If This Blog Were a Horse

[Photo of my daughter Sierra and her five-year old horse Raffiki at the state horse show yesterday]

If this blog were a horse, it'd be very sick by now.

Thankfully this blog which I have been neglecting of late is not a horse, just a repository of my horsey thoughts. Cancel the vet call!

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This horse show season ended for our family yesterday. My oldest daughter, Sierra, who is 13, competed in the State 4-H Two-Handed show. (which is a funny name for a horse show. Shouldn't it be Two-Hoofed? But of course it is referring to the riders' hands. It's a 4-H competition for riders with horses 3-5 years of age.)

Can I just say, at the risk of sounding like a stage-mother fool, that my daughter is amazing?

This is why:

-She's trained this horse herself (granted, with lots of generous mentors) since she was ten. Three years ago, this horse didn't know its leads. Now he excels in trail and Western Pleasure.

-She placed first in her division in the written test (and got $100 for her efforts). And sixth overall in her division among 30 riders.

-She wasn't feeling very good all day and had a bad head cold. Despite this, she still carried on. She gives everything her best - whether it be piano, art, writing, horses - and is successful at whatever she does.

-Most importantly, she is a very spiritual person, diligent in her prayers and scripture study. Which manifests itself in how grounded she seems to be as successes and challenges come her way.

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I can't help but reflect on my own life compared to where she is at in hers.

At her age, I loved art, music and literature. I had good parents who gave me opportunities, but we didn't have the money and it wasn't a priority for me to take art or piano lessons. Let alone own horses.

So I am thrilled to the core that my children have these opportunities early in their lives.

Sierra is a great example to me of someone who got handed a bountiful plate by Heavenly Father along with some personal challenges, and who has made the most of it!

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I will have to admit, as much as this has been a fun ride this year...I am relieved that horse show season is over. Now for some R&R!

Last Wash

Last wash day for the season today. I am letting the kids sleep in a little before their big day tomorrow, the last regular horse show.

This has been a wonderful season.

Taia has come a long way. My oldest has done a great job with her. She used to toss her head and go prancy-crazy. Now she looks like the good horse her former owners touted her as.

My son's old horse is slowing down some, but still putting in good miles.

My youngest has had quite the turnaround story. Her mare had been a beast this past winter, but now, she is doing so well. I watched them yesterday, go in and out of the indoor arena, and I thought to myself, I am so glad that we have horses we can trust to take care of our kids.

Coz that is what it is all about, having horses you can count on to carry your precious treasures.

Practice Show

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.

The Smiles I Love to See

Today, my two oldest children competed in a practice 4-H horse show. Sierra, 12, rode her four year old palomino paint Raffiki, which she won from a "contest" (more about that later) and trained herself (despite getting bucked off, more about that later, too). Wesley, 10, rode his 20-something chestnut Quincy. At the last event, Raffiki did not listen to Sierra, but did lope pretty well at the last. I thought for sure Sierra would be upset, but she was smiling when she went out of the gate. Wesley got third place ribbon (white) for halter. With a smile, he said as he left the arena: "He did a lot better than other times!"

Their smiles melted my heart.