Horseback Show

This past Sunday Sarah had her first horseback show of the year. Once again we are faced with much frustration about the season. This is probably the only sport that we can think of where you pay a huge amount to participate and you get little return. Anyway, at the draw (which is a lottery to see what horse you will be riding in the show) Sarah randomly selected "Peter" and her good friend selected "Joey" who just happens to be one of our coaches horses. Sounds fair so far, huh? Sarah and her friend both know Joey very well. Sarah's group had 9 riders in it. That is to say one judge is evaluating all 9 riders at the same time. Sarah's horse was very spirited and difficult to keep under control. She had some difficulty but did a great job at controlling him. By the time Sarah showed it was 3 pm and all the horses were tired and irritated. BTW, we had been thre since 9:30am. We video taped Sarah and she looked great. Both Sarah and her friend made the same mistake and let their horses change gait. It just so happens that the judge only saw Sarah's mistake. When the results came up, we were bewildered. She placed 6th out of nine. Her friend placed first. Sarah was disappointed but happy for her friend. We are all frustrated with the system and chaos of the shows, however Sarah loves her horses so I think we are in it for a while. Here are some pictures of Sarah from the show.