An outing

This weekend was the county 4-H horse show, and our friend C was showing English for the first time. (She ended up high-point rider for the day - maybe because she was the only one brave enough to take on the English classes?) Not only was it her first time showing English, but it was also Bubbles' first time - and the pair's first time in an over-fences class.

In spite of a slap on the wrist from the judge for lack of quite-proper-enough English attire (time to go tall-boot shopping!), I think they did pretty well.

Although they both looked a lot more comfortable in their more usual gear! And right at home heading through the gate on the trail course.

The bridge was no problem...

The worst obstacle of the day for almost every rider was backing through the triangle cone set-up.

Walking the course

The cones may be innocuous looking - but they were set pretty darn close together. For most of the bigger-bodied horses the 45 second time limit kicked in a bit too soon.

This little gal was the only Junior to tackle the trail course, and she had a challenging ride. I didn't get pictures, because I was busy along with the rest of the spectators holding my breath!


But she stuck with it, and came back to take a purple in the Western Equitation pattern - a tough pattern that only one of the Senior riders conquered. Pretty horse, and a gutsy rider.

Heading back into the ring
to hear the judge's critique after trail...

It's been a long time since my 4-H days, and I was really surprised by how technical everything has gotten. There were points off right and left for minor stuff, and apparently tapping a pole or a cone at all is cause for a DQ these days. Goodness! But I did like the (I think) local show attire requirement that had all the competitors wearing white shirts. A good way to keep costs down for parents and level the playing field just a bit!