Horse show season
In horse world Mother's Day is not just Mother's Day -- it signals the start of show season. This means EVERY Sunday from now until the end of time (and some Saturday's too) there is a horse show. The ladies and I at the barn decided oh, at about 4 PM this afternoon that we should go to the show tomorrow. Granted, we decided this on a trail ride, so by the time we got back and had dinner it was about 8 PM.
Not a big deal you think, but there's a rediculous about of prepping that goes into getting ready for even a small show. After all was said and done we tallied 7 horses. That's 2 trailers, 7 horses, 4 adults, 2 -- 12 year old girls, 1 -- 4 year old boy and two puppies. We all have to be ready to LEAVE the barn at 6:30 tomorrow morning. But the fun gets better... everybody needs to have their show gear ready:
Hat, boots, show pants, spurs, show shirt ,vest (for some), showmanship pants, make up, blah blah blah. Then each person needs to clean their respective saddle and bridle which involves lots of leather cleaner and silver cleaner.
Then, each horse needs to be bathed, clipped (which they LOVE) -- every whisker, hair out of their ear, leg fuzzy and extra eyelash must be gone. Then we band the mane-- this involves pulling chunks of mane out until it's thin enough to put 100 tiny bands in to make it lay flat. This is a literal underestimate. Then we trim it to make the ends all pretty and even.
Remember when I said we started late? Yeah, we just finished. And the help started dropping like flies at about 9 PM. First it was the wee boy (OK he IS 4, so he does have an excuse), then the girls and various adults until it was me and Lynelle bathing by the headlights of trucks and putting VERY tiny bands into the mane of a baby horse who was not very happy with us.
Then, when they're clean and banded we wrapped their legs to keep their whites white and put spandex blankies on them (called slinkies, or sleazies) to keep their hair slick and pretty 'til the show.
And after all is said and done I'll get a whopping 3 hours of sleep.
Happy show season!
Picture of the day:
This is what happens to little cowboys when you take them to Arizona and they get too hot for clothes. :)
Not a big deal you think, but there's a rediculous about of prepping that goes into getting ready for even a small show. After all was said and done we tallied 7 horses. That's 2 trailers, 7 horses, 4 adults, 2 -- 12 year old girls, 1 -- 4 year old boy and two puppies. We all have to be ready to LEAVE the barn at 6:30 tomorrow morning. But the fun gets better... everybody needs to have their show gear ready:
Hat, boots, show pants, spurs, show shirt ,vest (for some), showmanship pants, make up, blah blah blah. Then each person needs to clean their respective saddle and bridle which involves lots of leather cleaner and silver cleaner.
Then, each horse needs to be bathed, clipped (which they LOVE) -- every whisker, hair out of their ear, leg fuzzy and extra eyelash must be gone. Then we band the mane-- this involves pulling chunks of mane out until it's thin enough to put 100 tiny bands in to make it lay flat. This is a literal underestimate. Then we trim it to make the ends all pretty and even.
Remember when I said we started late? Yeah, we just finished. And the help started dropping like flies at about 9 PM. First it was the wee boy (OK he IS 4, so he does have an excuse), then the girls and various adults until it was me and Lynelle bathing by the headlights of trucks and putting VERY tiny bands into the mane of a baby horse who was not very happy with us.
Then, when they're clean and banded we wrapped their legs to keep their whites white and put spandex blankies on them (called slinkies, or sleazies) to keep their hair slick and pretty 'til the show.
And after all is said and done I'll get a whopping 3 hours of sleep.
Happy show season!
Picture of the day:
This is what happens to little cowboys when you take them to Arizona and they get too hot for clothes. :)
posted by Crazy Horse Lady at 11:27 PM
3 Comments:
Oh, I just want to gobble Dominic up! Give him a big hug for me!
Anytime. :)
Come on Christina...horse shows are way too much fun! :) Now I am on a gamer kick. I want one so badddd. Maybe Sasha can learn?!?!
~ Michelle
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