I just have to brag...

We had our first show today, and it went great! We brought home two seconds, two fiths and one sixth place ribbon. It may not sound like the best day, but we placed in all our classes, had no meltdowns, didn't have to blow any classes and just had a good day. Sometimes its not the placement that matters, it's everything else that went into it... or at least, that's how I feel.

My mare and I have been together since September, when I started leasing her. She was a bit green at the time, and she's really pushed me to get her and myself show ring ready. We were afraid that I might have to blow one or two classes to get her worked out and going smooth, but she went in her first class and just bam! Turned on her show horse. We totally blew the backing (she turned almost completely sideways, and I had to use two hands to get her back) but we weren't DQ'd, and we came out with 5th (in quite a talented class) so I was just thrilled. Her head was level most of the time, and I really didn't have to correct her much, she just let me sit back and ride, which was awesome, because she never does that lol.

I'm just so happy with her right now, she really pulled through for me, and I'm so proud of her! Had to share.

Dont you love when our horses do that for us. That's awesome to hear. Congrats :)
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Congratulations!! That sounds like a wonderful turnout :)

That's the fix we work hard for! Congrats, you did very well & enjoyed your rides, success I'd say! Right now I have been going since noon getting ready for a show tomorrow, just having a coffee break looking at my trailer I have to pack up, all that work to get feeling that you have, very addicting but very rewarding. By the way, the show addiction doesn't lessen with age, I have been doing this 35 years and still enjoy it.
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Congrats! Glad you could enjoy it :)
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Thank you all! It is addicting, isn't it? We have a show next weekend, and then I'm going to have to look at the calender and pick out the rest of our shows for the year. It's going to be hard to say no to any of them, but I'm hoping to buy my own horse (or find a new lease) at the end of the season, so I have to say pennies somewhere.

This mare will always be special to me though, just for stuff like this.

Just have to update with our latest results!
We took home 2 second place, 1 third place, and 1 fifth place ribbon at our second show.
Then this week we made out with...
4 second place and 2 first place ribbons! We placed first or second in every single class- including beating out some of our tough competition. The pony class was my major victory of the day, taking second among eight or so hunter ponies as the only western entry (though to be fair, some of our regular pony competition was missing yesterday). I was shocked to hear our number called, and it was only when the announcer called out my mare's name that I knew it was really us that had placed second, lol. Now we have a two month break before we go back to another show, I'm thinking that we might work on hunt seat before we go back and see what we can do there...