BSE - The Final Day

Sunday was the last day of the show. Not only that, but I was the last person to show that day.. so by the time I was ready to mount, something was missing..

..the tack trunks that I used to get on! No problem though as Dora grabbed a ladder for me to use.

I very cautiously walked up the steps..

The young horse in the adjacent stall was not helping matters as he kept bolting about his stall and even reared up once.

..but Oliver was as cool as he has ever been and just stood there for me.

I was really glad my friend Cherryl took these pictures as you can see the mounting process (in a historical shirt) from the back in this post and from the front in the previous post.















Once on, we again headed over to the practice arena.

You can see the tents they erect for this show.

It rained the night before..

..so some places were a muddy mess.



..and in we go.

The night before we notices some slight swelling in Oliver's legs, so instead of showing back 2 times today, we omitted one class and were just going to show him in the English Pleasure Championship.



About one minute into our practice ride, I knew Oliver was tired.

He was not all blow and snort like he was the first night.

He did not act as though he was in pain, or even sore..

He just acted super calm, which was good and bad.

Good because it meant I would not have problems getting him to flat walk..

..but bad because he would likely not give me the super showy trot he had indulged me with in the previous days.







Sandy and Dora helped me adjust the saddle before the class.



I love this picture.. it looks like Oliver is saying, "What-cha doin down there Dora?"

Everyone at the barn adores Oliver..

..and I think he knows it!

..and in we go for our class.

Oliver trotted in..

..did not snort at the posters..

..gave me easy transitions back to the walk..

..and was patient with me until I asked him to canter..

For all intents and purposes, it was a wonderful ride..

..but I know my boy.

..and this was not really natural for him..

We had a perfectly clean ride..

..but without the extra energy Oliver usually has..

..we did capture the attention of the judge...

..as we had the night before.

Here is the line up.

LOTS of really nice and talented horses.

They started calling out the winners. Oliver gets impatient after about 2 horses were called.

I think he believes he should be the winner..

I agree with you Ollie Boy!! I think he is smiling in this picture!!

On our way back to the barn..

We were stopped by a camera crew...

from a video web site..

called Bridles and Bows.

Their web site is:
http://horseridingchannel.com


They interviewed me about riding aside..

Riding aside on a Saddlebred..

..the historic costume..

..and my Knoud saddle...

..this blog..

..and my general passion for all things sidesaddle!

I could not have been more thrilled..

..after all, this is my mission..

..to get more ladies interested in the art and sport of riding aside!I can't wait to see it ..as of today, it is still not posted on the web site, but they told me it would be at least 1 week before all the editing was done.