Cliche'-in around

Day one of the madness that is a big horse show. We left the hotel at 5am and showered, dried, brushed and dried the horse, followed by banding her mane (a series of little pony tails running down the neck, it looks tidier) and finally, no kidding, hoof polish. Black, if you're wondering. Oh, and I got to put it on. I'm just that awesome. If you think that's excessive, you should see what some of the other people do! Fake tails, glittery toenail polish, all kinds of stuff. It's amusing to see grown people fussing over a fake horse tail with a blow dryer. I even heard two women comparing hair spray and wondering if spiking the main would give them a leg up on the competition. (unlikely) Leigha's first event was halter, which she's never done, and she got last place. She cut the corner off one of the turns. Oh well. We had a long break after that and ate some lunch and grabbed some stuff from town before heading back. They were really really slow so we had to wait until like 5 before the next event, which was Brianna's lead line class! They all got first, of course. What judge is going to tell a three year old they can't ride well? Then came Leigha's next two events, and the horse started acting up really bad. She did as well as she could, but came in last for both. At the end of the last event one of the other girls's horse spooked and she leapt forward, out of control for one terrifying moment. It was just a bad night to be a horse I guess. Due to the early rise, waiting around, primping, then competition stuff it kind of felt like a freaky equestrian forensics meet. Nice. Oh, and Leigha was given a bag with a lead rope and horse conditioner in it (the beginnings of her very own tack room!) and Bri was given a stick horse. Much more useful than ribbons, although we appreciate those a lot too.

I forgot to mention this yesterday, but the bank was being unreasonable with the house, so we withdrew our offer and it's back to square one. *sigh*