Winning Moments Over

Sunday at the IL Horse Fair is always a little bit of a let down. The crowds are usually smaller and the horses, riders, vaulters and instructors are tired. Karin told the kids, "you will probably be performing in front of around 10 people so just go out there and have a blast." Well it wasn't quite that bad, there were probably around a couple hundred in each of the arena's they performed in but the riders and vaulters did as Karin asked. There were smiles all around from the riders AND the audience. Below are a few pictures of the day. There are around a thousand to go through tomorrow.

 Above we are waiting for our milkshakes on Saturday night and below are 4 of the 6 redheads in the group, missing are Rhoda and Mitchel.

 The colt was put out in the round pen so he could have some free time. He put on quite a show.

 Above they are getting ready for the Friesian skit, below Jordan is waving his mom, the blue fairy's wand. 

 Above and below the are the fairies during the skit

 Below is the big fight scene as Mitchel gives Maleficent the death blow.

 Above the fairies are leaving the arena and below Mitchel, the prince, is showing off Jenis' rear.

 Mikayla riding Ayanna and Bethany riding Eliza went outside for a good gallop.

 Mitchel brought Valiant outside to give him some gallop time too.

 Mitchel asked for the bow and Valiant laid down then sat instead. 

 Below we had some free time so the carbol's game was pulled out.

 Next came Stallion Row always a crowd favorite. Emily rode Valiant in that.

 Anni rode Anna in as Mitchel led Anna's colt by Valiant

 Valiant was the crowd favorite. Emily had him bow to both sides of the arena. The bleachers were rocking with foot pounding as people cheered for them.

 The next class was the liberty class where Emily and Killian were also the crowd favorites.

 They won that class again today and were the top scorer all three days of the competition. They won lots of gifts and prizes. There were gift certificates from some of the shops so after Killian was put away Emily went shopping with $75.00 to spend. Below Killian is trying to check out the gift basket that just happened to have some horse treats. Yes Emily gave him some when they were back at the stall.

 Our riders are more than just riders. The announcer was having a hard time reading for the breed and sport demos so Emily stepped in and announced. She did such a wonderful job I thought they weren't going to let her out of the building. That is one area the fair needs improvement.

 The announcer in the coliseum was good, he got the crowd involved and excited, the announcer in the livestock arena was actually pretty horrible. She announced in a monotone and didn't know how to work the crowd. Emily was SO good at that job, she had the crowd worked up into a frenzy by the time the vaulters were ready to perform. We WANT Emily to announce all of our performances from now on except for the ones she is in which just happens to be most of them.

 By the time the breed and sport demo had finished and we made it back to the stalls the vaulters had almost finished tearing down the decorations and loading them into the trucks and trailers.  What a wonderful group of helpers, we couldn't have done without them.

We stopped at Steak and Shake on the way home and rehashed the weekend with our fun group. 

It is now after midnight and we are home, the horses are put away in what ever paddock we could get them in. Tomorrow, that is actually today during daylight hours we will settle them correctly. GOOD NIGHT!