The smile says it all. Saturday was a great day at the final open horse show in the series, with Lily coming home with not one but two trophies! Her first trophies ever. (Will be praying extra hard for world peace to balance out.) Click on the photos to make big enough to see!
She and Buddy did a great job. More confidence building! And now the jumps are getting too small at this show. 
Buddy even got his lead changes and didn't make all that many faces. He didn't lap the rest of the horses at the canter or the hand-gallop, never bucked and was an absolute gentleman. Could it be the elevator bit that the show management kindly said we could use? (Yes, it could be. That and lots of new confidence.) And Jane was there. Just having Jane there meant Lily could relax. And for the first time ever, I didn't have to ride Buddy in the warm-up.
I'm also proud to report that no one took my blue bucket. This is the first time we've taken it somewhere and I haven't had to search for it. Could it be the fact that I've written Lily's name on it in so many places it looks like graffiti?
Attendance was a little off either because of the weather or because of other shows or perhaps even football games and other fall distractions. Some regulars weren't there, and some folks I've never seen before were. Some friends of mine were there with young horses. The young horses weren't at all prepared to see the Horse-Eating Pygmies.
There were four Horse-Eating Pygmies. This one was the scariest. Cute pony, fearless girl. (And there were many times she should have been somewhat fearful. She's going to be Something Else.) The young horses were so terrorized (with some Horse-Eating-Eating-Pygmy inspired falls) that the show management divided the first year horse and rider classes into pony divisions and horse divisions. Smart move!
And this was too cute -- a lead-line entry who brought his blankie. 
Ya, I think you'll be praying for world peace for quite some time. lol
And congrats on hanging on to the blue bucket. lol
Posted by: risingrainbow | October 29, 2007 at 02:15 PM
Love those photos of the ponies...so dang cute. Give Lily a high five from me. Way to go girl!
Posted by: photogchic | October 29, 2007 at 06:27 PM
Yeah Lily and Buddy!
Posted by: I Gallop On | October 29, 2007 at 06:42 PM
Wow! Well done, Lily, and Buddy looks like a real character. Fantastic!
Posted by: Sue | October 30, 2007 at 08:41 AM
Whoopie for the trophies. Way to go!
The dappled pony is cuter than cute and so is the fearless little girl.
Posted by: Molly | October 30, 2007 at 01:32 PM
The ponies are the best part of any horse show. Congrats to Lily & Buddy!
Posted by: Donna | October 30, 2007 at 11:28 PM
Congrats to Lily and Buddy!
Posted by: kathyc | October 31, 2007 at 08:37 AM