Getting ready for the show

How do two perfectionists get ready for a horse show you ask? Lots of my non horse friends ask me this and wonder how hard it can be.  Well, it's not hard per se, when you love spending time with horses, but it does involve your fair share of elbow grease.

The day before the show is wash/clip/band day.  Now once upon a time we had a heated wash rack.  Those days have come to pass so now this entails going out to the pasture, hooking up the trailer and driving the horses to town. 

We start by washing.  Every inch of the horse must be wetted down, scrubbed with soap and rinsed.  The tail requires a good scrubbing and conditioner that we let soak in for a good long time.  In Oscar's case...that's a whole lot of tail.  None of our horses like their faces washed so that gets to be a game of who can lift their head the highest.  With the help of a step stool, I always win. 

As they dry, it's banding time.  Banding is putting a series of tiny little pony tails in very precisely so that the mane hair lays down neat and tidy against the neck. On our ponies I would put in around 50+.  Not sure on the big horses.  Oscar's mane has a curl to it and is unruly, Zippys is awesome and Ace wins the perfect mane award.  

After banding, the horses are dry enough to clip.  You can spend big bucks on horse clippers, but I cheat and buy the $20 pairs from the dog section.  All of our horses have different areas they aren't fond of being clipped so we usually have to twitch everyone.  It isn't the nicest thing to do to a horse, but considering how close my face gets to their feet and that I like my face just the way it is, it's what I refer to as a necessary evil. We clip their ears, bridle path (section of mane just behind the ears), faces (especially under the jaw), muzzles and fetlocks/feet area. 

After clipping we put slinkies on to protect their bands and blankets to keep them as clean as possible.  Again, in the old days it was put them in a stall for the night, but now it is back out to the pasture and pray they don't roll and it doesn't rain. 

In the morning we head out to get the horses around 4:30.  This can be a challenge in a dusky or dark 10 acre pasture.  Sometimes the only way we find them is luck.  After fighting a horde of mosquitoes we are loaded and on our way. 

At the show we survey the damages.  Oscar has usually rubbed half his bands out and has to be redone (perfectionist).  Ace will have put a hole in his slinkie somewhere and do a vague impression of Elvis and Zippy, well Zippy always rolls and always has a dirty face.  

After warming them up we bring them back to the trailer for their final show cleanup.  Tails are conditioned again and brushed out.  Zippy gets a tail extension put in to make his tail look longer and fuller.  This is braided into his natural tail to try to make it flow.  Bands are redone or tightened.  Forelocks get brushed and banded.  Ears, nostrils and face are all wiped clean and a clean rag is run over the whole horse.  We use a lady's razor to get the close stubble off their muzzles so they are super smooth and apply a little face shine.  Then the feet.

The feet and lower legs have to be scrubbed.  I use a long handed kitchen scrubber and a bottle of water that we squeeze on to rinse.  Then if we are serious we rough up the hooves with a little sandpaper and apply hoof black or clear hoof polish.  

Last but not least a quick coat of body shine is sprayed on and then right before the class, the most important of the day, fly spray.  Not that any of them last for more than 5 minutes.  But we try.  

And that's it!  The horses are ready to put their best hoof forward as they say.  Anyone want to help for the next one?

Ulcers and Perfectionism

Can someone else's perfectionism give you ulcers?  Serious question here.  Well, kind of serious.  Perfectionism runs in my family.  My dad is the ultimate perfectionist when it comes to the things he loves; cars, singing, carpentry, etc...  I'm a perfectionist when it comes to lots of things.  Loads actually.  And as they say, the tree and the apple, and all that... well Libby takes perfectionism to whole new levels.  And it really hit home this week.

Only my daughter would pass her permit test and then promptly fail the vision portion.  Oh really, that isn't so bad you say.  Right, but she failed because she didn't want to guess.  Since she couldn't see them perfectly, she didn't want to get them wrong and guess.  So... failed.  Red rubber stamp and off to the eye doctor we go.

The eye doctor tests her eyes and says, "Are you sure you don't want to go back and try the test again?  I can't believe you didn't pass it.  Really.  Just guess!"  Honest Abe in the office chair says that she'd rather just get the glasses.  The very nice eye doctor lady checks "corrective lenses optional" and sets us up with a brand spanking new pair of glasses.

It was so fun driving home with her though as she realized what she has been missing all this time.  She was constantly remarking on the signs that she can read now and how sharp everything looked.  It was pretty cool and I'm super happy for you.  It's fun to finally be able to see!

You want to know the really truly funny thing.  Ryan's daughter just got glasses a few weeks ago.  Out of the hundreds of options at the eye center, guess which pair Libby randomly chose?  The same pair as Hailey.  What are the chances!?

Blind as a bat and my kid is too - 

Melissa

You missed me - you really missed me.

I stopped writing in here months ago and figured no one would miss the demise of our family blog.  Here's the shocker... Someone. Actually. Missed. It.  I had someone tell me the other day that they missed reading my blog.  I about hit the ground.  Really?  People are reading this?  Wow.  So for my loyal fans..*cough*.. fan, I will again pick up my keyboard and carry on!

Hmm.. what to write about first... Hmm...  Want funny for my first entry back?  I've got funny.

As many of you know, it's horse show season!  And that means things are bound to get a little crazy.  But even crazier, guess who is back in the saddle?  ME!  Libby and I were trying to think of when was the last year that I showed a full season.  It was a while ago.  Maybe 5 years?  6?  And it shows, believe me, it shows.  But I've made a little progress this summer and I have a good safe horse to ride who challenges me at every show.  So I'm having a blast.

So, with that as my defense, and please forget that even though I haven't been showing I have attended hundreds of shows in the last 6 years, I will tell you about my "duh" moment a couple weeks ago.

There I was, in the sloppiest arena I had ever ridden in.  Giant puddles, literally when we loped we splashed around the arena.  In English Oscar wouldn't even pass off the rail and broke gait whenever I tried.  It was a mess.  This is also the show where the pleasure is after the games.  And Libby being the worrier she is, did NOT want to be late so we had gotten to the show around 10:00 and waited for hours for pleasure to start.  And it is finally the last class of the day.  In I go.

We are splashing around and the announcer calls for a stop.  Right in the middle of the largest puddle on the rail.  And all I could think was that Oscar would not want to turn around in that mess.  And the announcer gives the call "Reverse your horses".  Now you non horse people are going to probably think I was perfectly sane when I started to back my horse up.  Literally I was so relieved because I got to back first and get out of the puddle before we would have to turn around.  The announcer says "Reverse your horses".  Again.  And I was thinking that it was odd that they would make the call to reverse again, but we backed up again. And Oscar backed so nicely.  I was so proud.  Thinking to myself that things are going pretty well, the announcer says again, "Reverse your HORSES".  So I look around wondering what the heck is going on and see everyone facing the other way and then the light dawns on my dim mind.  OH yeah, reverse means go the other way.

I started laughing, the other people in the ring were laughing, the judge was laughing and even the announcer comes on to thank you for the laugh at the end of a long day.  In fact she came by the trailer after my class to thank me as well.  It truly was hilarious.  I was even laughing at myself and don't mind sharing my story one bit!

But then... there was another show a week or so ago when the judge called for our class to reverse on the diagonal.  I even knew what to do.  I waited for the corner, cut across the arena and suddenly realized I was still going the same direction.  How did I manage to attempt to reverse and STILL not get reversed.  Apparently, I still have a few kinks to iron out.  But when I figure out how to go both ways, well, you all had just better watch out!

Happy to be back in the show ring -
Melissa

Love letters

I find inspiration everywhere.  The most recent "for me" or "fun" book that I just finished was American Sniper.  In the book Chris Kyle's wife Taya interjects from time to time.  At one point she talked about being angry with Chris for going back to Iraq and refused to accept from him his "death letters" or letters that he wrote for them if he didn't come back from the war.  I'm going to quote her here:

"Show me now.  Make it real.  Don't just say some sappy shit when you're gone.  Otherwise it is a load of crap." 

That really hit me.  I've done this.  I've written letters to my girls and revised them for a time.  It's been forever now.  And I've gotten such a letter.  My mom had them written for us when she realized that cancer was going to get the best of her:   But I can also really really see her point.  

If we aren't proving to those that we love them every day, what solace will they take from a letter that says, "I did really love you, sorry if you didn't realize that or I didn't show you enough."  And what if you never have a need, God willing, for your family to read your death letter?  Do they deserve to go through life wondering how much they meant to you?  How much you cared? 

Don't those that we love deserve to be told and shown every single day that we love them? That they are the most important people in the world to us?  I challenge you.  Write your death letter.  Tell them everything you would want them to know if something happened and you weren't going to be with them again.  Then give it to them.  It's really that simple.  

Saturday basketball

Okay, seriously.  My only blogs seems to be about Sophie and her extra curricular activities.  I do have a life.  I promise.  Most of it revolves around work and the kids, true.  But truthfully, who wouldn't love to watch these kids play?  And I got to visit with some old horse friends!  Thanks Bo for keeping me company.  ;)

The first game went so well - we all thought the girls were going to bring home their first win.  Sadly, in the last few seconds the other team squeaked out a couple of baskets to win by 2.  It was a real barn burner with a final of 12-10.  But Sophie scored!  A couple of times.

The second game wasn't quite as close.  But there were improvements made by all.  It was so fun to watch as Sophie pushed herself to shoot more.  She scored a few more times but it wasn't enough to bring the Falcons within winning distance and they ended up 28-14.  Good effort by all.  Saw improvements in everyone!

Playing Dover-Eyota meant that Sophie went head to head against some of her old horse show buddies.  I asked her how that was and she said that it was fun to see them and not as weird as she thought it would be.  Kind of fun to see them in a different situation!

Sophie got to shoot her first free throws in a game situation.  4 shots, didn't make one and when she went to practice shooting hoops between halves, made her first one.  I told her that was pretty typical.  I would be a nervous wreck shooting free throws in front of everyone.

I love seeing her part of a team and being such a great team player.  They are always out there backing each other up and finding great joy in their teammates success.  LOVE seeing this, this is what it is about!

Another weekend, another basketball game

I can't help but face a day of basketball with trepidation.  Not having ever been a basketball fan... did I mention that before???  But seriously, it is so fun.  Even though we were home and that meant we were there for...give or take 7 hours... it was so fun.  I absolutely LOVE watching Sophie's team play and we even stayed to watch my 6th grade girls play a game.  I might be coming a basketball fan...ssshh...  She's so fun to watch.  I love to watch her get in there and get put her all into every game.  And thanks to a quick trip to Rochester we were not a fashion disaster this week.  New laces, new socks, new shorts... check out that hip baller.

Sunday we intended to have a lazy day at home, but you know how that goes.  One cleaning thing led to another and then it was a beautiful day and all of a sudden we were heading out to the pasture to play with Libby's boys.  She wanted to get some pictures.  So guess what that means.  That means mom gets to be the one looking like an idiot chasing around her horses.  And because they don't "chase" very well and aren't spooky, I got one hell of a workout.  To make matters EVEN better, we had an audience with a vehicle that passed and gave us a friendly honk.  (Thanks for witnessing my humiliation, Adam.)
These two might not have been easy to get to go "dashing through the snow", but they are so adorable!!!  You cannot resist these two and their adorable faces.

Busy weekend for Sophie

You know, I tried to keep a positive attitude going into this weekend, but I have to admit I wasn't looking forward to how busy we would be.  But I'm not going to lie, it was a blast!

Not knowing much about basketball, and not being a big basketball fan, I was thinking that watching the 5th grade games might drag by.  Not even close.  I still don't know squat about basketball, but I yell a lot of "Go White" or "Go Sophie" and do a lot of repeating whatever the Falcon fans around me say.  Hopefully I didn't make too much of an ass of myself, but it was so exciting.  I'm not gonna lie.  We didn't win, but it is so cool to watch Sophie get better as the game went on.  Very proud of her.  Going to get her basketball shorts and longer socks.  I know nothing about game attire, but Libby, being the basketball fashion police, informed me I need to get to Dick's.  So will make a stop there and get her ready for this next Saturday's game.  Cannot wait!

We rounded out the afternoon with running to buy a load of hay and getting it all stacked and ready for the horses.  There is really nothing more rewarding and reassuring than having that hay stacked and knowing the horses will be kept fat and happy.

Today was another busy day for Sophie.  Today was the Just For Kix winter show.  So many great performances.  I don't know which I like better, watching the talented older students, the improvement in the middle grades or the antics of the youngest dancers.  There is something in every act that makes you smile.  

Sophie danced in 4 songs and by far my favorite was the trio that she and two of her friends did.  When they told me that they were choreographing their own routine I was a little skeptical.  I was so shocked and so proud!  It was amazing.  Cute, creative, and showcased each of them.  So blown away.  I'm just so impressed with the program that Kari runs.  I honestly don't know how she manages all those dancers but we can't thank her enough!

Rounded out the weekend with a 4H meeting and off to a relaxing week at work and school.  Happy Sunday and back to work Monday to all of you!!!