Playing the Ponies

Today was an interesting day! A couple of years ago Lorie's daughter, Kyra, got into riding ponies. This really cut into Lorie's bike riding time. So last year, Lorie got into it, although I understand she did this when she was young like Kyra. And now, her son Jake is into it. So, today, I rode my bike over to Fair Hill where all of them were in a horse show. I don't know a thing about it, but (sorry, Lorie) it's sort of like watching water boil. There's different categories and classes and age groups, etc. They walk around in a big fenced in circle, then turn around and walk the other way. There are people in the middle who are the judges. Some classes are a walk-trot-jog. From what I gather the difference between trot and jog is whether it's Western or English, with English being the trot which is faster than the jog. Some are just walking, and some are walking but being led. They go in one direction, then reverse it. Then after 5-10 minutes they stop and the judges add up the scores and award ribbons the the top finishers. It seemed the bigger the field, the deeper the ribbons go. Jake's event was a walking but led event and he came in second. Kyra and Lorie were in a walk-trot-jog event but neither placed. There were probably 10-12 horses/ponies in their event so lots of competition.

I can't say that I could become interested in this (although admittedly, I looked at the possibility of another wardrobe, especially the sparkly Western garb!) but I wouldn't mind going for a ride sometime.