Hung out with mere and howard.  too cute.

Here is a pic of Missy after she was bathed before going over to the HHC.

Here is a pic of her head. She’s so cute!

Oh and BTW, I should have made it more clear in the show post… I had a really good time.

Yes. I do have a thing for bay mares. Yes Miss and Cook have the same coloring. It’s what I like. :blue  (insert comment here from Lauren)

It’s 6pm on this Sunday night and I’m stirring. I have been pretty much in a state of comatose all day. This show was a show of a few firsts - this was my first show at the HHC, and my first show on Missy (also smaller, my first show on a braided horse!!!)

I don’t wanna just blog the good things and make it sound all hunky dory, so lets start with the bad.

My eq was terrible in the flat classes. I didn’t even pay attention to anything I was doing, except closing my fingers and looking down at Miss’s head. I knew I had to get it down and that was my main focus. Every time I went around the ring, Kevin was telling me to look up, stop looking at her head. I heard him… but it didn’t make it from the ears to the brain to the body. I was vertical, standing in my stirrups at the canter. I usually quasi-half seat my canter as the normal, but this was really out of the saddle.

Miss was strong at the canter during the flat. It was a fairly paced canter, but combined with the nerves I was feeling from the crowd and the HHC, I was nervous. As I sit here typing now, it makes me mad that I was nervous - I have gone faster and been on strong canters (hello, Lincoln). Just not in front of a bunch of people.

At the end of the show, I let my fatigue and stress get the best of me. I was a complete brat. Of course, I didn’t take it out on everyone - just the person who always has to put up with it.

OK, so now for all the good stuff.

1 - Miss was awesomely behaved. When I took her in October during the kids State Fair, she was a lil bossy on the ground and stall weaved. She HATED her stall. This time, she was very good in her stall, and quite agreeable the whole time. She lunged perfectly in the cold Saturday morning air. She stood patiently while Lauren braided her (I think besides Elvis, she was prolly her best client). She was not herd bound to neither Fox nor Elvis - didn’t care about them at all or holler to them while we were trying to work. She led around with her head down and didn’t step all over me. The schooling rings were RIDICULOUSLY crowded. RIDICULOUSLY. The worst I have ever been involved in. Miss, the mare-ish mare, didn’t pin her ears, didn’t kick at anyone, even when we were bumped, crowded, cut off. She never spooked, not once. She let me mount her anywhere, on concrete, on the big mounting block, standing on a fence post. (I hate leg-ups). I have absolutely no complaints about taking her anywhere - she has been VERY sane. She schooled good. I felt like I was able to do some good stuff with her in the schooling ring - really got her head down.

2 - Lauren was very good to me. The best example which surmises Lauren was when we were in the same class together. As I said above, Miss was strong, I was nervous, and to be honest, I was trying to hide how much I was struggling. I heard her voice behind me, as she is on Elvis, telling me that Miss looked fine, relax, ur doing fine. For someone to be reassuring to me in a class while she is on her own mount… well that’s just awesome. Thanks so much, Lauren. I do appreciate everything you do for me.

3 - Ash W and Kathy. They both came out to take pics and be supportive. It was calming to have them there. With the crew I have (Kat, Ash, Lauren and Kev) it makes me feel better, cause they have all been on Miss… so they know she is not an easy ride. Their encouragement keeps me going.

4 - Kevin. He has to put up with ALOT. A whole lotta. He makes me a better rider, even tho I know sometimes he thinks he’s talking to the wall. He’s good to me even when I don’t deserve it.
___________________________________________________
My digital camera didn’t take good pictures because it was indoors. Kathy took some pictures of me schooling where Missy was actually putting her head down (although I’m hoping she got at least ONE picture of me not humped over) so I’m hoping there will be some good pictures there.

I am dying.  My calves and arms are strained.  It hurts to walk.

I don’t have the energy to write about the show.  I will just say that Miss was extremely well behaved.  She was ultra chill.

Here is a pic of us.  She scraped herself in the pasture above her eye the day before the show.  It isn’t bad - she mostly just took all the hair off.  But that is what that is in the pic.  But doesn’t she look ultra cute?  She’s ultra shiny.

its’ 1:00 am and I’m dragging in from a horse show.  I’m dead.  My whole body hurts.