Hot Hot Hot!

Nah, not the weather. Hot Machine is hot! Oliver had his second show on the Creekview circuit, and that lil' brown horse with the rainbow tail is getting noticed in the ring.

Sara called on her way home after the show and said, "You better build a bigger shelf! Oliver is bringin' home trophies!"





1st in Showmanship outta 5 horses.
1st in Western Walk Trot out of 14.
1st in both of his Western Pleasure classes with 5 horses in each class.
Then he got a 4th out of nine in his last WP class, but that was due to an unfortunately timed bathroom break. Judges have no sense of humor.

Does This Sign Make My Barn Look Big?

We had a sign made up by From The Forty, a company owned by the family of a coworker of mine. It turned a lot nicer than we had anticitpated. Selecting the right font was tough, but I think we picked a good one. It's 4' wide and 3' feet tall. The 2" thick white cedar is coated in spar urethane, and should offer many years of use.

Holly was really easy to work with (read: was really patient with us), and it only took a week to make. They've got a nice selection of pre-made signs at really nice prices, and they can make just about anything you can dream up. Go check out their site.

Showing Pinto

After their successful year on the APHA circuit last year, Sara decided to see how Mater did against the Pintos in the area. Many factors went into this decision, and the least which was the time spent on the road. Having to be gone three weekends a month is a tough life on both the horse and the exhibitor. Also, Oliver is coming along nicely and needs exposure at the local shows, so she wanted to have the opportunity to work with him more. And the fuel prices sure don't help much.

There are only six Pinto shows in Wisconsin in a season, and they are held over three weekends, so this really cuts down on the travelling. Two back-to-back shows are held on one weekend, and each show has six judges. Yes, Six. That means you cannot mess up, and there is no where in the ring where you can "have a moment" with your horse. But, if you do well you can really build up the points.

So Sara and Mater headed off to their first Pinto show a coupla weeks ago. It was down at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds, a popular place for holding many of the regional shows. Due to a scheduling conflict the show was on Friday and Saturday, so I had to stay back and work. They left early Thursday afternoon to get a good spot for the trailer, get some riding in, and get him all cleaned up and settled in for his big weekend. Sara called me that evening to check in and said, "Everyone is SO NICE here". Seems that folks were just coming up and saying hi and introducing themselves. Very friendly bunch.

Friday started with Amateur Showmanship. Yup, Amateur. Since they pointed out of Novice last year, they have to show in the next step up. Their first class had 11 horses in it. Mater did a great job, and they waited for their placings........

1st, 1st, 1st, 1st, 5th, and NP!

Yay Mater! Why the NP? Who cares - four 1sts!


The rest of the day followed suit. Here's a quick rundown.
English Shmshp, 1, 3, 4, np, np, np.
English Pleasure: 1, 1, 2, 3, 3, 4.
Eng Pleasure Geldings: 1, 1, 1, 2, 3, 6.
Eng Equitation: 1, 1, 1, 4, 5, 7.
Hunter Under Saddle: 1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 3.
Disciplined Rail: 1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 5.
Trail: 2, 2, 3, 3, 3, 5.

So it was a good day. After all the horses were fed and tucked in for the nite, the Wisconsin Pinto Club hosts a dinner for all the exhibitors to attend.

Saturday were the western classes. Mater did his thing, and the results were impressive.
Open WP Geldings: 2, 2, 2, 3, 3, np.
Open WP Senior: 2, 2, 2, 2, 3, 3.
Amateur WP: 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2.
Am WP Geldings: 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1.
Am Horsemandhip: 1, 2, 2, 2, 3, 5.
Am Western Disciplined Rail: 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 4.
Open Disciplined Rail: 1, 1, 1, 3, 3, 3.
Am Barrels: 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3.
Am Flag: 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2.

Overall, it was a great first Pinto show. They earned 388 points and two Registers of Merit, and they won the high point for each day.

Mater, Pinto Rockstar!

National Trails Day

Our riding club celebrated National Trails Day on June 4th by hitting the local trails.

It started as a hot and sweaty day, but it was cooler in the woods and the bugs weren't bad at all.
Oliver is such a ham.

Oliver lost his head.

We ended the day with a visit to the local frozen custard stand. Yum!