The wee sidesaddle!

I finally have a sidesaddle small enough to fit my lesson kids. I figured why not? They are definitely VERY hard to find. Let me tell you, this little saddle is just adorable! When I opened the box and pulled it out it was definitely an "Awww!" moment. I believe the seat measures 18" from the front of the leaping horn to the back of the seat and I thought to myself "Well it can't be *that* small, it's only 4" shorter than my saddle".
Yes, yes it can be! It's almost a miniature version of my saddle.

And of course the first thing I had to do was strap it to a horse and test it out... Well I gues *I* didn't get to test it out but one of my little lesson girls did. And surprisingly, to fit this big guy, it only took a 56" girth, with an extender and a stirrup leather to make the overgirth reach around his belly.

She was an absolute natural! They were both motoring around the arena in no time at all, trotting, leg yielding, weaving around some pylons. I have to say, for a little tiny saddle, it rides very nicely and stayed put quite well.

I said to her at the end of her lesson "So next week, you can decide if you'd like to ride in your regular sidesaddle or the little one." and she shouted "SIDESADDLE!!!". I'd say I've got another one hooked.... LOL

Or.....maybe not....

I'm rethinking my big dreams of trying 1st level. Lets just say that schooling hasn't been going very well since our "lightbulb" day.

A few issues that I've run into this week include:

- Mare has decided that she enjoys the "lengthened" portions of the test a little too much... meaning it's REALLY hard to quietly come back down to a working gait.

- Mare has decided she is NOT a fan of that darned magical whip. I am having issues managing my reins and the whip and it seems every time I go to shorten my reins, the whip wiggles a little and then our relaxation goes out to the window and falls into a heap of locked jaw.

- Mare now thinks that we should always lengthen across the diagonal which results in very poor transitions from trot to canter at "X". Darn that locked jaw again!

- The canter loop is a complete disaster. Who would think coming off the wall to the quarter line and back to the wall would be so difficult but apparently according to "The Mare" we must try for multiple flying changes (Hmm... Maybe one day we *could* do tempi changes!?!) the one direction or fall apart into a discombobulated trot the other way.

LOL Oh the fun of moving up a level! I'm thinking we might be better off sticking with what we know! LOL

The Magical Stick.... First level here we come??

So since the Championships I was thinking to myself, would I continue to do some dressage next year? Or was this just a fun thing to do for this year? I really enjoyed the dressage shows, everyone was incredibly friendly and I just had a lot of fun.
The one thing that kept sticking in my mind was that we'd absolutely have to move up a level if we continued next year because... that's how it works. So I began reading through the 1st level tests and realized that the main difference between training and 1st is the addition of lengthened gaits and leg yielding. The lengthening didn't seem to be too much of an issue, we could do that and a leg yield to the right we could do, but what about the leg yield to the left.... Nah we'd never be able to do 1st level. I had tried it a few times with a dressage whip but it just didn't work, it wasn't stiff enough to actually ask her to move over.

There's a schooling show coming up this weekend that was I planning to take some of my lesson kids to and I was mulling over the idea of trying a 1st level test to see if we could somewhat get ourselves through it.

Now I must have the most supportive family when it comes to showing and this whole sidesaddle business because my mom gave me an early Christmas present the other day. She gave me an absolutely gorgeous sidesaddle whip. It's MUCH longer than than the hunt whips I've got and perfect for dressage.
I tried it out last night and I swear, this stick is magical!! I played around at the walk and trot to start with, so I could get used to riding with it and so Brigit could get used to it being there and then we tried a leg yield to the left and I swear, that horse has never leg yielded so well in all the time I've had her!! Down the quarter line we came, opened the left rein a bit and laid the stick against her belly and we had this amazing lateral feeling. Normally her hind end lags a little bit but with this whip in just the right spot you could feel everything engage and almost swing over underneath you. What a neat, lightbulb moment!

Now don't get me wrong, I know I'm in for a lot more work if we want to do 1st level and do it well but this is definitely a promising start!! I think the biggest challenge is going to be getting Brigit to relax when I'm riding with a whip.... she really doesn't like them and is so sensitive that if she even sees it move out of the corner of her eye she thinks it's time to move....Which could make that stretchy trot circle even more tricky to get.. I found the most difficult part was keeping it still at the canter; normally I'd rest it on my leg if I was astride but aside, it's really got nowhere to go. It'll probably just take a bunch of riding to get both of us used to it and desensitized a bit.

Not only is it magical.... but it's awfully pretty too!

One of these days I'll get a video of the infamous leg yielding to share too!

And I guess if I didn't officially have a collection of antique whips before.... I sure do now! I guess if I'm down to *only* 2 sidesaddles then it's ok to collect something else... hehe

Our hunter-jumper re-debut!

I say re-debut because we used to show hunter-jumpers but now we're trying it in a sidesaddle!

I have to say I was SO pleased with Brigit. I warmed her up astride because I thought she might get a bit looky at some of the decorations (it was full blown Christmas in the ring!) and I thought it would be better to get her settled with a leg on each side first. She was SO quiet and SO good I could hardly believe it. No spooks, no speedy-ness, no rushing or pulling on me. Just a nice soft easy going pony.

Went back and changed tack and I changed into my sidesaddle attire (which I was up till 11:30 pm finishing!) and back into the ring we went! Boy were a lot of people VERY surprised to see me riding sidesaddle and I got a lot of "You're not going to JUMP like that are you?!?!"... You betcha!!
Warming up in our fancy Christmas outfit...

Let me tell you I was so nervous I thought I was going to throw up. We went in and did a few warmup jumps and everything went really smoothly so my nerves settled down a bit. My next fear.... forgetting the course! But thank goodness for the hunter world.... Love their easy to remember, flowing courses. Quarterline, diagonal, outside line, diagonal, outside line and DONE.

Our first division was the 2'0" classes. The course rode really nicely and I thought we nailed every jump except one. Boy was this TIRING though! My leg was aching already after one round! 3 more to go and 2 flat classes!

We made it around the courses and had a really fun time. I was pretty proud of myself that we'd survived and actually made it look not too bad! And we'd placed in every class! We ended up with two 3rd's, a 4th, two 6th's and an 8th. Definitely not too shabby at all! The classes were fairly big and the riders were very good. You could tell most of them are pretty serious hunter riders, so I think we did well considering we were really just kind of winging it.

This is a video of one of our 2'3" rounds... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2u8BCBy1RwU

The owner of the barn we were at (who's on the Canadian Equestrian Team) was helping to hand out ribbons on the last division and was so impressed that we had jumped sidesaddle! He asked if we'd be showing in any other classes as he'd really like to see it (didn't get to see our previous rounds). I said I wasn't too sure, I was getting pretty tired and Brigit was too. Plus we hadn't jumped 2'6" sidesaddle. I figured I'd try a few warmup jumps and they went well... So I figured what the heck, why not. Well.... we probably shouldn't have... it was not a good round. I think my right leg was just too tired and for the life of me I couldn't find a nice distance to any of the fences, nor could I stay with the motion. There was a few times I thought I was going to get ejected! We made it around the course but let me tell you... it wasn't pretty. The barn owner was still pretty impressed though and offered to let us do another round but I declined, I was just too tired.

From looking at some of the photos, I can see that I definitely need to fix my position. It appears that I'm tipping over to the left over the fences, so no wonder I was feeling like I was nearly getting chucked out of the saddle on the landing. Hopefully with more practice and awareness that I'm doing it, I can fix it. At this point... I sure can't imagine going any higher (though I'd LOVE to!). There has to be something I'm doing or not doing quite right that's holding me back.... hmm..... A new challenge to conquer!
This is the photo that shows me tipping to the left badly!

Into orbit we go! Well...hopefully not anyways!

So tomorrow is the big day. It's our first official "hunter-jumper" over fences show....sidesaddle.

I think I'm prepared.... at least I hope I am! I jumped again last night and things seemed to be going really well, so hopefully when we get to the show we can pull off a few nice rounds (or at the very least, not make a gigantic idiot out of ourselves lol).

I even tried out my new apron last night.... Yes that's what I've been making with all that fancy fabric. A Christmas sidesaddle outfit. Apron, vest & stock tie. I was really impressed by how well the apron fit & it hangs just about perfectly level, pretty good for my second try at making one!

The stock tie took me awhile to figure out how to tie the darned thing (probably longer than it took me to make it), I've only ever had the fake, pre-tied ones. I sat in the bathroom, in front of the mirror with my laptop on the counter, trying to follow along with the a youtube video. It was a bit funny but I think I've got it down pat now! (btw, these are extremely easy to make).
Here's the video if anyone wants to learn how to tie a proper stock.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9-ypyBARQU

Tonight will be a busy one with all of the prep... Ride, bath Brigit, clean tack, swap bits to different bridles, clean boots, iron clothes, make sure everything is in the trailer and hopefully get some sleep!

Oh and I've got to finish my vest... Turns out the sizing on the package of the pattern and the sizing on the actual pattern itself... were different. i.e. the vest is MUCH too big for me and needs some major alterations. Just hoping I can get it done tonight!!

I dunno about this....

Hmmm.... So I'm supposed to go to a show this weekend, dressage on Saturday (eeek more new tests to remember!) and some hunter stuff on Sunday. They have some smaller classes (X-rails, 2' and 2'3") that I was thinking I might attempt sidesaddle. I'm excited but nervous at the same time! I think we've got this jumping business down pat and we had a really nice ride tonight, including some jumps and such but I can definitely feel a crick in my back after riding! Lets hope I don't feel like I've been hit by a bus after this weekend! lol

Few more days to practice, so hopefully we can wing it and have some fun!

Introducing.....

The newest member of my "herd", well I guess I only have 2 at the moment so it's just a pair.
This is Rain (not sure I'm sold on her name...), she's a 15.2 HH Appendix mare, 4 years old and has just the BEST mind ever. She's so quiet and fun to ride.

A friend rode her a few weeks ago and told me about this fantastic horse I just had to take a look at. So this weekend I went and rode her on one of the hunts. We do have a hunt club up here but they're just mock hunts for fun. At first I was a little cautious because after all, this is only a 4 year old that I've never ridden before. But she was great! She just loped along and by the time we hit the halfway point of the ride we were jumping everything! She's a very honest and fun horse to jump. Doesn't pull or get hot at all.

I had so much fun on her that I thought she just had to come home with me. She definitely has the potential to be the next sidesaddle horse!

It was such a gorgeous day to be out riding in the foothills, the mountains had fresh snow on them and the temperature was perfect.

Can't wait to ride her again tonight!

Pics from Provincials!

Here are some more pictures of us in action at the Championships! Thanks again for all the congrats & nice comments everyone! I love sharing this stuff with you guys!

(The squarest halt we've ever had.... All thanks to a "dip" right at X! LOL)

So nervous.....

Thursday & Friday we're off to the Provincial Dressage Championships and on Saturday/Sunday we're riding at the Western Canadian Regional Dressage Championships.
I'm really nervous because we haven't been having any good rides lately. The simplest things (astride or aside) have felt like a battle to accomplish. For some reason everything is scary and results in breaking gait, counter bend and just overall rotten rides.
I have the chiropractor coming out tomorrow and I'm sure hoping maybe a miracle will happen and we can get back on track and put in some good rides this weekend.
How exciting would that be to do well at the Provincial or Regional level, riding sidesaddle?

Wish us LOTS of luck! I think we're going to need it!!

Another successful show aside! Updated with a video link!

We went to another show today and did the Training level tests 2 & 3. Brigit was really settled & calm and behaved really well.

We only had one hiccup in the first test (test 2) - in our poor attempt at a stretchy circle, we broke into a canter accidently, the judge gave us a "4".... Ooops! I think that's the worst mark I've gotten on a movement thus far. We still managed to score 69% and get 2nd place out of 14 people though! Just imagine if we would have been more successful on that movement!

Test 3 we nailed that stretchy circle and got an "8" on it (Boo yah! lol) and I felt like the test overall went WAY better than the first one, it was smooth, consistent and I thought our transitions were pretty bang on. However I guess it didn't look like it to the judge! We got 3rd place and a 68%. Still really good considering there was 16 people in the class. She commented a bunch of times that Brigit's poll was too low, which she does tend to do a lot, mostly when she's upset. But I really didn't think she looked or felt that bad. Ah well! I'm still really happy with our ride!

Here's the video from our 2nd test today, what do you think? (Also, Robin if you're reading this, any thoughts on the poll too low thing? How can I fix/improve that?)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMJA_mo8rHg

We got lots of nice compliments on our turnout, I'm so glad the weather was a decent temperature, not too warm & with a nice breeze. I was still pretty hot in the wool habit with the wool vest underneat but hey, the price of lookin good!

Exciting news & pro pictures!

I've really had nothing too interesting to post about lately (I'm sure you're sick of hearing about my gigantic tomato plants haha) hence my slight break in posts.

We ordered some pictures from the photographer at the dressage show we went to and they finally came! Her pictures are SO much better than the ones my camera took. Wish I hadn't had such goofy faces in so many though! LOL

This is my favorite.

Our attempt at a stretchy trot, doesn't look all too bad but we can do sooooo much better! (Think western pleasure pony with nose almost to the ground)

There must have been something scary in the distance, it's really hard to get a pic with B's ears forward!

I wish I didn't look so grouchy!

This one is really cool & very artsy! Just love how all the colors are so rich.

Now onto the exciting news!! My scores were good enough from that show, to qualify me for the Alberta Provicial Dressage Championships ANNNND the Western Canadian Regional Dressage Championships!! I'm really excited, this is really further than I've ever made it in terms of riding, it's a big accomplishment for me. When I did the hunter & jumper thing, I did so/so but didn't put this much effort into it and it's really paying off. So of course, this is an opportunity not to be passed up! I'll be saving my pennies and practicing my tests! I hope we can do just as well as we have thus far! The championships are on September 15-18.

The Calgary Stampede!

Well we survived and had a great time!

The day started out by POURING rain, I was glad I had the wool habits now! On my way to the Stampede grounds I got cut off on the freeway and missed the turn-off I was supposed to take. I got turned around and managed to get back to where I needed to be on time. By the time I got into Calgary the rain had stopped and it was nice out.

It was really neat going in the back entrance and getting to see all the behind the scenes stuff. I got a pass with my picture on it (that gets me into anywhere!) and I drove past hundreds of trailers, motor homes and the barns full of the chuckwagon horses. Twice I got directed into the wrong area and had to back the trailer up (eeek!) but I managed it with no issues! Good thing I've gotten some practice! I ended up parking right next to the area where all the singers have their giant, fancy motorhomes.

I got tacked up & dressed and we headed over to the arena. I have to say, I think my tweed habit is my new favorite! I got a new green tie & shirt with a collar, I think it looks a lot better than a stock tie and from reading one of the other blogs, it also wasn't correct! Brigit was a tad lookie at things to start with but soon she was taking it all in stride. There was a LOT going on. We were right next to a bunch of draft horses with wagons and the military tanks plus lots of people, kids & strollers. Not to mention the donkeys & mules with their carts & wagons were in behind me.

We had a great demo and showed off our stuff while the announcer read a script I wrote. Brigit was fantastic! They set up a little jump for us and boy did that open some eyes! I think we've finally got this jumping aside business figured out! We went over it a bunch of times (carefully because the footing was really deep & wet) and the crowd really enjoyed it. Afterwards we had some fun answering questions. Brigit even let a whole bunch of kids climb up on the fence and pet her (normally she's not too sure what to think of wee people). I was really pleased with her.

The cutest comment came from a little girl who was quite concerned when she saw me ride in, she asked her mom "Did that lady break her leg?". Too funny!

People of all ages came over and were just fascinated. It was really fun! We even had some people there for the cutting competition from Texas come over and ask to take photos. I have to say, riding sidesaddle seems to be the ultimate ice-breaker!

Calgary Stampede tomorrow!

I'm getting everything ready to head to the Stampede tomorrow. Little bit nervous about taking the truck & trailer into the heart of Calgary but I'm sure I'll manage.

I'm doing a sidesaddle demo at 1pm tomorrow, wish me luck! Bought a new shirt & tie to go with the tweed habit and some more hair nets (not sure where all of mine went?!?!). Think I should be good to go in the morning!

Wish me luck!

The one & only galloping picture

That I have from the race on July 1st. I found a photographer that had taken it and he graciously agreed to let me have a copy to share. All photo credits go to James Tworow.

You can tell we were really flying!

Another fantastic show!!!

Boy do I feel like we are on a roll!

I did get my new habits in time for the show. Although it invovled me driving an hour down to the distribution centre because they "Don't ship to a PO box", which would have been great to know prior to using them for shipping! But oh well. I got them and they are absolutely GORGEOUS!!! I really couldn't be more pleased. The quality of the materials and the workmanship are just amazing. The navy habit fits so much better than my previous one does and the tweed is just to die for!

If anyone is interested, I HIGHLY recommend Trish Daly at Showtime Supplies for any of your show needs. http://www.showtimesupplies.co.uk/side-saddle.html Her prices are reasonable and she went above & beyond!

Anyways on to the show!

I was entered in 3 jumping divisions but only got to compete in one because they ran later than planned and ended up going at the same time as the flat classes. We really didn't have the best rounds so I decided we'd just scratch out of the rest and do the flat classes inside. I was surprised that we got a 1st and 2nd place in the jumping division we were in because we were a tad rushy through the whole thing.

Perhaps Brigit just wanted more of a challenge! lol

We had to do hunt seat equitation astride, which we got 3rd place in. We absolutely nailed out pattern except I looked down for my diagonals and the judge dinged me for it.

Then we did a quick swap to our sidesaddle gear and tried out the new navy habit! It fit so nicely! But BOY was I ever HOT! The wool sure takes some getting used to!

We did Road Hack, Show Hack, Low Hunter Hack, English Pleasure, Ladies Sidesaddle and Pleasure Pairs. We were definitely having an "on" day because we won everything but English Pleasure where we got 2nd place! We were getting all of our transitions quickly and nicely and everything just seemed to fall into place!

(I really need to get the hem in the navy apron lengthened because it was too short and you could see my right foot most of the time.)

I changed into my tweed habit for Low Hunter Hack and English Pleasure but unfortunately don't have any pictures of it yet. The hunter hack class was so much fun! Now I really want to do more jumping aside!

It's too bad these two pictures were blurry! They'd be good ones!

Brigit really HATES standing in the lineup though. At the end of one class she refused to stand still and just kept shaking her head.
This is what Brigit thinks of having to stand still... lol

In total we came home with 6 - 1sts, 2 - 2nd's, a third and we earned our entry fees back and then some! Definitely a good day's work!

Millarville Races 2011! The ladies sidesaddle race

Friday July 1st was Canada Day here and I trucked down to a little hamlet called Millarville. They've been having horse races there for 106 years and this year they decided to include a ladies sidesaddle race to celebrate the tradition & history of the races.

We had an absolute blast! Everyone got dressed right up (I spent HOURS ironing my darned linen habit...but it was worth it!) and we paraded around the grounds until it was time for us to go.

All of us ladies dressed up for a group photo.

There was a lot of people and the weather was perfect. After singing of the national anthem and a musical ride, it was our turn.

And we're off to do our "post parade" past the crowd.

This pony is an absolute star! Love him!

The official race was originally meant to be a gaited horse race but seeing that only one person brought a gaited horse, they changed it to a 350 yard trot race. Some of the ladies were on younger/newer horses and they weren't too sure about going full out. We did our parade past the grandstand and then it was back to the start line. Well off we went but Brigit would NOT trot!! I tried absolutely everything to get her to trot, to no avail. We cantered sideways with our head tucked to our chest and did everything BUT trot. We ended up 3rd though and we even got a little trophy!

On our way back to the start line. Eddie & Brigit make such a cute pair and he sure doesn't have any trouble keeping up with Brigit's long legs!

Back to the start line to get ready to go.

And we're off!

I have to say the best part was after the "official" race, one of the other gals and I decided to stage a second "unofficial" race. We turned around and let our horses fly, galloping full tilt back past the grandstand with the crowd cheering! We definitely caught everyone by surprise! It was so much fun. I think Brigit thoroughly enjoyed herself too. (I'm also happy to say my new, slightly smaller, hat didn't blow off!)

I laughed when my friend's mother commented on the video of us galloping, she said "You two girls just can't go out in public, can you?! The challenge was to be ladylike for less than an hour and next thing we know...." (meant in a joking manner of course).

I'm working on getting the video of us galloping so I can share it on my blog., I just don't have it.... yet! I'm hoping I can get some more pictures too!

Things are about to get BUSY!!

Sorry for the lack of posts lately, I've just been running here, there & everywhere and keep forgetting to post something.

We're running summer courses at the college and I'm teaching Pony Club two days a week and lessons at the barn I board at on Mondays (just had a few more students sign up too!) and trying to cram a ride in on Brigit here and there! I sure don't feel like I've been consistent at all with her lately.

Tomorrow we're off to a show, luckily it's really close to home. I emailed the show secretary to ask if they had a problem with me riding sidesaddle and they said I could with the exception of the equitation class, which is pretty standard. Ideally I'd like to be able to ride most of the classes sidesaddle but it might involve a major panic tack/dress change! Pleasure is first, followed by a bunch of classes where I'll have a chance to change to English tack for equitation. Then there is another pleasure class & show hack right back to back with the equitation, so I'm not sure if I'd have time to switch back to sidesaddle or not, even though I'd love to. Guess we'll have to play that one as it goes.

Next weekend is a big dressage show that I was asked to do a demo during their Gala evening. I've got another sidesaddle rider coming to join me so it should be really good! I figured since I did so well at that last dressage show and since I was already going to be there, I might as well enter into the training level tests again. I really need to get riding and riding sidesaddle as I haven't done it in weeks! Plus now I have to remember two more tests! EEEEK!!! I'd much prefer to memorize them and do them myself but I may enlist the help of a reader so I don't screw up! I'm super excited for this though! A friend is going to be my groom and I'm going to groom for her as she's doing the 4th level tests. Plus one of my Pony Club students will be there doing the FEI Children's Freestyle. She's an awesome little rider and usually cleans up at shows! The best part is she rides a little grade QH mare and beats all the fancy scmancy warmbloods! That is bragging rights right there!!!

July 1st is a friday and it's Canada Day. I'll be going down to the Millarville Race Track. They are celebrating their 105th anniversary of racing and are going to have a ladies sidesaddle race! It should be fun....although we're only supposed to trot.... Time to break out the sports bra! LOL

July 9 & 10 is the Didsbury Horse Show which should be a really fun one! They have some hunter & jumper classes and all kinds of flat classes PLUS they've added a ladies sidesaddle class!! Very excited for this one! (My new habits should be here too!) I asked the show secretary about riding sidesaddle and again, I can ride in anything I'd like except for equitation. I even entered in the 18" hunter hack class, why not! I've harassed as many ladies as I can to come to the sidesaddle class so we have a good turnout, I think we will....hopefully!! Caitlin & her pony Eddie are coming up for sure and in addition to the sidesaddle class, her and I are going to do the pairs class sidesaddle. Won't that look smashing; two chestnuts (one big & one small) and two ladies dressed to the nines?

After that weekend is the Calgary Stampede, which I've been invited to come & ride at and do a few demo's. We'll be there on Wednesday and on Sunday. (Saturday is a friend's wedding and I have to make their wedding cake! lol)

After that things slow down for awhile (thank goodness!!), I'm sure looking forward to it all but I know I'm probably doing a tad too much! No rest for the wicked!

A schooling roadblock....Urgh.

I guess it's my turn to have a riding roadblock and be incredibly frustrated. Yesterday was gorgeous outside, Brigit had her feet trimmed and then I decided to ride outside in her paddock since it's finally dried up. She was really really good outside but I could tell the footing still wasn't quite up to snuff so we went inside to finish up...... Which resulted in a pretty good battle.

Everything was suddenly a big deal to my silly red headed mare. The scary ray of light peaking through the door that she had to try and leap over, the stuff in the corner we had to spook at, the noise the other horse made that made her scoot forward.... Then she started to get upset with anything I did. If I moved my leg AT ALL, she scooted forward. If I tried to adjust my reins at all, she would throw her head up and get all discombobulated. If I tried to half halt to slow her down a touch, her head would go up or she'd suck her nose to her chest and just run right through me. I finally resorted to walk/halt transitions until she could do them relatively settled and we quit.

What the heck?!?!?!

I sure hope tomorrow's ride is better.... urgh.

The Mane Event 2011

I'm back and I survived! Actually I did more than just survive, I had a great time! But I'm not going to lie, I was exhaused last night!

Thursday evening involved a lot of this...

But our booth was looking pretty good when we were done. Now to wait for everyone else to arrive with their saddles.

Friday morning I got up good & early (watched a few royal wedding highlights of course!), went to the barn and decided against giving Brigit a full bath. It was ROTTEN outside, rain which turned to snow a little later on. Poor Brigit was soaked and shaking when I brought her in. So I just washed her legs with warm water and left her to dry in a stall with a nice pile of hay. Ran home to pack & finish ironing and then we were back to the barn to grab Brigit and my tack and we were off!

The Expo opened at 11:00 am so we had to be there before then to finish getting the booth set up. I was initially worried that we wouldn't have enough stuff for our booth but it ended up turning out really well, don't you think?

The two lovely ladies in this pic are Betty-Lynn and Amanda. I really don't think I could have pulled this off without them! Betty-Lynn makes sidesaddles and Amanda is a newcomer to the world of riding aside. We had saddles dating back to the 1700's.... Now that I think of it... Why didn't I take more photos of the saddles!! Darn.

Actually, after looking at the photos my camera took, I'm going to be purchasing a new camera very soon. This one seems to be wearing out and as you'll notice, most pictures are out of focus. How frustrating!

Anyways, we had a lot of fun answering questions and showing people what an apron was and how we wore it. It was great to have a saddle for people to try sitting in. We started a tally sheet on friday to count how many people tried sitting in the saddle. I believe we ended up with well over 200 people and probably 1/4 of those (ok maybe a tiny bit less) were men!

Friday involved a LOT of running around here and there to grab things we'd forgotten, man the booth and in the afternoon Betty-Lynn (who did the talking), Charis and I (we did the riding) had a demonstration in the round pen. I wasn't sure what Brigit would think of it but she did well.
On our way to the demo a friend of mine snapped this pic.

Betty-Lynn brought a bunch of saddles over to the round pen to use them in her talk about the progression of sidesaddles.

Then it was back to the barn to untack, change and man the booth some more. I have to say, I wish the hours weren't quite as late, we were exhausted by the end of each day. Friday the tradeshow ended at 9pm, Saturday at 8pm and Sunday at 6pm. All that time and we barely even got to do any shopping! (ok I did some... hellooooo plaid breeches! hehe). I think I watched maybe 5 minutes of the Greg Best clinic, wish I could have seen more!

Saturday was another busy day but we had reinforcements come in!

From left to right is Jim, me, Betty-Lynn, Lee, Karen and Caitlin. Missing from the photo is Matt (our picture taker), Charis and Holly.

There was so many people on saturday! I couldn't get over how busy it was. On one of my trips in and out, I walked by a booth that had gloves for 50% off. I've been looking for a pair of nice brown gloves for FOREVER and finally found some here! What a deal!

In the afternoon we had another demo but this time it was in the big ring. Lee had done a write up and she graciously read it while we rode. Betty-Lynn let me wear her black habit, isn't it nice?

Here we are, headed for our afternoon demo. Charis on Peppy, Caitlin on Eddie and me on Brigit.

Pardon the blurry pics, I'm so annoyed with my camera! I hope some better pics turn up.
Caitlin went in her western outfit.

Charis rode in her queen's outfit.

And me in the black formal habit.

We tried to add some humor to our demo, so Charis & I rode in, while Caitlin ran in on foot leading her horse. When she went to try to mount by herself, Lee said "Ladies never mount from the ground!", so Caitlin whistled and her boyfriend came running in to put her up. It was definitely a crowd pleaser! We had a lot of fun showing off (especially our leg yields and lead changes). It was so hot in there that we were all out of breath after 8 minutes of riding!

Saturday night we had another demonstration during the "Saturday Night Equine Experience" as they call it. They put on a big show about 1.5 hrs long to show off different horses and ways of riding etc and the stands & floor space is usually packed. There had to be over 1000 people there watching! This was our 3 minutes of fame! It was just Caitlin and I so we devised a bit of a pattern and rode to "The Twist" by Chubby Checker. Everyone was impressed by our flying lead changes and we really got the crowd going when we let our horses gallop around the ring. It was really neat to hear that many people cheering as we raced around!

Unfortunately ALL of the pictures from my camera our evening performance were blurry.

We had so many people come by the booth the next day and comment on how impressed they were and how much they enjoyed watching us ride! I think the funniest comment was from one lady who said "That was really neat to watch... They didn't even look scared!". LOL

I think we did incredibly well for this being our first time having a booth, it definitely caught people's eye and generated a lot of interest.

Sunday we got to sit back and just watch the booth and do a little bit of shopping here and there. It was nice not to have to ride, we were all tuckered right out.