Sunday, May 15, 2011

Daffodil All Arabian Spring Horse Show......Charity Night......



Part 1

I must admit the ride I had on Legs in that open western pleasure class ranks right up there with the national's ride I had on Dandy in the hunter pleasure class in Bonanza all those years ago. I will always remember the feeling of that ride.

Having my horse so tuned in to my every move was something amazing. I couldn't have been more pleased. In addition, it was just so much fun. Even today I still feel the pleasure of that ride.

It was my only class of the day and it was nearly the last class of the afternoon session. I had a friend coming up from Olympia who was hoping to still be there by the time my class rode but I had no idea if that had happened or not. Once I got my horse put away, I went back up to the show arena to look for her.

I never did find my friend, although I heard later she found me. I was engrossed in a conversation with another friend and she didn't want to interrupt. With my double vision I only take in what I need to so I didn't even see my friend from Olympia. I knew she couldn't be gone long so I thought she was long gone by this time.

People were milling around the courtyard waiting for the evening's activities to begin. There was an exhibitor dinner being run in conjunction for a huge and quite fancy silent auction.

The Daffodil Arabian Horse Association has taken on a charity the last two years at their horse show. This year's therapy was the Children's Therapy Unit of Puyallup and the horse show had a number of events during the show to raise money for this group.

There were a couple of different raffles. One was for a $1000 gift certificate to Show Season's and the other was for some very fancy jewelry. Kids were selling raffle tickets for both raffles throughout the show. Sometimes those kids had ambassadors with them to help solicit tickets. Those ambassadors just happened to be mini horses decked out with daffodil garlands around their necks.

One of the events was called Ride a BIG Buck. To participate in that event, you had to collect as much money as you could for the charity and present it at the show office for a regular buck to ride in the Ride a BIG Buck class. The person who collected the most funds won a prize and the person keeping their buck under their leg the longest was guaranteed $?? You can tell I don't ride bareback because that guaranteed prize didn't stick in my brain.

The biggest portion of the fund raiser was the silent auction where they had tables and tables displaying all the things that had been donated. There were all kinds of fabulous items from vacations, artwork, wine cabinets complete with an assortment of wines, jewelry, baskets galore including one specifically for pooches, riding lessons, etc. You name it, and I swear, someone had donated it.

Dinner was free and cooked by the Cowboy Cook, Jeff Tracey, from Oregon. Margarita's flowed. The barbecue was awesome and served over 250 people. The silent auction racked in the bucks. Before the night session began over $9000 was raised for the Children's Therapy Unit and a fun time was had by all.

My friends, Wendy, Candy and Bev, joined me to watch the evening session. My single Martguerita took the entire session to wear off. Then I tucked my horsey into bed and got my fanny home for an early rise since I had two classes in the morning session. That meant early morning schooling and a 5 am rise time. I was really glad the evening session did not run late but it was a very enjoyable evening at the horse show. No stress.......and lots of fun. It's been a while since a horse show has been like that for me. It couldn't have come at a better time.

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

A Little on Balance....and Boots.....

Do you know who this cute little redhaired foal is?

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7 comments:

  1. Sunds like the horse show was a great turning point for you , after so much anst at the last one this was the way it should go .Is the foal Storm?

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  2. I loved hearing about that great ride on Legs! Those oh-so-short moments of success make the months of effort worthwhile :D

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  3. So happy you got to enjoy yourself and have a great time at the show!
    You deserve it!

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  4. I just repainted my donkey cart & would seriously like to get back into my longeared shows again...

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  5. You deserve to have a great time at the shows after all the crap you have been through.

    To kick this one off with a stellar ride, fun evening and meeting up with friends? It's a good start!

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  6. That sounds like a ton of fun!! What a great event. If I were on your side of the state I'd be there!! I'd love to give the BIG BUCK game a try.

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  7. fern, it was definitely a good time. I had lots of anxiety about going but I am really glad I went.
    The foal is indeed Storm. Cute little bugger with a big attitude.

    Funder, you've got that right. All it takes is one really good one to make all the work have meaning.

    Paint Girl, thanks, I hope you got to enjoy some of this too. The dinner was fun and I wish I'd had money to participate in the silent auction. There was some cool stuff.

    Val, I don't think we have shows for your long eared friends around here, but I could be wrong. I have seen them at open shows riding with the horses though.

    CNJ, thanks, it was definitely unexpected. Shows have been nothing but work for a while now. This was a nice break.

    Story, we have some fresh blood on the board. with that comes renewed enthusiasm and that always helps. There was also a wine and cheese tasting the night before so they worked hard for two social events at this show. It was nice.

    Linda, it was definitely fun. They could have used some more participants in the ride a BIG buck class.

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