Arabian Nationals!!!!

I didn't get any pictures or video this year, my camera battery charger recently went missing.

I did have an awesome time though!!! I drove down to Tulsa on Monday afternoon and stayed with John's sister. This morning we went to the show and I had an absolute blast showing my niece, Kameron, all of the horses. She is just barely 2 years old and was thrilled to be seeing and petting the horses! She is going to be a horse for halloween this year. I think I have successfully planted the 'horse bug' in little Kami! My mother-in-law also came along and she was amazed by the elaborate stall displays. We drove separately and they all went home after an hour or so for nap time and I stuck around for a few more hours for horsing and shopping.

My favorite part about nationals is always the warm up rings. I really love watching all of the horses being lunged and ridden by their trainers. I think that you generally see better rides in the warm up ring than the show ring, especially when it comes to amateur classes. I only watched two classes while I was there, I saw both sections of a WP class and both sections of a Show Hack class. The WP class was one that another Arabian blogger was riding in. Unfortunately, she did not make the cut for the F/SF round.

I really enjoyed Nationals this year, but it was somewhat bittersweet for me. It was a hard transition to leave the Youth division and not continue showing. Watching from the sidelines and not having a 'barn' to associate with is a strange feeling. It isn't so much the competing that I miss, it is the people. One of the best things about showing is the community. Each barn is like a family. The stall area is a 'home base' for the duration of the show and there is no feeling like cheering as a group for a fellow rider. Who knows, maybe someday I'll be grooming and cheering for my little niece!