All about horses

This past weekend was all about horses and our little rider. Ella competed in the her first All Horse Show competition at Sienna Stables. She did wonderfully well. She made us so proud and grateful for her and all that we get to experience by being her humble parents. She is one amazing little girl. She was nervous, sweet, looked smart in her show attire, and did great. And she got ribbons for all four divisions she competed in: group walk and trot, individual walk and trot, figure 8, and pole trot.

The days leading to that big day have been so full with excitement and anticipation, lots of practice on and off the horse, and nerves. I have to admit that I had a few butterflies in my stomach the night before and the morning of, as I was doing her hair and realized that my BABY was going to ride on a horse in front of a judge and a bunch of folks. It reminded me a little bit of the nerves I used to have when I would have a piano recital or competitions.

You wouldn't think she was nervous but I tell you, she was!

One the other hand, Hrishi was cool as a cucumber as always!! :)

We were so blessed to have our dearest friend Kalpak, as well as Andrea and Shu who are Ella's biggest supporters. It made this special day even better, just to have their support and companionship. Of course, the entire family in Romania and India cheered for her and wished they could have seen it live.

Going into the arena for warm-up:

So here is how it went down. We got there early to tack and get in the arena for warm-up but instead we just got to take lots of pictures while waiting for Ms. Jackie to be available to tack Jenkins. She had a lot of students competing and apparently they knew someting we didn't, they got there even earlier than we did, ha-ha! :) So our dear Ella only got about five minutes of practice before the actual competition started. If you know her horse, Jenkins, you would know that she likes to take her sweet time, getting warmed up and focused. She did well under the circumstances though.

They started promptly at 8:30 am. The judge and a helper stood in the middle of the arena observing each of the riders as they walked or trotted. Then they went to ask some technical questions about the reins, saddle, bit types, then asked them to walk and trot again, then the figure 8, then the pole trot.

It was serious business out there and all of the little riders did an excellent job.
Here is Ella doing her walk and trot.

She got 2nd, 3rd, 2nd, and 5th places in the four divisions. Jenkins and her would have had a great chance for a 1st place in the last division if Jenkins wouldn't have been tired or actually if both would have had a tiny bit more energy, but that's fine, it was just the first show and a great experience!! I just can't say that enough. I am grateful to have witnessed it. I am and we are so very proud of our little rider, of how hard she works, not only on that horse but at school, piano, and ballet, and how she is always up for new challenges.

Here the judge was walking around taking notes:

The judge asking the technical questions:

 

 

 

Waiting her turn between divisions:

Finishing up her last division. Tired but happy to be done!

The Ribbons table!! :)

With the "loot", happy and relieved!!

After picking her ribbons up she hurried back to Jenkins' stall to share the prizes with her and take some pictures. She was trying to figure out how she could clip all of them onto her mane!

With Andrea giving Jenkins some love:

The cutest champions!!!!!!

 

 

 

 

By now Jenkins was hungry! :)

We came home and I finished up whipping together some appetizers, Hrishi fired up the grill, and  we sat down for a little celebration. It was so wonderful to share these happy moments with Andrea, Shu, Kalpak, and a couple of other dear friends.

 

I made this cute little horse shaped cake as a surprise. She loved it!!

 

 

It was one of those perfect days, although tired and high on sugar, she kept going, playing and being her happy self until late afternoon when the friends left and I was able to put her down for a late nap. she needed it, she had been up before 6 am three days in a row.

 

A few snaphots from the practices before the show, on Friday and Saturday.

On the way to the dress practice. She was so happy to hear her show colared shirt:

 

 

Looking sharp in her Hunter jacket:

 

 

Indeed, memories in the making.

 

Washing Jenkins. Oh, how she loved to give her a nice scrub.

 

Last practice before the big day:

 

 

 

She's all excited about the next show that might be no sooner than November. We'll have to see how cantering is going to work out for her on a different horse.