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She's the cutest. |
So it's been like five years since these horses have seen each other... FIVE. Baby has been retired from showing for a couple years now, but M has been bringing Baby to the Johnston County shows this year because her other mare is up for sale. Well wouldn't you know that those two hussies totally remember each other? We didn't let them sniff noses or touch or anything, but they still remember each other, and they're still in love, and they're not sure how they survived all this time without each other. Lilly did ok with her being around at the last show because M decided to park next to me (which I actually didn't like because I knew this was going to happen) but I got to the show later than M this time, so I parked away from her thinking that would help. The two horses could still see each other, and talk to each other, so all day long, when Baby would leave the trailer, Lilly would whinny and cry for her BBFF. She dug a giant hole in the dirt, couldn't bare to eat or drink, and was generally a tool unless Baby was at the trailer or could somehow be seen.
It affected Lilly's performance in the riding classes too because M and I show in mostly the same ones. Lilly always had an ear and an eye tipped in Baby's direction, making sure she wasn't out of sight. When the placings were called, and Baby placed ahead of us and walked out of the arena, Lilly got all fussy and didn't want to stand in line. It's all so very annoying. SO ANNOYING. Why is she so obsessed with this one horse?
Even though the weather was gorgeous, I decided to skip halter again this time around. We just never place well, and I never know how many horses are going to be in the class. I don't mind gimme ribbons in halter strictly from a points perspective, but I don't like going into a class with 12 horses and not placing at all. So, I decided not to sign up again.
Lilly did great in the showmanship class. The pattern was fairly difficult, with lots of pivots and a fairly long back, so I knew if we could manage to back up straight (something I've been making sure to work on), we'd do well. There were supposed to be four exhibitors in the class, but the fourth one never showed, so there ended up being only three of us. Baby was in the class with us, but she went first, so Lilly was content having her long lost love in the arena with her. We ended up placing first, which snags us another showmanship PAC point.
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Showmanship pattern. |
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Loved this showmanship pattern! |
She did really well in the english classes. We entered the stock type class (walk/trot), the adult class (walk/trot), and the pleasure class. I'll have to wait until the results are posted on the show website because I can't remember how many horses were in the stock class, but we'll just say there were five for now. There were five horses in the adult class, and eight in the pleasure class. We had a really good ride in the stock class and ended up placing third, but I had what I thought was a SUPER good ride in the adult class. Like, it was so good I thought for sure I won the class. Turns out, we placed dead last, so either the judge forgot I entered, or everyone else had a much better ride than I did. We placed third in the pleasure class, which I was also very pleased about.
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The pleasure class. |
I did, however, decide to do trail this time. The pattern looked pretty easy and I knew I could squeeze it in between my two walk/trot classes and my pleasure class, thus being able to do it in my english attire. Two handed trail for the win!! Which is actually what happened... we won trail. First out of three, but it gets us a PAC point in trail!
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Trail pattern. |
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Trying to memorize the trail pattern. |
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Slightly distracted by the driving minis heading to the main arena. |
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I love how she looks in the blue. |
M and Baby were in that class and I could tell she was pretty stunned that we placed above her. She said the judge told her Baby "looked tired, and was having a tough time holding herself together." Speaking of the judge, she was amazing. I can't remember the last time we had a judge actually in the arena for the classes. They've always stayed up in the announcer's booth, but this lady was giving pointers and talking to the exhibitors. She was great, and I hope to show under her again.
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First place in western... what?!?! |
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We win! |
Showmanship Adult = 1/3
Trail Adult = 1/3
English Stock = 3/5
English Adult = 5/5
English Pleasure = 3/8
Western Stock = 3/9
Western Adult = 1/3
Our reserve champion ribbon was for the adult division. So even though we placed first in three out of four adult classes, we ended up with a reserve champion ribbon and a $4 voucher for the next show. That last place in the english adult class just killed my points. It was a great show, though, and I couldn't be happier with Lilly's performance. The PAC points are great too!