Well that was an adventure

Definitely more so than I thought it was going to be! Saturday was the Millarville Fair and I was running horribly late. We were scheduled to ride at 12:00 and as I made the turn to the fairgrounds it was 11:25. I thought to myself "ok I can tack up and get dressed quickly, not a problem". That was until I saw the HUGE lineup of traffic heading into the fair grounds. There was no way I was going to make it....

I was muttering to myself that I could probably ride there faster than waiting in this traffic jam.....That's when I developed "Plan B". I turned into the nearest driveway and ran to the house to ask if it would be ok if I parked my trailer there for a few hours. Luckily it was. I hurriedly tacked up & got changed, clambered on and we were off, galloping down the side of the road, passed all of the cars dressed in full sidesaddle attire towards the fair grounds. It must have been quite the sight! There was a lot of people taking pictures as I went zipping by.

But I made it in there on time!! PHEW!!! Luckily Brigit has been living with a donkey and a llama because there was a whole herd of llama's ahead of us in the parade and she didn't give them a second glance. She was really really good considering how much was going on.

I've decided I've either got to get a different hat to go with my linen outfit or figure out a way to secure it to my head better. It likes to act like a sail and blow off my head when we're going faster than a walk, hence why I spent a good part of the time with my reins and whip in one hand and the other hand on top of my head!

It was a lot of fun though, I'm sure we'll be going again next year!




It was such a neat fair, they have lots of the traditional judged events and the farmer's market was on too. I unfortunately don't have any pictures of that as my camera was back at the truck.

We were lucky enough to get a ride back to the horse trailer too! Which was nice because I was tired and I'm sure Brigit was too!

Millarville Fair & Flower pictures

We're off to do a sidesaddle demonstration tomorrow at the Millarville Fair! It should be lots of fun. I'm taking my camera so hopefully I can get someone to take a bunch of pictures for me.

The linen outfit was requested but I'm torn, I really really like the purple outfit, it's just so bright and fun! I guess we'll have to see what the weather is like tomorrow. If it's muddy AT ALL, I won't be wearing the linen one!

Hopefully the smoke clears too. They're having a lot of forest fires (300 of them!) in British Columbia and all of the smoke has blown over to Alberta. It's SO hazy you can't even see the sun. Very weird.

How about some pictures of the gorgeous lillies that are blooming in my garden right now? (Taken a few days ago before the smoke blew in)

Another fun show day

A friend and I went to a little local show yesterday. It was so fun! Really friendly, well run and just a great time all around.

Brigit and I won the english pleasure, english equitation and hunter over fences classes, we got 4th in the pleasure pairs class and then we swapped attire & tack for the costume class. I just couldn't resist breaking out the sidesaddle and fancy purple outfit again! We got 3rd in that class.

As we were leaving the ring I asked the judge if I could do the next class sidesaddle too. It was a "command class". Basically a show version of "simon says". They tell you to do something and if you don't do it or are the last person to do it, you get called into the middle. The last person on the rail wins. I figured I wouldn't have a chance in heck but thought it'd be fun anyways. It was a pretty big class with lots of people, some riding english & some western and then me sidesaddle! There was some pretty fancy western pleasure horses that I figured would take it for sure buuuut we ended up winning it!!! Brigit was soooo good!

It was so fun to answer everyone's questions about the saddle and riding sidesaddle. There was a group of pony club girls that were fascinated by it and kept asking how I kept my butt on it!

Poor little Winston was soooo tired after being at the show all day, he had a snooze on the way home.

Look at this face!

Isn't he cute? This is Winston, our neighbor's bulldog puppy. We're looking after him until Monday night while she's gone on holidays.

I am absolutely loving my new job and one of the perks is that he's sitting here in my office right now! They're ok with me bringing him in to hang out. He's way too excited with all of the people and attention he's getting; I'm sure he'll be a tired pup by the end of the day!

Bar U Ranch Sidesaddle Clinic 2010

We had a great time yet again this year! There was 8 participants including myself, I was actually quite shocked that the clinic wasn't totally full. I guess there aren't that many people that are wanting to try it.

Anyways, saturday we had our lessons and did some touring around the ranch. It was a gorgeous day with a nice breeze and no bugs! Last year the horse flies were terrible.


So I decided since it was such a nice day, I'd break out my linen habit. It turned out so well and it was soooooo much cooler! The material breathes so well. I think I need to find a different hat though.

As you can see Brigit wasn't too impressed about having to stand.


Overnight the clouds blew in and it started to rain. We all did our lessons in long slickers to help keep us and our saddles dry. It was very wet but we still had fun!

It rained most of the morning and we almost cancelled our parade around the site. Nobody wanted to get their expensive clothes soaking wet. Luckily around 1:00 the clouds cleared up and we were able to get dressed up in our finery and go for a tour of the ranch. This was also the first chance I've had to wear my fancy purple & burgundy outfit. I think it's my favorite!




After touring the ranch we went back to the arena and did our quadrille. We were pleased to see that there was actually a fairly decent crowd in the stands that had come to watch. We didn't think there would be anybody with the way the weather had been in the morning. It went really well, nobody forgot where they were going (aka me!). I changed into my blue outfit for the quadrille.


And here's the whole group at the end of the day.


If anybody sends me some other pictures I'll upload those as well. I know there was lots of people taking pics so hopefully there will be some more good ones!

First horseshow in a loooong time!

I haven't actually entered in a horse show in quite awhile. Mostly because I find them too expensive and just not that fun. That's part of why I started riding sidesaddle it's something different and really fun.

Anyways, I was going to try and ride sidesaddle in a couple of the flat classes however the Alberta Equestrian Federation has changed it's rules and you can't show sidesaddle in their shows anymore. Oh well.

We had fun though, it was a great show, really relaxed atmosphere and really well run. We did great too! We got 2nd place in almost every class except for one 3rd place and nothing in halter (we stink at line classes though! lol).

All I've got is one picture thus far, so here ya go. I bought the jacket a couple of years ago because I loved the color and it was on sale, this is the first time I've been able to wear it.

Soooo sorry!

It's been forever since I've had a chance to update my blog. The company I was working with blocked access to any blogs so I couldn't update it during the day. I've been so busy with my trip to England & Scotland, changing jobs etc. that I didn't get a chance to update it at home.

There are lots of things to share but I think it might have to wait until after the weekend.

For a bit of a teaser, we did our 2 week tour of England & Scotland and it was AMAZING!!! We had a great time and saw so much!

I finished a new riding habit, it's linen with a really nice floral cotton lining! I had a lady do the jacket for me as I just didn't have time but I did the apron ALL by myself! I'm pretty darned impressed! But you'll have to wait for pictures!

I'm off to the annual sidesaddle clinic at the Bar U Ranch in Longview, Alberta this weekend where I hope to show off my new habit. We're performing a quadrille on sunday which should be something to watch as well!

Have a great weekend and look for an update on monday!