My First Show!

Yesterday (Saturday) I went to my first horse show! It. Was. Amazing..!
I woke up Saturday morning at 7:00 and got ready. We drove almost an hour to get to the barn, and we loaded our 5 horses and got everything and everyone ready. I got to wear my new boots and shirt, and I got to ride Val! We drove about 7 minutes, and finally got to the show. It was so cool! There were a lot of people there, and everyone was so excited! I was with my friends Lindsey and Marissa, and there was a 6 year old with us named Emily. Marissa's neighbor Sydney came too, but didn't ride. As soon as we got there, I knew it was going to be an awesome day.
So we all unloaded our horses and groomed them extra long and made them sparkle:) we tied them to the trailer with water and went and signed up for our events-I was in 9 total classes. I did Egg and Spoon, Pole Weaving, Key Race (Keyhole), Three-Horse Relay, Cloverleaf Barrels, Four in a Line Barrels, Jumping Figure 8, Speed Dash, and the Rescue Race.
After a little bit of practice, they called us up for the egg and spoon race. Marissa was riding a super bumpy pony, so she only made it 2 steps and she was out :P Lindsey and I made it almost around the arena then had to trot and kinda gave up.
Pole weaving was soooo fun on Val. She's a dressage level 3 horse, so she does a half pass off your leg-a half pass is where you go forward and to the side at the same time. Maria, my instructor, was cheering extra loud, telling me to "annihilate them poles!"  it was really fun! I only lope/trotted it though, because I'd never done the pattern fast before. Plus, Val is so big she barely fit!
The key race was really fun. There are 6 poles set up, three on each side, with about 5-ish feet in between. Val LOVED this one, even though I had to slow her down to get between the poles. Again, too big to fit! :P

By then, everyone knew me as "the girl with the clydesdale" I was riding the only draft horse in the whole show, because it was Western. People I knew and strangers were learning mine and Val's names and cheering for us, even though they were against us. That's what I love about this sport- People aren't afraid to cheer for their friends and complete strangers, even though they are competing against them.

So the girl with the clydesdale was the first person in the 3 horse relay. I had to run around the outside of the arena, but not pass the time line, and hand the baton to the next person. Val probably should have gone last, because she didn't make a sharp enough turn, and we hit the time line. Lindsey and Harley hit it too, and marissa and Moonshine had a great time as the last people, because they were supposed to pass it:P

The cloverleaf barrels was really fun. Its the normal barrel pattern- Left, right, up (or right, left, up) and I loved it.

Jumping figure 8 was one of the best. The pattern was simple-you run to a jump, then you run two figure 8's around barrels, then run back and do the jump again. Val, being the jumping/dressage horse that she is, completely overachieved the foot-and-a-half jump, jumping about 4 feet. Being as well known and loved by the crowd as we were, we got a bunch of "OOooooohhhhhhh's" and "Great job!'s" and even some "that was amazing!'s" :) this was what everyone had been waiting for the whole day. I can't even count how many people came up to me and asked me, "hey, are you doing the jumping figure 8? I can't wait to see your horse jump!" when we entered the arena, people seemed to be holding their breath. I turned Val in a few little circles, speeding up, and finally let her go. As we got closer to the jump, people stood up, watching us. I  kissed to her and kicked her, and we sped up more. If you've never run a clydesdale before, the feeling is completely indescribable, and its so fun. We got closer to the jump, then we were finally there. Little kids were standing on the fence, watching us in awe. Val, my amazing clydesdale, jumped 4 feet, clearing the rail by about 2 and a half or 3 feet. Everyone watching cheered so loud, and I was smiling, and Val was running, we ran our figure 8's and did the jump again and people were jumping up and down and screaming "Come on Hannah! Go Val!" and we finished and soooo many people came up to me after and congratulated me. Even though I didn't place or get the best time, everyone loved Val.

After that excitement, I did the speed dash. I'd been told to trot all of the patterns (but I'd ended up half trotting, half loping, and partly running), but Maria told me to make her go this time. When the called "On deck is rider 345, Hannah, riding Val" so many people cheered! It was really funny and awesome knowing how many people knew us by now- Everyone stopped by and wished me good luck. When it was my turn, I couldn't get Val through the gate. She kept trying to jumpp over the fence, which was really funny, but probably was against the rules. She would get ready to jump, and I'd pull her back, she'd get ready, I'd pull her back. Finally I got her through, and by then she wanted to RUN. So we did. I trotted her around before the time line, then heard "Hannah, you make that clydesdale GO!" everyone cheered, and trust me, I made her go. I kicked her as hard as I could, leaned forward, and kissed (We make a "kissing" noise to tell our horses to speed up) she ran to the end of the arena, spun around the barrel, and ran back, and even though it was a short class, people went crazy.

The last, and by far best, was the rescue race. It. Was. So. Fun.
Lindsey really wanted to ride Val, so she said she would rescue me. For this class, I stood in the arena, and she had to run out, pull me onto Val, and we had to run back with me sitting behind the saddle. Well, like I said, everyone knew us by then- even the lady announcing the times and the riders thought we were funny. When I was in the arena, she knew me by then, and she was joking about how I should be allowed to use a stepstool because I was so short and Val was so tall:) Ok, so picture this:
I'm about 5'2. Val is about 6 feet at her shoulder. The stirrup I had to get my foot into was almost at my shoulder. I had to shove my foot in there, grab Lindsey's arm, and pull myself up. It was hilarious. So I went and wated in the arena. By now it was completely dark outside, and the lights by the arena were finally on. So Lindsey runs over to me, grabs my arm and pulls me up, and I'm almost falling off because I'm not allowed to be in the saddle, I have to sit behind, and we're running back full speed, then she stopped Val so fast I almost flew off and it was pretty much the bets thing I've ever done in my entire life. :) They called us up to get our ribbon-5th place, and then we went home. And that was it. BUT it was an 11 hour day and I was soooo exhausted!