BEST SHOW EVER!!!

I do not have any professional pictures just yet, but I could not wait to share what happened at this show. As stated, this was our best show ever!!! I am NOT saying that we came away with blue ribbons... it was so much more than that.

I can only start at the beginning.

Wednesday night, I packed up the horse trailer and the truck getting ready for the NTASHA show - North Texas American Saddle Horse Association Show. It has been well over a year since I last showed Oliver in a Saddlebred Show, stopping when my Father fell ill. I used to have show trunks packed with horse show supplies only used for this purpose. In the last year, sadly I have 'borrowed' out of them several times.. so preparations were a bit more involved than I had hoped - having to take new inventory and restocking.

Thursday morning, I loaded Oliver up and we headed off to Bluebonnet Farm to pick up Bella. She has been in what I call Kindergarten Training for 1 month, leaning how to be handled without fear, lead, pose and I used this opportunity to wean her. When the grooms brought her out, I was stunned. My little patch-work-quilt, as I called her because of her half shed light colored fuzzy coat which gave her a Raggedy Ann appearance, had been body shaved, her fuzzy little ears were trimmed and her mane was roached, highlighting her long elegant neck! She was STUNNING!


The grooms helped me load her and I had to laugh as Oliver peered over the top of the horse trailer divider, trying to get a peek at his next door neighbor. I actually have had a lot of contact with Bella since her birth, so I was not surprised that after the initial difficult big step up into the trailer, she was calm and content to nibble at the bag of alfalfa I had waiting for her. I hooked her up, shut the divider and then the trailer door. Thanking the grooms for their help, I could feel the excitement rise as I was now on my way to the Las Colinas show grounds in Dallas Texas!

Our planned schedule was to show Bella in hand in the Texas (purchased) Futurity Weanling class (Friday Morning), show her in the Filly Weanling Futurity class (also Friday Morning) and then on Saturday evening in the Championship weanling class.

Oliver was to be shown Friday evening in the Country Pleasure Class, Saturday evening in the English Pleasure (any breed) class and then 2 times on Sunday, to show back in the championships for each of the above.

...to be continued...