State Fair Here We Come!

Friday night we (MIL, DH, & I) went to the state fair to watch Sis in the Cowgirl Queen Contest. When we got there she looked tired already. LOL

I’m going to give my take on what happened (didn’t happen) and please don’t take it as a biased opinion because it’s not. There were 4 girls riding that we knew so I’ll tell you how they all did.

I think HH(we’ll shorten her name for the sake of the internet) is a very sweet girl but I just don’t think she “got) what the Queen contest was all about (even thought this wasn’t her first year). It says right up front that 50% of it is on beauty. I believe only 10% is on the horse.

When we got to the barn Friday night Sis had her mane banded (poorly too I might add) but that was all that was done. HH had a few friends come help get Sis ready. She had borrowed a show saddle from someone else (an older show saddle) but didn’t bother to borrow a show bridle but instead just used a “schooling” bridle on her.

Her friends (older couple) painted Sis’s feet but didn’t do a very good job. HH had braided Sis’s tail so it would be wavy (this is not the new trend for tails). They didn’t put any corn starch on her white and she had tracks from poor clipping nor did they put any “make-up” on Sissy’s face.

I told MIL right then and there they wouldn’t make the cut. HH looked “cute” but she didn’t look like money. They are looking for someone to represent the state of Iowa so they are looking for the “look”.

The divisions were each broken down into 3 groups. HH was in the first group. When the horses came in I picked out every horse that would make it to the final group based on their outfits (prior to them even performing) and I was dead on each time. The judges picked 5 people from each group. Each time they would pick four “normal” horse/rider combos and then they’d throw in one “wild card” (that’s what I called them). The wild card was an Arabian or a rider that didn’t “fit” the look per se.

Sis performed great! Her head didn’t come up (well except for at the lope but it always does a bit). There were seasoned show horses having major cows and this was only the second time Sis had been in a coliseum (and the last time there was no where near the crowd). MIL and I couldn’t have been prouder of her performance.

In the second group the “wild card” rider was a little girl on an Arabian who went the entire way on the wrong lead. I think that’s horrible.

The one gal we know who also participated was having major problems with her horse and was asked to leave. This wasn’t normal behavior for her horse so I’m sure she was very disappointed.

The other gal went the entire way on a horse that IMHO is a very poor mover on the wrong lead and didn’t even try to fix it. Then had the nerve to complain she wasn’t picked because her sash didn’t have the right name on it (stating they were picking people based off of who they represented).

One gal that made the finals I really wish wouldn’t have. She was on a palomino and every time the judges would look at the other side of the arena she would yank the shit out of her horse’s mouth. If I had been from the club she represented she would have never represented for the club again.

So all-in-all an ok night. It was a wonderful experience for Sis so what more could you really ask for?

Saturday DH worked at the fair and I was lazy so I didn’t do much with the ponies.

Yesterday MIL came over and we worked with her on her riding (she’s been leaning forward) and then I worked with Abby on loping w/o throwing a fit and being caught (she has halter phobia if she’s outside of the stall). She did well but I think she’s smart so it’s going to take more practice.

DH works tonight, tomorrow is drill night, Wednesday I hope to go to roping practice, Thursday is orientation for school and Friday, Friday might be a day of rest!