Baby's First Show

One of the reasons Rosie was "discounted" on her sale price was because she hadn't been registered or inspected yet. My biggest priority for the year was getting her registered, branded, and inspected. Rosie was to be registered with the American Hanoverian Society. I didn't have much experience with the registry so I had to call up to gain some information.

Hay bags are hard, yo

The AHS doesn't do a formal inspection with branding and registration. They do oral commentary on foals presented with the dam, but nothing is scored. However, they do offer a foal futurity for yearlings and two year olds. I wanted Rosie to be branded so we were heading to a registration site anyways, so I figured why not throw her in a foal futurity. I had a little over two months to prepare for the futurity. 

So naturally, what did I do? About nothing. The first month we spent getting to know each other. Then we quickly discovered we would be moving. The registration event was being held two weeks after our scheduled move out date, so the second month was really spent giving her kisses and telling her how much I loved her. After we had all moved, I had two weeks to not make a laughing stock of us at the event. It was too cold to bathe so I focused on in hand work. And by "focus" I mean I had my friend with me ready with a lunge whip, took her out to the arena, gave her some treats for bribery, and practiced trotting in hand. Like the good baby unicorn she is, she happily followed along at my shoulder at whatever gait I was going. I told her she was amazing and the best and knew it would have to suffice. 

After some annoying scheduling drama the night before, I arrived at her farm with about 45 minutes to groom, braid, and load. Luckily I had my friend with me and Rosie's current color looks perpetually dirty. We slapped some braids in fairly easily and she loaded right up in the trailer. We arrived at 2:30 with the event to begin at 3. As soon as we arrived, the host let us know the judges were flying in at 3 and we hoped to be started by 3:30. I took Rosie off the trailer where she quietly gazed at her new surroundings. We opted to go for a quick walk around the farm and into the indoor where the event was held. Rosie was bold yet quiet. She was on alert but nothing startled her. Having never been in a barn or indoor, she acted like it was NBD. We practiced walking and trotting the triangle a few times, which she also didn't care about, then headed back to the trailer to wait. I'm not 100% confident in her tying so we just held her while she ate her hay bag. 

She felt casual about her gaits today, but thats ok

Rosie and I didn't start until 4 that day, and despite having baby brain she held it all together. While not very animated in her gaits, and at an awkward growth stage, her brain really shined bright that day. Everyone commented on her excellent demeanor. She got a pretty fair score for her current condition, and even the judge commented that her stage of growth was her only downfall. The score is just a number and I wanted to weep with pride when everything was said and done. She showed up, put her big girl pants on, and really did her job. I couldn't be happier. 

Lets ignore how she kinda looks like a mule here lol