Back in the show ring!

After about 10 years I stepped back into the hunter ring this past weekend. I had a goal of taking Tipping to her first show to see how she'd handle the idea of all of it. I started her retraining a little over a month ago but did have some breaks due to mega amounts of rain. It's mostly been flatwork, getting ready for some dressage shows this fall. Of course I couldn't help myself though and started messing around with some ground poles and small cross rails last week. She was soooo good that I convinced myself we need to enter in some jumping classes as well. So Friday night I was in the barn until midnight braiding Tip's mane and making her spotless and shiny, packing up the trailer and getting all my clothes in order. Up bright and early at 5:30am....feed the racehorses and bring in the riding horses and then off we went. I was in the second division so I knew I had to be there early enough to let her see everything that was going on. The show started at 8:30am. Of course as it happened my class didn't run until 11:30......ugh, could have slept in a little bit longer than that. It was mega hot but Miss Tipping was an absolute saint. I couldn't be more happy with her behavior. We had never cantered a jump, let alone done a course. So I bit the bullet and she completely cruised around the ring! Happy dance, happy dance! I HAD FUN!! Yeah they were baby jumps but it was a proud moment for sure! We ended up with a 4th and 5th in the jumping classes and a 5Th and 1st in our flat classes. So the plan is to try a hunter pace on the 30th at the same farm. Maybe we will pop over a few cross country jumps as well.

Hannah is all better now form her bout with Roseola. Poor baby had a rough week. Lou and I are still hassled by a nagging cough but for the most part we are on the mend.

Jade is learning to be a good puppy. She comes when called now and keeps tabs on where I am when we are working outside. Tonight she was allowed to stay out of her crate when we went to dinner at Lou's Aunt's house. She's trustworthy with the whole potty thing now too. She still does silly puppy things (like barking madly at the horses or getting up on Lou's chair) but she seems to be getting better each day.

Sealy is still hanging out in the pasture. Theresa attempted to ride her for a new sale video but the ground was so wet she wasn't able to do a whole lot of jumping. Plus the air fern wasn't real fit so she got pooped out pretty quickly. Someday she'll find her soul-mate and will have a new home. I just don't have the time or energy to devote to her.

I can't remember if I posted about the tall, skinny gelding I am boarding for a friend or not. I bought him cheap and sold him to a friend (who will train him and sell him as a show horse) a while ago. He was a bag of bones when he came here a month ago. It has been a slow process getting him fattened up. Much slower in fact than I had ever expected. He was just THAT skinny, poor guy. Anyway, he's been named "Amos" and will head to GA soon so he can start his new career.

Hmmmmm....I think that's everything for now. Had a few good races and a few not-so-good races since my last post. It's been super hot and humid here which makes training uncomfortable. I'd like to see the milder temps come back that we had for the better part of the summer. I can totally deal with that! Walking outside and sweating just standing there just isn't my idea of fun!