It was not nearly as warm today as the weather guy said it was going to be! He even said the high would be about 56 and we'd peak around 4pm. LIAR! It was windy and cold, and was probably the coldest around 4pm. With 3 layers of long sleeve shirts, though, the weather was tolerable. Occasionally the wind would quit blowing and I'd bask in the warmth or go sit in the truck and warm up. The wind was quite cold! I sure hope it's warmer next month for the show.

I blanketed Lilly last night but when I got to the barn this morning she was laying down sleeping. I distinctly remember telling her to stay out of the dirt, but she didn't listen! And she didn't even try to hide the fact that she was laying right in it! :) So needless to say, her legs were filthy. It was about 28 degrees this morning so hosing them off just seemed cruel. So brush, brush, brush, and spray, spray, spray (hehehe... love that chalk in a can stuff!). I had fleeting thoughts of banding her mane but I manged to get there at the perfect time to avoid waiting around for hours for my first class, so I didn't have time to band. Perhaps it was better that way... her stained brown legs matched her flyaway and stick-upy mane. By the time I was done with her, she looked pretty good, though. I got rid of the obvious stains and the blanket helped smooth her coat. I polished up her hooves and we were good to go!
First up was halter. Even though it was stock type at halter, I decided to show in my english clothes and bridle. There were only 2 classes between the halter class and my english showmanship class and I thought better of trying to change clothes and headstalls in such a short amount of time. Lilly was a good girl and we managed a 7th out of 10 horses. Halter is kind of hit or miss for us. Sometimes we place pretty high, and sometimes we don't place at all. I usually just enter for fun and to get Lilly in the arena before showmanship. Every now and then we get lucky.
Next up was english showmanship. Mike agreed to get a video with my camera as I've never actually seen myself doing showmanship, so here it is! There were 7 horses in the class and this was the first time Lilly and I did showmanship in english attire. I practiced the pattern before the class and figured she'd do just fine in the bridle, especially since I didn't have any trouble with her in the halter class. As you can see in the video, walk from cone a to cone b, trot from cone b to the judge, set up for inspection, pivot a 270 and walk away. Lilly did a great job. I think of all the patterns, though, I hate the ones with corners the most. Trotting from cone b to the judge on a corner like that is tough... at least I think. I'm never quite sure exactly when I should start trotting. One of the girls picked up the trot right when she got to cone b and did the corner at a trot. I opted to take the corner first and then trot. Lilly was a little lazy going in to the trot. "Lah lah lah... doo de doo... Oh, trot?"

And here is the result! We won first place! Considering her mane wasn't banded, she wasn't bathed, and her legs were dirty, I had my doubts that we would win even if the judge liked our pattern best. Lilly was the only tobiano at the show. Lucky dogs with their solid colored horses! I was so excited and proud of Lilly, and because there were 7 horses in the class, this ribbon is worth 2 PAC points! And I think this is just the cutest picture... Lilly actually put her ears up long enough to take a picture.
Well, it was a good thing the judge like our showmanship pattern because that was all she seemed to like about us. Right after my hunt seat w/t open class (with 23 horses) I could tell what the judge liked. Tall, lanky, TB looking english horses. Of the 3 riding classes I had, I only placed once, and that was 7th out of 8. :)

Lilly didn't work anything like she does at home. She was really against putting her head down and I had a hard time getting her to move out at the trot. I had horses passing me for once! I just couldn't get her to stretch down and pick up speed. She's always antsy in this ring too. We usually have to walk in and find a place on the rail while the line up for the other class exits. Lilly doesn't like standing on the rail and will do her "I'm impatient" dance by picking up one hoof, stomping it down, and then doing the same thing with her other hoof until we start moving. It's bizarre because she stands fine in the middle of the ring, just not on the rail. It's really annoying... So because of that, I decided to scratch the equitation pattern class.
I think she did good considering it was the first show of the year. It was also windy and cold, but now I'm just making excuses for her. Not being able to get her to move out is a first, but I was looking forward to her doing as well today as she has been doing at home. She wasn't bad, and I thought she did really well, I was just hoping for more.

Western showmanship was our last class of the day. The pattern was the same as the english showmanship and Mike got a video of that too. It looks exactly like the english one, except Lilly and I are dressed in western. :) Lilly did a little bit better picking up her trot around the cone but then our line to the judge was a bit crooked when we were trotting. That's my bad... but she moved her darn foot after I had set her up when we were being inspected. It was a good pattern, though. She's so much fun to do showmanship with. There were 9 horses in the class this time and we got 2nd place! With 9 horses, a second place gets me 2 more PAC points!
The girl who beat me had a really nice pattern. It was quick, precise, and snappy. She did a lot of kissing and clicking, especially during the pivot, which I thought was pretty much a no-no. At least it was back home in Michigan when I showed. I don't
need to do either of those things with Lilly, I was just surprised to see it was ok. Things are a lot different here, that's for sure. That's why I really want to go to a Paint show and at least watch to see how things are done at a higher level. Is kissing ok during a pivot there too?
All in all, a great start to 2009! Lilly was a gem as always. She really is a great horse!