4-H Horse at the County Fair

Brooklyn, McKayl, Amelia, Emma, Kayson, Clay

Two weeks ago, Thursday the 26th, I got up ready to get ready for the 4-H horse show at the fair. We were going to wash the horse and get the truck and trailer positioned so I didn't have to back it anywhere. Then Lara called at about 10:00am and asked if we were coming. I was horrified. I quickly hung up the phone and ran into the bathroom, with the kids hot on my tail, and sat down and just bawled. I could not believe that I had been so irresponsible, disorganized, and out of touch with this whole thing. I had written on my calendar that it was on Friday and Saturday. I felt out of it enough as it was, knowing nothing about horses, patterns, leads, or reining. The least I could have done was to have Sam there at the right time! I was horrified, angry, and terribly sad. So, twenty minutes later I got over it, determined not to let anything else get in the way of Sam performing that day. I tossed Sam his clothes and explained that he had better hurry if he wanted to get there for his events that day. I think we were all ready in record time, the horse semi-groomed, saddled and in the trailer. I just had to back the trailer down our mammoth driveway and around the corner down our "little" section of street and we would be good to go. (The good thing about this all is that I didn't have to hook the trailer up.) I must say that I was quite happy that my anger had worked its way into determination at that point. So, when I got to the fair grounds Nate called my cell phone and asked if I needed him to come home and back the trailer down the driveway :-)

Sam did a nice job for his first year. He broke all the patterns that he had that day, although he insisted that he knew them all perfectly. Sometimes I wonder about the whole left and right thing??? His best event was the trail where you have to open a gate, go over some sticks, back through cones, etc. He did great on the whole thing, except for when he had to turn a circle, he went the wrong way, disqualifying him. He would have placed in that one for sure.

Sam's first event, western something.

Day two were the speed events, and we were among the first people there. Sam did great and we all had a great time watching him ride Thunder. Craig and Chris came over before Craig had to hit the hay field and Darren and Adrienne came up (Darren to help with hay, and Adrienne to hang out with us) Nate even was able to break away from work when Sam was ready to ride. It was a fun day for all.

Goat Tying.
That hat was just in the way, he was on the wrong side of the goat, and not him nor anyone else seemed to be able to tie the goat in less than 30 seconds.

Running Barrels in 29.7 seconds

PS Sam just got a check in the mail today for $16.00. It looks like he placed second and third (red and white ribbons) in just about everything!