Fair wrapup (and other random stuff)
Aug. 17th, 2002 10:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kayreWe are now the proud temporary possessors of the “C-Muffin Trophy.” I have no clue what the name means. We get to keep it until next June. Kidlet is miffed because, if you win the same trophy three years in a row, you get to keep it.. but the only way to win this trophy is to compete on a different horse each year. The winning horse-rider combination automatically graduates to the next level of dressage competition.
The rest of today’s epic is back .
The final big event at fair, other than tonight’s grandstand entertainment, is the Parade of Champions-- about 10 antique tractors, followed by three old fashioned streetcars carrying every Grand Champion and Reserve Champion from the entire fair, about 150 kids. At the show arena they each got their 15 (well, maybe 5) seconds of fame, as they got to say their name and prize at the microphone. It was a nice combination of celebration and speed, as no one, not even the kids, wanted it to go on any longer.
Going back to yesterday... the kidlet went into dressage with literally no expectations at all; she only started practicing 2 months ago. Her first hint of things to come was at the end of her first ‘test’ when the judge called out “Can I have your horse?” Kidlet grinned and said “I’m afraid not.” An hour later, when she went in for her second test, the results of the first still hadn’t been announced. I waited while she put Whisper away, and heard her class number followed by a set of results that didn’t include her name, so we went off to another area to watch another event. A few minutes later we heard “We have a correction, the previous results were for class 1248-A.. here are the results for class 1248-B” and moments later she was racing down the gravel path for her first blue ribbon. There were still 20 competitors to go in the second test (kidlet went second) so we went for dinner, and then walked down to wait for results. Got the second blue ribbon, and then waited for the championship results; both tests had been split classes, with two sets of results, so there was no guarantee she had won the trophy. She had, though, much to the dismay of the other top riders, all from a local barn that specializes in dressage.
My other favorite child, Andrea, was afraid to try to work with her horse yesterday, after nearly being bucked off. Unfortunately one of the rules of fair is that, except in an emergency, no one but the competitor may work with a horse, so our trainer couldn’t work with the horse to get it back in shape. Even worse, Andrea and her mother, both exhausted and stressed out, really butted heads when Andrea refused to ride yesterday. Andrea’s mom started threatening to sell the horse, or at least make Andrea pay for board and lessons herself (she’s only 13!). We ended up with the trainer and 4 moms all circled around Andrea’s mom, trying to get her to calm down and cut the child some slack. What seemed to get through, after all our own horror stories about the first year with a new horse, was when I simply pointed out that they *were* both exhausted, and that was affecting how they were reacting, both emotionally and mentally. Today when I arrived, the first thing I saw was a handmade “Rodeo Queen” ribbon on Andrea’s ribbon rack. Andrea was bouncing around showing off photos that an alert photographer took of the bucking episode, and her mom seems much calmer, thank heaven.
I chose easy music for tomorrow, knowing that I wouldn’t have much practice time. So naturally, the “special music” for this week didn’t let me know until yesterday that he needed me to accompany. I got to the church in the evening to look at the music-- 7 pages, moderately difficult and quite fast. Argh! He’s very talented and fun to work with, but we could have had much more fun if I’d gotten the music sooner! (I didn’t call him sooner because I thought he was working with one of the other accompanists.)
And finally.. why do I bother buying special cat treats when the boycats like Cheerios so much, they’ll gang up on me and steal the box?
The rest of today’s epic is back .
The final big event at fair, other than tonight’s grandstand entertainment, is the Parade of Champions-- about 10 antique tractors, followed by three old fashioned streetcars carrying every Grand Champion and Reserve Champion from the entire fair, about 150 kids. At the show arena they each got their 15 (well, maybe 5) seconds of fame, as they got to say their name and prize at the microphone. It was a nice combination of celebration and speed, as no one, not even the kids, wanted it to go on any longer.
Going back to yesterday... the kidlet went into dressage with literally no expectations at all; she only started practicing 2 months ago. Her first hint of things to come was at the end of her first ‘test’ when the judge called out “Can I have your horse?” Kidlet grinned and said “I’m afraid not.” An hour later, when she went in for her second test, the results of the first still hadn’t been announced. I waited while she put Whisper away, and heard her class number followed by a set of results that didn’t include her name, so we went off to another area to watch another event. A few minutes later we heard “We have a correction, the previous results were for class 1248-A.. here are the results for class 1248-B” and moments later she was racing down the gravel path for her first blue ribbon. There were still 20 competitors to go in the second test (kidlet went second) so we went for dinner, and then walked down to wait for results. Got the second blue ribbon, and then waited for the championship results; both tests had been split classes, with two sets of results, so there was no guarantee she had won the trophy. She had, though, much to the dismay of the other top riders, all from a local barn that specializes in dressage.
My other favorite child, Andrea, was afraid to try to work with her horse yesterday, after nearly being bucked off. Unfortunately one of the rules of fair is that, except in an emergency, no one but the competitor may work with a horse, so our trainer couldn’t work with the horse to get it back in shape. Even worse, Andrea and her mother, both exhausted and stressed out, really butted heads when Andrea refused to ride yesterday. Andrea’s mom started threatening to sell the horse, or at least make Andrea pay for board and lessons herself (she’s only 13!). We ended up with the trainer and 4 moms all circled around Andrea’s mom, trying to get her to calm down and cut the child some slack. What seemed to get through, after all our own horror stories about the first year with a new horse, was when I simply pointed out that they *were* both exhausted, and that was affecting how they were reacting, both emotionally and mentally. Today when I arrived, the first thing I saw was a handmade “Rodeo Queen” ribbon on Andrea’s ribbon rack. Andrea was bouncing around showing off photos that an alert photographer took of the bucking episode, and her mom seems much calmer, thank heaven.
I chose easy music for tomorrow, knowing that I wouldn’t have much practice time. So naturally, the “special music” for this week didn’t let me know until yesterday that he needed me to accompany. I got to the church in the evening to look at the music-- 7 pages, moderately difficult and quite fast. Argh! He’s very talented and fun to work with, but we could have had much more fun if I’d gotten the music sooner! (I didn’t call him sooner because I thought he was working with one of the other accompanists.)
And finally.. why do I bother buying special cat treats when the boycats like Cheerios so much, they’ll gang up on me and steal the box?
