Vet Wannabees

The second day of our HORSE COURSE 2009, was themed "Vet Wannabees". Participants were involved in daily barn routines, a riding lesson and lots and lots of talk and hands on practice with horse health!

The three little monkeys up in the viewing area were the winners of our mini-barn-olympics, which left the other two doing push ups. Gotta get faster with those wheelbarrel serpentines girls!

Not at all bad for a first-timer! All morning participants spent learning how to wrap with polo wraps. The afternoon came time for them to test their skills with a real roll of cotton and vetrap.

(on pretend injuries, of course!)

Do you know how to check your horse's hydration? Josie does! And now we have record of each horse's normal parametres.

Checking for a pulse. At first no one could find one. We thought the horses might be dead. Then, luckily, someone found one. Phew!

Oral meds, always a handy thing to know how to do!

(Shhhhh..... it's there, I promise)

Checking each horse for differences in normal gut sounds. Now we know!

Congrats Drs. Ferguson and Ferguson, Dr. Pratt, and Dr. Gordon!

Extreme Makeover: Horse Edition

Man, those are some clean, well groomed, show-ready horses!

These pictures were taken at the end of the first day of our HORSE COURSE 2009 EXTREME MAKEOVER: HORSE EDITION.

And what an extreme makeover it was! Horses were thoroughly groomed from the tips of their ears to the tips of their hooves, bathed with shampoo, conditioned, and then re-conditioned with a very special conconction made up by each participant. Tails were all brushed out, short manes were trimmed and levelled. The horses with the short manes were also banded in an attempt to "train" the hairs to stay in place, and what a great opportunity to practice our banding skills. New lesson horse, "Jane" went from having long, tangled locks full of birrs, to a short, neat, blint cut suitable for the pleasure horse ring. Janes mane and coat had some bott eggs which were carefully razored off and talked about in some depth. The horses with longer manes were brushed, conditioned and then used to practice braids and webbing. Each horse had their muzzles clipped and a bit of vaseline for a finished look before we took the horses out for a ride!

Check out some of the pictures from the day...

The Show, the show, the SHOW!

Congratulations to all exhibitors on making it through our first ever show hosted at Briarquest Farm by Lindsay Hayes Equestrian! Everyone did a fantastic job, horses behaved themselves, the weather was perfect, photography was great, facility was immaculate....what a success!

Thanks to our judge and morning ring steward for a phenomenal job. We are excited to share with exhibitors the feedback for each individual from the judge on their score sheet.

Thanks to all of our very gracious prize donors. Everyone who showed came away with a prize, or two... how great was that?! We had everything from fly masks and show sheen, to picture frames, bath soaps and chia pets!

Congratulations also to our High Point Winners on their outstanding performances!

Thanks again to Janice for allowing us to host the show at her beautiful facility, AND...

TO THE VOLUNTEERS! You know who you are, coffee makers, poop pickers, sweepers, mounting block movers, announcers, number pinners, horse feeders, etc, etc, etc. The show would not be able to happen without YOU!

Very, very, very VERY special thanks to Nicole. My wingman, co-entry office director, show coordinator, prize donator, stay-up-to-midnight helper outer and very talented coach and exhibitor.

Photos will be available online towards the middle of the week, I will post a link ASAP.


On a personal note, what a thrill it was for me to see everyone out there doing their thing. I was delighted to have the unique opportunity to introduce children, parents and adults to the horse show world in what I hope was a very positive, supportive and encouraging environment. I was moved by the response and support from parents (including my own!), grandparents, uncles and aunts, brothers and sisters and friends. A lot of spectators don't realize the courage it takes for young and not-as-youngf to mount a 1,000 lb animal and try to remember all the details of their classes and pattern. I sincerely hope everyone felt supported by me, their family and friends, the volunteers and by other exhibitors. I hope everyone had some sense of the pride I felt watching each person in the ring, knowing that I had some sort of impact in their being there. I hope students continue to enjoy lessons and training sessions, and that everyone felt a sense of accomplishment after the show. I would appreciate any feedback, comments and questions you may have during the next few weeks now that the excitement is dying down. Once again thank you, I hope everyone will cherish this memory as I know I will!
Thank you and Congratulations everyone!
Lindsay

The SHOW!

The horse show/exhibition is fast approaching, please stay tuned for entry forms and more details. The show will start between 9:00am and 9:30 (I will confirm a time once I have all my entries in). I expect to have youth showing in the morning, and adult riders in the afternoon. This however, is generally speaking and is flexible for riders who are only available at certain times. I am hoping we will have everything wrapped up no later than 3:30 so that we can have a fun celebration and awards type ceremony to conclude things by 4 or 4:30. There will be a break for lunch with some fun games for the riders and their friends and family. We will also have a small food booth with some drinks and snacks. Entry fees are included on the entry forms and we would appreciate them in advance of the show, but will also accept them the day of.
Remember this is a FUN show! Non-competitive and a great opportunity to test your riding abilities, get some feedback and meet some new people!
Riders are encouraged to wear collared, button down, long sleeved shirts, a belt, jeans, a helmet, and riding boots. They should appear neat and clean, with any stray hairs tucked in or clipped back.
VOLUNTEERS: ARE APPRECIATED!!! We will be needed another babysitter, someone to share food booth duties, a pattern-setter-upper, a clean up crew to keep things looking spiffy in the barn and extra hands at the end of the day when all the excitement is over and we need to get things back in ship shape!

Also, a huge thanks is in order for Janice Williams (the owner of the farm) who has offerred to host the show at no charge to us. Without her generosity the show would not be able to go on as there are so many start up fees for this first time show for us.

Please contact me with any further questions or concerns! Looking forward to seeing you all with your game faces on!