My story starts Thursday night when the ride times came out….. I was not on the list….. my entry forms were lost in the mail. Ms. Wendy, my trainer, was texting me, Ms. Joanne, the president of WDAFL, was texting my trainer, people on my show team were texting me, and I was making phone calls. After a few minutes of panicking, the show secretary was able to work it all out, and I was able to breathe again. Not the best way to start the show, but it was nice knowing I had people looking out for me.
Friday morning my show team and I were on the road headed to the WDAFL championship show! Three and a half hours later, we had arrived. This is my third year attending this show, but I am still in awe every time we pull into the beautiful Grand Oaks Resort. I unloaded Grace (the horse I show), unpacked my stuff, finished straightening out my entry forms with the show secretary, and relaxed a little before schooling, washing, and banding Grace to prepare for the next day. My night ended with a pizza party with my show team; so much fun!
Saturday morning I knew it was going to be a good day, and it was indeed. Grace and I had a very successful day of showing. We ended up with the highest score of the entire day! That afternoon I got to listen to Lynn Palm talk about what she wanted to see in the future of Western Dressage(very inspiring), Linda Roberts talk about illegal and legal equipment, and a local Purina nutrition specialist talk about gastric and digestive issues. I learned so much from these speakers. Saturday night we had a little scare when a horse from our barn got loose, but my friend and I happened to be driving over to the barn (perfect timing), and we caught her quickly.
Sunday was the big day: the championship show. Grace did so well and did everything I asked of her, even when she started to run out of energy at the end of the day. We finished as the Junior Level 1 Grand Champions!! Our scores never dropped below 70% all weekend!! I was thrilled!! I am so grateful for the Helen Blair Memorial 4-H scholarship for making it possible for me to come to this show. I’m also incredibly grateful for such an amazing organization and group of people who make these shows so enjoyable. Every horse and rider at this show seemed happy doing what they were doing. I look forward to coming back to this show again next year!
Taylor Hammann
