Horse shows are not vacations.

The day started at 5:45am.

The sun wasn’t up yet but we had the two babies to get ready for their halter classes.  That meant the white filly, Eclipse, needed a bath.  In order to be able to have them ready in time we needed to start at 6:00am.  The poor girl was shivering by the time we were done, but we dried her with towels and put a cooler on her (a robe type blanket).  We moved on to the colt Denny.  He was body clipped so his cleanup and dry time was much shorter.  We had them both spit shined by 7:30am in plenty of time to get to the classes.

Denny and Todd

Eclipse and Todd (I definitely wasn’t on my “A” game taking photos at this years show.  It’s become secondary to horses – so I apologize for the photos.)

When the halter classes were done our morning was complete.  We could relax for a while before getting Nazz and Todd and Sharon ready for their classes in the afternoon.

Todd pulled Blu out of his stall and saddled him up while Sharon and I were bathing Nazz.  When I got back to the barn I saw Todd riding Blu in the warm up arena and went over to watch.  Todd let me know that Blu “about split in two” when he got on.  I sort of wish I’d seen it, but then again, it’s probably a good thing that I didn’t.  This way I don’t have something to visualize.  Luckily after a bit of lunging he settled right down.

Todd working Blu (and you can see part of our barn in the background – the green drapes.)

Chillin’ – showing Blu it CAN be done.

While I was sitting on the rail chatting with Todd, Nicole walked up.  We’d emailed a bit over the last month and I knew she’d be at the show.  I was planning on looking her up so she could see Blu.  It was great to see her, and she said Blu looked good and that it was good to see him.  I told her how much I was enjoying my first month with him and that I was about the happiest person in the world!  She and Todd chatted a bit about Blu’s progress and I think she was happy with it.  I’m glad.

In the ad for Blu Nicole had said “he will be seen” and she was right.  We had multiple people come up to us and ask about him during the show.  Of course that means that Todd’s comment when he first saw Blu will also probably prove true - that it could be a good thing or a bad thing, since the judges will notice him too and might spot mistakes more easily.  But I’ll think positively.

 Laura in the warm up arena

Finally it was time to get ready for Nazz’s classes.  Figuring the timing for horse shows is an art, or a crap-shoot, depending on how you look at it.  You can get a VERY vague estimate about what time you’re actually going into the ring if you estimate 8 minutes per class.  Sometimes you get lucky (if you call it that) and get the first classes of the day so you know exactly what time to be ready (like this morning with the babies).  But the performance classes are usually a bit later in the day.   We’d figured about 2 ½ hours after the break for the first class and were just about right.

It’s fun being a groom – especially for Nazz – he’s got a great mane and tail and his coat is shiny and soft.  He looks good without all the primping – but after the grooming he looks SMASHING!

Nazz was in two classes – Todd rode the first and Sharon the second.  Nazz did a great job and I got goose bumps watching.

To celebrate a great day showing we all went to the Mexican restaurant in Rancho Murieta.  Yummy food and good Margaritas.  Ahhh – a great end to the day.