Saturday, I went up to Black Star Farms to photograph the hunter/jumper people at the Stepping Stone show. It was a gorgeous day but you could tell the temps were dropping and clouds were rolling in. After several hours of photographing, I went over to see my horses and go through the tests with Toby.
After cleaning up Toby and getting him tacked up and out to the outdoor ring, I noticed how full of life he was. He knew...
He knew that the weather was about to change big time! We warmed up, then began working on our tests. Toby's mind was completely elsewhere. In fact, he began a crow hopping escapade when the winds picked up. Then the rain began, which quickly turned to sleet and finally snow. Being the determined gal I am, I made Toby finish the test against his will in blizzard conditions. It wasn't pretty but he did it so I was very proud of him and let him know it. We both looked like drowned rats and went inside where he was happy to be. I was still optimistic about going to the show on Sunday so I gave Toby's whiskers a trim and fixed up his bridle path. He was enjoying the attention.
After cleaning him up, I took all my tack home to give it a final polish too. It was still a "wintery mix" as I drove home. So I called Betsy who was going to be hauling Toby to the show for me. I told Betsy that if her other clients didn't want to go that I would go along with their decision. The other clients were 7 yr old twins and as you can imagine, their mother didn't want them out in the cold and wet for the horse show. So we didn't go.
This didn't bother me too much. Since the twins didn't show, it pretty much locked me into the year end awards in Intro level since we won both tests in our first two shows. Yes, the 7 yr old twins were my biggest competition!
I would have liked one more show but I have to say that mother nature won out. I show for fun. I do enough work in the elements for my paid position that I don't feel I should have to be in unfriendly conditions for fun. Here's one example:
So that's it for the year with our shows. Hopefully next spring I'll have a new partner to show with... :)
And he's doing so well!!
Good for you, sticking it out in that miserable weather. Sounds like a good decision not to show, though. Brr...
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the award, and good luck next year!