poor turnout of hunters and she didn't want to be the only one. (there was one other but she was still glad she didn't take Hank)

It was a good thing Alex had come to see her show because they ended up being roped into grilling the hamburgers for the concession stand.  

 E's first class was Showmanship.

Which she handily won  against a couple of 7 year olds.  (it was 18 and under)

She took Pep in Stock horse Go As You Please

 which was Wrangler's first class.   There was a really good turnout of 16 for the class.

E and Pep walked away with first place and $42.

And Wrangler and I got third.  Not too shabby.
E took Pep in a Ranch Pleasure Horse Pattern class and did excellent placing 3rd with her.

Then we switched gears and she took Brother in Jr. Horse Go As You Please.

There was an excellent line up in this class including me and Wrangler and 4th from the right one of Brother's brothers.  E was 2nd and I was 4th.

Then we changed things up again and I showed Brother in Open Western Pleasure, (E didn't feel like loping him).  He was really doing well until a horse ran up on him the second way.  He didn't break but he really did tense up and sped up.  

 We still managed a 4th out of that.

E finished up taking Pep in trail.  She much prefers a ring and didn't care to do the side pass out in the open.

Everything else she did ok with but still ended up not placing.  Oh, and we had a riding for charity class that had 18 people.   And the charity was our 4-H Horse Club.  We ended up with $144.  But for some reason they didn't place the class again so I was more or less an adult leadline with everyone getting a ribbon.
Still, it was a great day.  $96 in entry fees but we made back $113.  And then I had to take over french fry station at the concession stand for the gymkhana part of the show.  I fried fries and made chilli cheese fries until 11 pm.  I think I even dreamed about french fries.   I got into bed at 1 am.  A big day all the way around.

Bad Horse For Sale Pictures #19

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Nothing like good pictures and useful information.