Yesterday morning around 5:30 am I was wondering what happened this year that I was up so early to go to a barn on a Saturday? I think what happened was that Carmen loves riding a little more than I expected when I consented to explore this interest in the fall. She lives from week to week, from riding lesson to riding lesson, with Mondays at the barn being the highlight of her week. Carmen really liked the idea of participating in a jumping show this spring, so we shortened her lesson year by a few weeks and put the money saved on lessons towards entering the Greenbriar School Show.
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It was my first horse show ever, as well as Carmen's, so I asked a couple of the YW in my ward who ride what they could tell me about getting ready for a horse show. Most of their advice was fashion advice. She needed riding pants (check), tall English boots (uh-oh, her cowboy boots wouldn't cut it), a black helmet (check), a blouse (check), a horsey pin for her throat (didn't have one of those), and a dark blazer (nope again). The final advice I got on Carmen's attire was that she should have her hair in a net, and not a hair out of place. I was glad to find one aspect of show-outfitting I would be able to solve at the dollar store. I got to work phoning around to see what we could borrow, and therefore avoid buying. One of Carmen's riding & school friends, Marguerite, loaned us black riding gloves (I forgot to mention them in my original list) and rubber riding boots.
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Carmen wasn't initially thrilled with the rubber boots, but after I Armor All'd them she loved them, and they were so dark and shiny they looked better than most of the leather boots we saw at the show. Woo-hoo! I felt pretty brilliant with my Armor All idea.
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Carmen's school & church friend, Emma, loaned us her dark brown blazer. Carmen has a really cute baby blue blazer, but our teacher told us we absolutely had to have something dark. I thought it was silly, but when we got to the show and Carmen was standing amongst all those black and navy blue blazers I could see that Gail (our teacher) had been right.
Carmen's riding friend, Kennedy, bought a crop (a short whip) for the show and she was all too happy to let Carmen use it.
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I was wrong about not having a horsey pin. Carmen remembered this horse button cover that was hiding in my bedside table. I have a set of cowboy button covers that I bought long ago for Calgary Stampede week which I had completely forgotten about. Fortunately Carmen found them during one of her (I'm sure many) tours through my personal stuff, and she remembered the silver horse, which looked darling on her at the show.
At one point Steven picked up on our show-outfitting efforts and asked, "So the horse show is half fashion show???"
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Carmen has never been so concerned about her own grooming as she was for the horse show yesterday. Her hair was really cute in the net over her bun. She even had me put her hair in the net again today for church.
Carmen rode in four jumping classes (18 inch rails - scary video to come when it is available to me after June 5th) and she placed 5th in two of her classes. That was totally unexpected and the cherry on top of a fun morning for Carmen.
15 comments:
I love your resourcefulness! Congratulations to Carmen (what an amazing thing to be involved with)!
Oh wow! Like Tiffany, I'm amazed at your resourcefulness. Who'd have guessed armor-all could do such wonders? What a fun post to read. The horse world is a world all it's own--whether it's rodeo, racing, jumping, whatever . . . each field has its own specifications, doesn't it?
Carmen looks so cute and proud! That's awesome that she did so well her first time!
What fun for Carmen! (My little sister used to love riding when she was a girl as well. She still has her hat and crop. and maybe some boots?)
Brilliant work on the rubber boots! I love what Steven said about the fashion show...
The armor all on the rubber boots is genius! You are amazing! She looks brilliant!
What a fun day, I would have loved to have done something like that.
Wow, you are brave. I don't think I want to see the scary video. It all scares me! Glad Carmen is loving it.
this is a whole foreign world to me! This was fun to read and she looks SO cute!
Carmen looks great, but I thought she was doing western riding? She looks all Britished-up.
You are brilliant to have made up an outfit for her without spending a bundle.
Congrats, Carmen on doing so well!
We tried to do Western, but around here there isn't much you can do in Western without your own horse. Carmen's just happy to be near a horse. In fact, I think I could have signed her up for horse grooming lessons instead of riding and she'd be just as happy!
Carmen looks so cool in her riding outfit! What a fun experience for her and for you to see her so excited and focused on something. I've always loved horses, but frankly, am afraid of them - it's something I need to work on! Take care and hope you are well :)
What an awesome experience for Carmen and congrats on placing! I wanted a horse SO BADLY as a young girl. I would ride my friends and just pray for a horse. Someday, I'll ride again.... ;)
She looks fantastic. I'm impressed you managed to pull everything together, right down to the horse pin. I had no idea they even dictated what kind of neck brooch to wear! The armor-all is brilliant.
You are so clever and she is so beautiful. What a memory for her.
This is fantastic. I love a kid with a passion! She totally looks the part too! I would have never guessed there were rules about neck accessories as well. I can't wait for the video of the actual show.
Is that Mouse?
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