All three kids had their first 4-H practice show last Friday. Rain threatened, but didn't follow through, so it was actually quite a pleasant temperature.
We brought down our new horse, Taia, who is 15, even though our oldest didn't use her. She was quite antsy. For an "older" horse she still has so much energy. But I guess that is no surprise since she has some thoroughbred in her. I hope she settles down soon.
Taia, our new horse
For her first show, our youngest did mighty fine. Although Wixie gave her some trouble atwestern riding, she got through all of the judged events far better than the older two did at that age.
It was hard to have Wixie and Quincy together in the arena. Wixie tends to catch up with him and stick to him like a burr. So my son didn't do as well in Western pleasure. We will have to practice having our youngest pass him in the arena. But he and Quincy looked good, as usual, doing patterns. And, he actually stood still at halter, which was a shocker. He got a red instead of a blue because the judge said the horse was dirty (They weren't required to wash the horses, but when the judge put a hand on his back, dust flew.).
My son and Quincy, at halter
Our oldest did well on Raffiki. He is a 5 year old gelding, whom she has been working with the last three years. He got all his leads correctly, he lowered his head during western pleasure, he also backed beautifully. I think this may be the first time our oldest got a blue ribbon for western pleasure, and it was well-deserved. She practices at least once a week on him with the mentorship of an older girl from her 4-H club.
A wonderful practice show altogether. And when we were hauling the horses home, I thought again how grateful I was to be able to help the kids with this experience.
