Western Horse Show at the New Hamburg Fall Fair

This past weekend, I got the opportunity to help run a horse show.  There hadn't been a Western show at the Fall Fair for about 15 years, so you can imagine I was pretty excited about the four Western classes being offered this year!  The classes were a good representation of our skills: Western Pleasure, Western Horsemanship, Command, and Trail.  I volunteered to help out, wanting to do my part to make it a success.  The brave woman running the show wasn't familiar with Western classes, and put me in charge of the patterns for the Horsemanship and Trail classes.  Three of us sat down for a meeting earlier in the week and figured out what had to be done.

There is a lot of work involved.  I've been told the show looked good and smooth, which is great, because many times I found myself standing in the ring with a clipboard in my hands, looking around frantically, trying to remember where I put a thing I needed or who I needed to talk to or what I needed to do!

The western classes started at 2:00 pm, which gave me all morning to shuffle paperwork at the entry desk.  Then I got the ring ready for the classes.  I was not the judge, and man, honestly, I got a first hand look at how difficult judging is!  I have much respect for our judge who was fair and knowledgeable.  She did a great job and was very pleasant about the whole thing.  I enjoyed working with her!

We had a good turnout, about six entries in each class.  I was vaguely aware of spectators lined up to watch, which is wonderful!  The more interest in these classes, the better our chances of another Western show next year. The Fall Fair is always a highlight of the year in an agricultural based community like New Hamburg.  People who live in town and wouldn't always have chances to see farm animals can come out and observe the 4H calf shows, and of course, all the horse shows!  There are always draft horses (I did not get to see any of those magnificent gentle giants because I was too busy!) and the hunter-jumper shows.  And now, Western classes too, which I'm proud to share and promote!

To all of you who stopped by the fair to watch the show, THANK YOU!  We'll work on getting you some bleachers to sit on next year, ok?

If you were there with your horse, THANK YOU!  We got some very nice horse and rider teams.  It made judging harder, but that's a good problem to have!

I had a great time and fully intend to be involved in 2014.  (I wonder if I can run a show and bring two horses at the same time...)

Summer 2013: wrapping it all up

Doesn't this happen every summer - we feel like it flew past in a flash!  We had a lot of fun this summer and I'm grateful to all my riders for coming to me for riding lessons.  Some of you have been regulars for awhile now, while others were here to try something new.  It's been energizing and challenging for me, and my horses look pretty happy too!

Some of you young people will be starting high school this year, and meeting new people.  There's a good chance you could meet somebody who shares your favourite horse!  As a few of my riders discovered, I know A LOT of people around here, so don't be surprised if the kid beside you in math class has a picture of a speckled horse in his or her locker!

I'm looking to hearing about your back to school adventures when you're here for your next ride.

Soon we'll be settling into a fall schedule, but in the meantime, keep in mind that the New Hamburg Fall Fair is holding four Western classes this year!  This will take place on Saturday 14th at about 1:00pm.  I won't be competing, but I will be there helping out.  Please come watch the show and come say hi to me!  The more spectators, the more likely to have a bigger better show next year.

Mackenzie at her first lesson

Our first Farm Day, relaxing in the tree house at the end of the day

Getting ready to ride

An all girls Farm Day

Selina practicing her one handed riding

Baby turkeys!

And baby chicks!

New saddle racks this summer - the barn improvements continue!

Copper dressed up for Farm Day

A Farm Day afternoon in the old camper, making prize ribbons

Barn swallows in the nest before they moved out

"Butch"

"Rawhide" and "Roadrash"

Laura with two well dressed horses

Mackenzie and friends after a lesson

If anybody has pictures you'd like to see here, you can email me the pictures and I'll put them up.  I'm working on a wall of pictures in the tack room too, so keep me in mind if you're getting prints done.