UHH where does the time go? Summer horse shows

I can't believe how long it has been since I signed on to my poor, (once again) neglected blog! This summer got away from me! Well where do I even begin? I have learned SOOO much this year and am looking forward to Simon's future.. First let me back track and fill you in on the summers events!

Summer: Having just read through my last post, I hadn't even been to a show yet with her! Summer ended up being my primary (more like only) show horse for the year! The eventing show I talked about in my last post was an amazing experience! There ended up being only 3 competetors in our division but, to my suprise, she behaved WAY better off property! We had a decent dressage score (and by decent I mean I'm to lazy to look up what it actually was:p) and a clean round in stadium. Overall we won our division! After that show I was very excited to take her to another show, seeings how she was better at the show than she is at home.

Next show on deck was the Hemlock fair. This show was ment to be for Afleet as mentioned before, but a week prior he pulled up with an injury. So Instead of taking Afleet to Hemlock, On to the trailer went Summer! Looking back it was a very smart decision that we took her. Hemlock ended up being a great experience and great warm up for Ontario County Fair the next week. Hemlock was an outstanding show and I would like to take Simon there this upcoming year. This was the first actual "fair" I had shown at! Summer was great yet our relationship off property still needed to be fine tuned. With over 30 horses in our division we came home without any ribbons but learned plenty!

The next week we packed up our things and headed off to Ontario County Fair (Ontario County 4h show). After just visiting the Hemlock show (which is the grounds for the Livingston County 4h show) I was a bit jealous of the nice grounds, and real box stalls they have! (I've become box stall spoiled... After one show.:p But if you've shown forever without one, and then have one... you'll know what im talking about!) Anyways that was compleatly off topic. Summer was OUTSTANDING at this show! Our flat classes were a bit rushed, with that said our flat classes have never been our strong point. but we still pinned in the top 3 in each class. Over fences is what really took me by suprise. After GALLOPING around our courses at Hemlock, something clicked and our courses were much slower and controlled! We pinned 2nd in our huter o/f, 2nd in our Eq o/f and won our Equitation invitational! We had accomplished what we had come to do, qualify for State Fair!


After a few weeks rest and some schooling time at home we packed up once again and headed to Sayracuse for the Great New York State Fair! Needless to say our travels there and home were quite..... eventful. Without taking the next page and a half to talk about that, I will summarize. Flat tire on the way there caused an hour delay and a near heart attack while we sat on the side of the throughway. And a second heart attack while driving 30mph down the throughway at 10:30 at night with 5 pounds of air in the new tire. Lesson learned: check your trailer for dry rot if you arn't shipping often!!!!!! With that said we both made it safely to and from the show.

The state fair was a truly amazing experience. This was my first time stabiling overnight at a horse show, which was quite relaxing. (Yet again, i'm becoming even more spoiled with lack of rushing AND a box stalls. :p) Arriving on monday I planned to school myself that evening. Well lets just say, the 4h office had another idea on me schooling that evening. So I actually didn't end up riding that night, but planned to be there extra early to ride about and hour before my actual "schooling round" in the main arena. Amidst all the confusion of farris wheels, dairy cows, long hairy... big massive..... I don't know SRACRY LOOKING cow things Summer was outstanding and got her game face on. The night before I had been looking at the entry list in the book I was handed that day when I registered in the show office. There were over 30 horses and riders in each of the 3 classes I qualified for. Alredy feeling defeated, with a horse who hadn't been schooled in the scary ring that night, and over THIRTY riders in my class, my mom said " Well were here, your going to give it your best shot." 

Bright and early the next morning we headed back to the show grounds to get an early start in the warm up ring. Determinded from the night before to have fun and ride like I belonged in the top 10 of that class, out we went. Our warm up was good, a little fast, nothing spectacular but a solid round. Then came show time. Hours after our warm up we went in to show our first class, Hunter over fences. Much to my suprise Summer knew her job and knew she was being judged. Our round MUCH better than warm up and overal just a good ride! We ended up pinning 5th! Compleatly shocked, at our last class we went into our Equtation Over Fences. Again much better than warm up and ended up 3rd! Shocked, Awed, and thinking of how far we had come we went into our final class. Exhausted from our early morning, late night the day before, and only just beginning our final class at 7:30 pm, our Hunter Hack class wasn't our best. We did pin, after 3 flights in the class we were apart of the top 12 that was called back for a final flat class and ended up 10th!

click here for:A video of the 2012 show season!

I also have video's on my channel of Hemlock and Ontario county!

Overall this summer was something I will never forget, and an amazing learning experience as well. My time with Summer, through much family discussion, has come to a close. I'm very excited to update you on Simon in my next post, but that is the reason I will no longer be riding Summer. Simon is now ready to step up to the plate and become my show horse! Although I will miss the little mare and the bond we developed over the Summer i'm ready to start a new chapter with my horse! 

I think that just about covers the horse shows of the summer!

Happy riding:)