Esther's first horse show

Hey!  

Hay is for horses!

Ugh, bad joke, but our last week has been full of them (horses, that is).

Several of my kids have taken riding lessons, but this time, with Esther,

we've actually graduated to an actual horse show.

She has a wonderful teacher who is one of the most patient people I know.

With  her, Esther has learned a lot and grown in confidence leaps and bounds.

The horse she rode was "See Me Pass Quietly" or Cecil for short (where'd that come from?).

Below are a few of the many pictures I took of the day.

For two of the shows she wore this maroon outfit complete with chaps, rhinestones and a belt buckle all borrowed from her teacher who has collected them from past students.

This was one of my favorites of the day.  This horse had a beautiful tail, the saddle had silver trim, and his rider's costume was all sparkly.  They were in a more experiences class after Esther.  I think they won their class.

Esther's friends Kaylin and Hannah came and of course Abby was there.
Doesn't Esther look way older than her friends?

Her other two shows were more casual so a colorful blouse was in order.
In those shows she showed ranching skills like opening a gate and maneuvering between and over poles and such.

My mom got to come with us to help support Esther.
It was nice to have her there too.

It was a hot day so we kept cool in the shade.
Abby just played in the dirt all day.

We were nervous going into the day because it was our first show

and our teacher kept telling us she never started her students on this particular show.

So We were just looking to have fun and get some experience.

But lo and behold, Esther got a blue ribbon for all four classes she was in as well as

a $10 Amazon card for each one.  Score!

Just before they all fell asleep in the back seat of the car, Esther said,

"I want to do that again!"