Peyton's First Horse Show

Last night we took Peyton to the Open Kids Horse Show in South Jordan that was put on by the Mavericks Riding Club. It was her first horse show and she was so excited for it but let me tell you it was an eventful night.

She loves to rope so we put her in the dummy roping contest that was held before the horse show started. She got out roped but still had fun. Then she competed on Rummy in barrels, poles and the flag race. She was especially excited for the barrels because she had been practicing and can do them all by herself. She didn't want Bradyn leading her through them so he took her in the arena and turned her loose but for some reason Rummy went in the wrong direction, I'm not sure if on his own or if Peyton pulled him that way but Bradyn ended up grabbing a hold of him to point him in the right direction and that was a mistake. It made Peyton mad and then even more mad when he ended up leading her through the rest of the barrels. Next was the poles and I told Bradyn that she didn't want to be lead and to just let her follow him through the pole pattern since she hadn't practiced them. She was doing really good until she got to the last pole and then Rummy took off to run back to the start. He was going pretty fast and I think she panicked and forgot to pull back on the reins to stop him but she just held on so good with both hands on the saddle horn all the way down the arena and never fell off. It scared her a little so she had Bradyn lead through the flag race which was a good idea because Rummy was wanting to go a little faster than Peyton could probably handle.

Rummy is such a good horse and we are so thankful to have him. Rummy is Bradyn's oldest horse and he rode him in riding club when he was a kid and he obviously didn't forget because he was just doing what he was supposed to do. Heck she is only 4 years old what do you expect. Peyton will hopefully be old enough to compete in riding club next spring which will be good for her so that she can become a better rider and Rummy will be the perfect horse for her. I am just so proud of her for doing it and I still think she did such a good job. Call me crazy but I wasn't even scared when they took off running down the arena, I just kept recording ha, ha:). I knew she would hold on tight and I knew Rummy would take care of her.

All the kids that competed received ribbons and the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place finishers for the high point for each age group split up into 8 and under, 9-12 and 13-15 year olds received belt buckles and the winners of each event for each of the age groups received prizes such as buckets, brushes, halters, etc. Peyton competed against 24 other kids in her age group so obviously she ended up with a ribbon after the night she had besides there are some pretty good little 7 and 8 year olds that can ride. She liked her ribbon but was a little dissapointed that she didn't receive a belt buckle. I explained to her that the kids that went the fastest won the belt buckles and she told me "but mom I went the fastest (meaning the poles episode) so I should have won a belt buckle".

Here are just a few pictures from the night. I was recording and Bradyn was helping Peyton so it was hard to get many pictures.


Peyton competing in the roping contest




Peyton waiting to compete in the barrels


Peyton and Preslie


Peyton competing in the poles