Another beautiful, cool morning, and I started with the breakfast of champions. Not Wheaties – complimentary horse show donuts! I ate one for myself and one for Jane, who doesn’t eat donuts.
The day began with Kris giving Jane a flat lesson on Derry (“flat” means not jumping). The show is HUGE. There are over 2,000 horses and ponies here competing! It is so much fun to see people we haven’t crossed paths with for years. The social aspect of horse showing is part of the attraction. It’s like a big party with people who share a passion, complete with games to play at the party (jumping courses). And we all share the cost, which is substantial. But back to the day’s happenings…
An awful lot of time at horse shows can be spent waiting, and our classes were in the afternoon, but the day sped by. Jane McClaren arrived to give our horses Bemer treatments. A Bemer blanket is a Pulse Electro Magnetic Field (PEMF) device that improves microcirculation throughout the horse, promising many benefits. The Bemer is very popular in Europe, and Jane McClaren is quite convincing in her belief in the Bemer as a therapy, so we thought we would try it. My very good friend would call this “voodoo medicine”, but I am open to all sorts of unorthodox ideas, so Bart and Derry wore the Bemer under Jane McClaren’s supervision. We will see how it works…
The dogs at horse shows are always fun to see… here are four well behaved “horse show dogs” in our aisle…
Jane and Derry showed in the Covered Arena again. The warm up area is very small, and it’s difficult to work on riding forward in a confined space. Their class was an improvement over yesterday, but they did have four time faults, which was frustrating. We are hoping for a better day tomorrow.
Bart’s class went at 4 PM in the Walnut Arena. It was very hot. I walked the course with Emily Straw before the Low Amateur Owner class (the courses were the same), and watched her ride her new horse, Paddy, who is spectacular. When Emily came out of the ring after a double clear round, she collapsed on the ground! So I warmed up without a coat, and only got dressed at the in gate! Emily rode her other horse, Lima, in the Adult Amateur class, so we warmed up for that together. She showed up in a coat that she had just purchased – a special, cool, high tech riding jacket, and she was OK this time around. It was intimidating warming up with Emily, as she rides so well, but she is also great fun.
Bart was the best amateur horse today! I made several errors, and he jumped me out of them for another double clear. I was the third to go in the class, and when we finished we were in first place! I knew that would not last, as I had ridden appallingly to the last jump, slowing almost to a walk because I was overly excited about being clear to that point. But Bart ended up with an Irish ribbon, green for 6th (out of 25), and I feel incredibly lucky to have such a wonderful horse.
The day finished with an exhibitor’s party (serving a delicious dinner of fried chicken – what else? – it’s Kentucky!) and the Grand Prix. We had two friends riding tonight. There were 26 entries, and Callie Schott and Robert Mendoza were the only people we knew. The trouble with being old ladies is that there are so many new young ones in the game.
The winner, Samantha Schaefer 
Second place, Brian Moggre
We tended to our horses after a full day of horse show fun, and are back at The Winner’s Circle Motel, exhausted and hoping for good luck tomorrow…
Oh it sounds marvelous. Thanks for sharing and good luck tomorrow!
Fabulous! Bart must be the most fun horse to ride. Derry improved, such a pleasant horse, and another beautiful jumper, so careful! I love them both, as well as their riders! A very happy week for me, having you all here. My goodness we go back.
Fabulous!!! Such great fun & camaraderie!
2 donuts 🍩!! I remember the time we’d go out for dinner and you’d order broccoli 🥦 while Harry and I ate hamburgers.
I’ll need a full report on the Bemer.
Best of luck.