A family affair

That is what it is. We love horses around here. We love to watch them walk, trot, canter, jump, eat, or play. We love to wash them (or give them a "bubble bath" as Ella says), we love to graze them, pick their hooves, tack them, and feed them treats. If it were our choice, we would even take one home. :) Getting Kipper ready for the show was a blast. After practice the day before the show, Ella got to give him a nice bath with our help. As the pictures clearly show, she wasn't the only enthusiastic one.



(Waiting to get into the arena for practice and posing for mamma.)

I love it that our Ella is not shy of getting taking care of business.

The next day was show time. The experience her new trainer provided for Ella in getting the horse and her ready for the show was indeed beautiful. The barn has not yet seen as much positive reinforcement, kindness, focus, and love for the rider and the horse, as this amazing lady did. Aside from that she did a lot of the hard work, which is beautifully braiding Kipper's tail and forelock. She also made sure his hooves were clean, shinny, that his ears and nostrils were wiped clean with Johnson &Johnson baby oil, etc. It was just lovely to watch her coach Ella and her other students competing that day.

This is  Love

Mrs. Heather Jayne Hill braiding Kipper's tail.

Masterpiece:

Braiding his forelock.

 Almost ready to go:

 Rishi was amazing getting Kipper ready. He could probably get hired now as Heather's groom.

Ready for a quick warm-up. After spending a lot of time getting the horse ready there wasn't much time left for practice but Heather assured Ella that she would be fine. And she was more than fine, she was excellent.

The confidence, calm, and composure Heather instills in Ella are simply wonderful.

Her seat position was never this good.

The show was starting:

She did beautifully well and scored blue ribbons in two classes and placed second and third in the other three classes. She would have gotten another blue ribbon if it weren't for a difference of opinion/judging between the AQHA and the Jumper/Hunter judging standards. Ella and Heather were pleased so that is all that counts.

Walk-trot

Looking beautiful out there, both her and Kipper:

Ready for the next class:

Poles (she had her diagonals right, yes!)

Kipper getting some love and thoroughly enjoying it:

 Happy rider:

Andrea trying to pose while keeping Kipper away from her purse. You see, she had cookies in there and he smelled them!!

Love our Andrea!!

Some much deserved grazing after the show:

The perfect team!!

 Un-tacking:

More grazing:

Note how carefully she holds the halter so it doesn't touch the ground. It's not supposed to in case the horse steps on it, it can get startled.

Extremely proud and happy:

Sunshine!!!

Beautiful flowers from Andrea and Shu:

These guys are simply amazing and the best friends of all!! We so appreciate the love and support always.

And a few more:

Un-braiding the tail: I have to admit that I was a bit nervous that he would eventually kick. He had been so nice and calm. As it turns out, Kipper is indeed a very nice easy going, loving horse.

Hrishi and Shu messing around. We were suggesting that we make a wig for Shu from some of Kipper's tail.

After the show, we came home and had turkey chilli with greens and black beans cupcakes. Pretty and yummy!!