V's District Show Results

V had a very interesting and eventful day Saturday at the show.

She didn't want to show in Showmanship but I highly encouraged it. (translation: made her)

She ending up with first place.
L brought Allie to the show.  Our plan was to have her as a back up for the State 4-H Show in case something happened to Pep or Jessica before September.  V tried showing her in western go as you please.  She only made in around 1 1/2 times before Allie got too nervous to continue.  She broke into a canter and V had trouble even stopping her long enough to get off.  I think part of the problem was even though V rode her a long time outside the ring, she had never been in the ring and there was just too much new to deal with.  After that we decided E didn't need to try to show her.

V's largest class was hunter go as you please with 19 horses.  She placed 4th.
She also amazingly got a 5th in hunter pleasure out of 11 where she picked up the wrong lead.  Jessica was racing so fast it was half way around before V could even slow her enough to try again and even then I'm not sure she ever got it right.  At one point when she should have been trotting Jessica broke into a canter then stopped completely to scratch her leg.  Unlike E who's mistakes seemed to come right in front of the judge, he apparently missed all of the drama going on with V.  After that class I had V ride her hard until her next class.  She was much more controlled for equitation where she was 5th out of 13.
Of course I had to take Daddy's favorite shot at the end of the show.

E's District Show Results

The District 4-H Horse Show was Saturday.  We left for the show as 7:30 am and didn't get home until 10:00 pm.  It was a very long day for us.

E did very well in the showmanship pattern, but didn't pay enough attention to the judge in the line up.  She ended up with 3rd.
Western go as you please was her largest class with 12.  She place 5th in it and also 5th in western pleasure.
Although she is loping beautifully here, she did have trouble once again keeping Pep going.  Unfortunately, all the times she broke seemed to happen right in front of the judge.  She placed 3rd in western equitation.
The trail class practicing we did paid off.  She was 2nd out of 10 in this class.  I took the picture from video, it didn't transfer to the blog very well but here they are approaching the mailbox.

We were afraid Pep might go lame on the crushed gravel surface in the ring.  She threw a shoe 2 weeks ago and there wasn't enough hoof left to put one back on, so I just had the other front shoe pulled and we showed her barefoot.  She ended up doing well with no lameness issues.  E now has instructions to lope for at least 30 min. every time she rides so maybe she won't break so often at the shows.

Garden produce

I'm finally getting something I can eat from the garden.  J has been having lettuce with onions and spinach leaves for several weeks now,  but I got my first cucumbers today.

Judging from the vines it looks like I might get more than I can eat by myself.
It is always nice to just walk out the door and be able to pick something to eat.

Trail Class

The girls practiced on some trail class obstacles today.

They had to pick something up, carry it to another place and set it down.
They worked on opening, going through, and closing a makeshift gate.
Jessica always walks across anything without hesitation.
Pep on the other hand took a few tries to get up on the bridge.  Then she is never to sure on the way back off.  The district show is Saturday.  But with the weather having been so rainy then windy, we haven't had much opportunity to ride.

Lawn Ornaments

With all of the rain we have been having this year, I've had some natural lawn ornaments pop up.

Two days ago I saw these from a distance an wondered who had left 3 golf balls on the lawn.  Now they look like little flying saucers.  It will be interesting to see how big they end up getting.

Last Day of School

Yesterday was finally the last day of school for the year.  Graduation was on the 5th so other than exams for the high school, they really did nothing for the last 2 weeks.

Middle school had their awards last week.  E received her class citizenship award, A-B honor roll, and outstanding achievement in reading and science.

Flower Bed

I always enjoy the changing colors in my border bed.