A Grand Day at the Show

Yesterday was gloriously beautiful, a wonderful day for a horse show, Tiny Girl's first big show.  If you read my Weekly Wrap-Up for this past week, you know that we spent much of Friday getting ready for the show.

Saturday morning, we rose early; Tiny Girl was extremely nervous, and we prayed, which always helps.  Then we dressed Tiny Girl in her show garb (it's a complicated get-up and takes a bit of time), all freshly ironed by Himself the night before.  Tiny seemed in good spirits despite being quite nervous, but she only managed to eat half a bowl of cereal.  After a breakfast of sorts, we headed to the equestrian park in time to see a lovely pink sunrise.  It was chilly out, but as the sun rose and shone brightly, the day warmed up into the pleasant sixties.

And what a day it was.  All in all, Tiny Girl competed in two divisions of three classes each.  The first division comprised three flat classes (no jumps): hunter walk/trot/canter one at a time, equitation walk/trot/canter one at a time, and a "pleasure" walk/trot/canter one at a time.  In this division, Tiny won two first place ribbons and one second place, clinching the champion ribbon for that division.  A little later, she competed in a junior crossrails division, the first time she'd ever jumped in a show.  In this division, there were also three classes: one time around the ring jumping four crossrails, two times around the ring (for a total of eight jumps), and then an under saddle class, which was walk, trot, and canter as a group.  She won two thirds and a fifth place.  We were all happy!

Here are some photos of the flat classes.  In the first two, she's being judged at the walk.

In the next two, she's being judged at the trot.

 Waiting for the judge's decision

 Up and over the crossrails

 Giving Tappy some well-deserved love. What a good pony!

 A happy girl and her ribbons

One pooped pooch!

As proud and happy as we were of Tiny Girl's ribbons, we made sure she knew that we would have been happy with all sixth places.  We were even more proud of how she just got out there and did her best despite her fears.  Now that's success.