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Last weekend we went to Colorado for a show. It was a three-day event at the Colorado Horse Park, in Parker. It's a really nice place. They have an awesome x-country course and really nice stables and jumping/dressage arenas.

The horses left Wednesday morning, and got to Parker late Wednesday night. We got to fly, (in order to miss one less day of school,) and got there Thursday morning at 8:30.

Moon was in his stall and I was happy to see him. Thursday we got settled in and got ready for dressage on Friday. I was going to be the first rider in the training division, and I had an early ride time. We had a pretty good dressage test, and received a score of 34.

After dressage we took care of our horses, ate lunch and walked the cross country course a couple of times. Then, we tucked the horses in for the night and headed to dinner.

We got an early start Saturday, and Moon had a pretty good cross country warm up, so we were ready to go. At least I thought we were. What I didn't know is that Moon has a phobia of teepees. There were three big teepees around the third and fourth jumps. We had one refusal on the third jump and three more at the fourth, so, we were eliminated. I really can't blame Moon for worrying about those teepees. The wind was blowing really hard, making the teepees sides ripple.

Fortunatetly the TD judge allowed us to still ride in stadium on Sunday, and we had a good ride. Moon didn't hesitate at all. Good thing there were no teepees in the stadium arena!

The forecast was for bad weather, and it was cold, but the rain didn't start until exactly the minute the last rider in the last division finished riding. Then it started coming down and we got rained on while we packed up the trailer.

We flew home that night and got out of the bad weather. Moon had to drive but I gave him lots of love and treats when he got home.

Moon gets hugs and kisses.

This was the little mouse outside Moon's stall. I wonder if they became friends.

Look at Moon's braids. Aren't they pretty?

Here we are warming up for dressage, the first to ride in our division.

Warming up for cross country, with Kestas, my trainer looking on.

Moon and his buddy Gatsby, just before stadium.

Here's a few thumbnails. I'll post bigger pics when I get them.

Coconino was definately my favorite show this year, (well actually it was two shows.)

We left on a Wednesday, in the afternoon and drove to the middle of nowhere. We stayed in little cabins that night and there were pastures for the horses. It was really hectic trying to unload the horses at midnight, but we got everyone settled in and went to bed.

We woke up the next morning at seven, loaded up and finished the drive to Coconino. When we got there we found our stalls and set up everything for the show. Then we went back to the campground and set up our tents.

The next day was the schooling jumper rounds. My warm up was bad and I fell off. Moon hadn't been jumped for two weeks because he had an abscess on his foot. His foot was better, but he was crazy.
When we went in to do our jumper rounds it started pouring and thundering and I fell off again! I think my saddle got some water dammage!

The next day was dressage and stadium. We got a 35 on our dresssage test, and we had a much better stadium than the day before, with just one refusal. I was in 7th place at the end of the day. The next day was x-country and we had a perfect pace and a clean round. That was our last novice show.

During the week between shows we schooled the x-country course and worked on our dressage.

At the second show we got a dressage score of 33. Saturday was x-country. We had one stop but the rest was good. Moon was excited to go training. He likes the bigger jumps! Moon was the smallest horse in the training division, and he was proud of it!

Stadium was on Sunday. We had one rail and the rest was clean. I came in at 9th place and I was happy we had finished our first training show.

I can't wait to go to Coconino next year! I should have pics in a few weeks, I'll post them when I get them.

Here's a few jumps from the course at the next two shows, and the cross country course map. This course looks great! I hope Moon likes it!

Well, this week I leave for two weeks for two out of state shows, so I won't be able to post anything while I'm gone. Right now I'm busy packing and getting ready to be gone for a while. Here's a few more photos of my last show. I'll have lots to tell about when I get back.

Here's a stadium jump. Like I said before, stadium wasn't our best this year, but this jump rode really well.

Here's Moon impressing the judges in dressage!

Here's the scary brush box. I thought there would be more brush, this is more like a twig box.

Here are some photos from the show last weekend.

Moon and me warming up for dressage.

Here's the parachute flying over Moon and me during our dressage test. Moon didn't even notice it.

Here's Moon in his stall and all of our stuff!

Here's Moon taking a moment to think about how naughty he's going to be during our stadium.

Here's Moon and me warming up for x-country.

My favorite show this year was High Prairie. It took place this fall. My trainer left with Moon and the other horses on Wednesday. They had a long drive to Colorado. I got the good end of the deal. I flew, with some other girls who were going to the show. When we got there I checked on Moon. He looked dead. He was laying in his stall with his tongue sticking out. I think he was really tired from the drive. I asked my trainer if he was ok and she said that he was fine.

After checking on our horses we set up our tack room in one of the empty stalls. Then we tacked up and practiced dressage. I could tell Moon was tired but he was still good. After that we hosed off our horses because it was really hot. Then we braided manes. The dreaded braiding. Let's just say that Moon doesn't love having his mane touched. Then we fed our horses and put them away for the night and went to get dinner ourselves.

We were all surprised that we were staying in such a nice hotel. In the past we've often camped out while we were at shows, but this time we had a luxurious hotel, although the second our heads hit our pillows we all went right to sleep.

We got up the next morning at 6:00, ate and went to feed and grain the horses. Dressage started early that day so we had to get ready. As I was entering the arena the organizers commented on how cute Moon was, but he already knows how handsome he is. I thought my dressage went well but I couldn't stop thinking about the newly built cross country course that I got to ride the next day. I love the new course!

I was so nervous, but Moon knows his job. I think he loves cross country. We had a great round, but we had to get ready for stadium the next day.

Stadium was on Sunday, the last day of the show. Again, Moon knows his job, and we had a clean round, and I think Moon was proud to show off his mad jumping skills and also happy to be done with the show. After stadium we all packed up, which is always a big job, but everyone helps out. The horses started the long drive home, and we headed for the airport. We slept on the flight home and were still tired the next morning, but were so happy we'd had such a great show.

Unfortunately we all had school that day and after school we all unpacked the trailer and gave our horses lots of treats and love. I'm so happy that my trainer is so good at what she does and takes us to these amazing shows.