SAFE Benefit Horse Show

Well, I did it. I went to the SAFE Benefit Horse Show yesterday and I survived! It was a whirl wind day, but I have to say that it was such a wonderful show! Everyone was super nice, the whole thing was very laid back and it was just a great day! Very fun!

I decided to do a bit of everything at the show and ended up in ten classes. I started off the morning with Showmanship. I have done Showmanship before, back in my 4-H days, so I had an idea of what I was getting myself into. Unfortunately patterns have gotten a little tricky since my day and I only read the written description, didn't study the diagram, which did not describe the pattern entirely. Or I just managed to skip about half of it. lol I did the pattern totally wrong, but still walked out of the rather large class with a 5th place. Bummer I did the pattern wrong! Halter was next, which I've never done before. It was pretty simple though and we did well.

Wanna see something funny?

Check this out....

That's me and my little cutting/reining/drill horse riding english! I was laughing at myself pretty much the whole time. I felt like I was going to go flying right over her head! I rode english for the first time in 3-4 years the day before the show just to make sure the saddle and everything fit and I could really do it! I'm pretty sure it's the first time Midori has ever been ridden english. We only did two equitation classes because I don't really have a pleasure horse. The funniest part of the whole thing was the second equitation class that I went in I won. I couldn't believe it when they called my number for 1st place. I was cracking up!

After english we took a little break, changed saddles and headed over to the trail course. It was a pretty easy course, except for the little buggers tied to the fence to the right of me in this pic.

Yep, there were GOATS! Not just any goats, but Horse Eating Monster Goats! Midori was eye ballin' them as soon as we hit the log you see in the picture. She wouldn't hardly stand still to do the gate that I'm working on in that pic. Luckily she does trust me and will usually do what I ask so we made it past the goaties just fine and the rest of the course was a snap.

Some where in the course of the afternoon my camera got a smudge on the lens so most of the rest of the pictures have a big smudge across them, but there were still some cute ones!

This is us in a western class, probably one of my equitation classes. I did both pleasure and equitation classes in western. I went to the show with jrosey and we would give each other a super cheesy smile when we came around the arena and saw the camera pointed at us.

Here is my super cheesy pose with my first place ribbon in Western Equitation.

I also did bareback and survived! Oh my goodness that was a long class though! My legs were burning before we had even reversed! Guess I don't ride bareback enough!

I loved this picture, even with the smudge. The goaties' trailer was parked right by us and they were hanging out in the shade for a bit until it was time to go home so I took Midori over to visit with them for a bit.

WARNING: This is where I get a tad bit self-indulgent...I had fun at the show...

I've never walked away from a show with a wad of ribbons like that! It was fun! :-) In my 4-H days I wasn't bad, but I never won a class. I did get a 2nd place. Once. I would get in the ribbons here and there and was usually just good enough to make it to state or championship classes, but then I was bottom of the pack there, so this was new and very exciting for me!


The best part.....

I won the western high point! Well, technically I tied for the western high point, but they broke the tie with our overall scores, which means it was a darn good thing I did english! I couldn't believe I won though!!! I was so excited! On top of the super cool big fat ribbon I got a cool little western package that included a pretty purple saddle blanket and a pretty nice headstall. Wohoo! That was a VERY fun way to end the day!

It was a great day and I'd highly recommend the SAFE Benefit Horse show to anyone wanting to dip their toes in the show world, looking for an excuse to get their horse out, former 4-Her's wanting a rail class fix (like me) or anyone that shows regularly! It's just a really fun show! And the Bribe Your Horse class at the end of the day was just hilarious to watch!