What's Next.........More on Expenses.........

Having the money for entries didn't guarantee I'd make the trip to the US All Arabian Horse Show in Tulsa, OK. There were other expenses to be expected not the least of which was transporting the horses that far. So I found myself totaling up the damages to see what the bottom line just might be.

Needless to say, the amount seemed overwhelming with Dave not working. Originally when I'd made the plan to show at nationals this year, I'd assumed I'd have a horse or two sold to help pay these expenses. But I didn't get those horses into the show ring as planned so it didn't look like a sale was happening anytime soon. Even though, we have a couple of things brewing, if I planned on doing entries, I needed to tighten my belt and do some serious budgeting to get this thing done.

It's pretty normal for me when things get too overwhelming to just ignore my issue and move onto other things. For now, that's exactly what I did with this money issue and my national's dream. Instead of dwelling on what I didn't have, I focused on what I did...........the horses, of course, and who I would take if indeed I did get to go.

Originally I had planned on taking at least one of my Legs' babies to show in the maturity classes at nationals. The classes are for junior horses ridden by their amateur owners. They don't require a qualification. You just pay the fee and go. There's a date when the first payment is due for these classes. If the date is missed you pay a penalty but it's still possible to enter the maturity classes even if you don't decide until the time entries are due......but by then the entry is pretty steep...........$780.


To be taking a horse to nationals for that kind of class, I'd have to be pretty darn sure the horse was going to be competitive. I had thought that Louie might just come together for this but by this time I was beginning to think I was really pushing it. I sure didn't want to take him when he wasn't really ready and counting on X number of days training between now and then just was not working out. So..........I dropped Louie off my list to make the show this year.

Next to get axed from this list was Gypcy. While I did think her condition was coming around, it was the issue of money. The reason I wanted to take this mare was so people could see her for a possible sale. But between the additional entry fees AND the additional handler fees, leaving her home would take a chunk of change off that list.

While I decided to leave Gypcy home, I continued with her conditioning. A part of me just couldn't totally let go that something might work out and I could get her sold. Besides with my annual open house just around the corner, I might just as well have her looking her best.......right??

Next I moved onto seeing that my truck was ready to make such a trip. I've had an oil leak I've been trying to get fixed for months. My mechanic and my husband have both been giving me the ole, "it'll keep....." line for way too long. At least I could use my pending trip to apply pressure to get my leak fixed.

The only problem with that turned out to be when Jack started working on my truck all sorts of things reared their ugly heads. Before we were done, we'd spent over $1000 in parts........not to mention labor. The truck was ready for the trip but my wallet was in worse shape than before. I was beginning to feel like nationals was nothing more than a pipe dream.

To be continued...............



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