The Big Horse Show

Today was the day for the big MESA therapeutic horseback riding horse show, and boy was it a good one.

 Our five year old was in the first group - Class A, with two other riders.

We had a fun time watching him.

 The kids did several different skills - walking, turning around, trotting (some of the kids) and going through an obstacle course.

 It was a little stressful at the beginning because his normal helpers weren't there, we were in a new location, and there were a ton of new people.  They also had music playing, which he doesn't like even on a good day.  I had to carry him up the steps and push him onto the horse and back away to get him on the horse.  Once he was on, he was fine.  You can't convince me these horses don't have calming abilities.

 Here he is on the obstacle course.  They had to go through the "gate" - which you see above...

 Grab a ring out of a bucket, then weave through poles with cones on top of them, and place the ring on the cone...

 Step over three logs, and into a square, where they had to stop the horse.

 Older/more experienced riders turned their horse around within the box.

Then it was time for awards.

 All the kids received a ribbon and trophy and won something.  He won the horsemanship award.

 This is a big fundraiser for MESA - the biggest one they have - so the kids were also awarded prizes based on the level of fundraising they achieved.  He received another ribbon, and a mug.

 They wanted to do a group picture.  You can see how uncooperative my child is being in the front row with the head of MESA hanging on to him.  He was determined to block his face.  He has a real issue with having his picture taken when he doesn't want you to.  Sometimes he asks to get his picture taken, but other times, I have to sneak on here and there without him noticing ... and then the first one better be good, or I'm out of luck.

 He did finally settle down and let them get a good picture.

 In case you doubt what I'm saying, here are a few pictures from when I was trying to get a decent picture to text to family members about his award.  We finally ended up with the first picture in the post (which is pretty darn cute), but it sure took awhile.

 So here's all the stuff he was awarded, plus the program.

He also got the t-shirt he was wearing.  I'll spare you the uncooperative pictures from this series :)

The artwork on the t-shirt was from an art contest they hosted.  They had all the entries on display.

 This was the winning picture.

And second place - this little circle picture was on the front of the shirts.

 They had a lot of neat entries.

Our ten year old entered a couple of pictures.  He has analyzed the difference between his and the winner's, and is already planning out next year's entry :)