First horse show

P. was in her first horse show yesterday. She has been looking forward to this for weeks now. She and A. have been taking riding lessons for almost a year now. Their very generous grandparents are paying for them, because it certainly isn't in our budget and they love them. The stable where they ride has two school shows a year, one in the spring and one in the fall. When the notice came out about the spring show earlier in the year and I saw the entrance fee, I had to tell the girls there was no way we could make it work. They were disappointed, but took it fine. 

This time, when the fall show notice came out, I could tell that P. had been doing a lot of thinking. She had decided that instead of buying the new bicycle that she had been saving her money for, she would rather pay the entrance fee to the show. I questioned her carefully because 20 minutes of riding in a show verses having a bicycle that she could ride for a long time didn't seem like an equal trade-off. (And I completely get her horse-thing since I used to ride competitively myself.) But she was positive. 

So the big day arrived and yesterday afternoon J. and A. went with P. to the stable. J. had never seen her ride and wanted to have a chance to go. I stayed home with everyone else because P. really did not want EVERYONE to come and watch. A. was photographer and she wanted to see the show.

Here is everyone mounting their horses to get ready for the class. P. was riding in two classes... one was a walk-trot over poles and the second was walk-trot hunter equitation.

During the class.

P. did well. In her first show she came away with two ribbons. Second place over poles and and fifth place in equitation. Not bad, huh? (And there were 7 or 8 riders in the classes.) I'm pretty proud of her.

Her new wall decorations.

Oh, and the bike... after P. had decided that she was going to skip the bike, a friend contacted me and asked if anyone needed a bike that would fit a 12 year old girl. So P. has a bike as well. It is just a little on the small side, but the seat can be raised high enough for her long legs. It won't last for terribly long, but since she had no bike that fit her before, it's great.