# Montana Fair, Our first offical show ever!



## GypsyMoonMinis (Aug 16, 2010)

Where we live there are only 2 mini horse shows in the immediate area, Big Sky State Games and The Montana Fair. Other than that, we have to travel a minimum of 9 hours to the next nearest show, and without a horse trailer that's not possible. My oldest daughter showed Spunky the last two years at the local 4H fair, and my youngest daughter showed her gelding Diego this year as her first "official" year in 4H. Only my youngest daughter wants to continue with the horses, as my oldest daughter is going into high school this year and her interests are elsewhere. So we don't really have any experience showing minis at all. I spent most of my childhood showing quarter horses until I was 19 and in recent years i've been showing Arabians.

Diego got really sick right after the fair, so Summer decided to bring her weanling filly Autumn. I must tell you about this horse. My daughter was given a gorgeous, older mare last year. She's 21 now and we had no idea she was bred until we woke to a surprise in mid October last year! This is the first foal I've had in 15 years so it has been a huge learning experiance, esp since minis are so differant from big horses. Anyways, from day 1, Autumn was attached to my daughter Summer. By 3 days, she leaving momma to follow my daughter around the yard with a frantic mother on her heels. She watches her leave for school in the morning and waits for her in the evenings. She greets her with a loud whinny when she comes in eye sight. They are very close, and I hope that she stays a healthy horse and will grow older with my daughter. When she was born she had knock knees in the front and she walked back on her rear pasterns. Now she's beautifully straight!

Summer is 9, this was her first show ever outside of 4H and has next to no experience at all. Autumn is 10 months and has only been weaned a month, has never been in a horse trailer or away from home and they both seemed to be old hands at the show, competing against older kids and horses. Whats most important, Summer had a wonderful time and can't wait for our next show.

Summer and miss Autumn (Gypsy Moon's Autumn Lily) won second in costume, third in liberty and third in halter. With Spunky (Designers Touch Shez Spunky Too) I won first in halter mares 2 to 3, first in showmanship, second in liberty, third in trail and third in obstacle. With Prize (HHH Surprise Supereyes) I won second in trail, fourth in obstacle and fourth in halter geldings out of 9. I had 3 refusals on jumping with Spunky so I was disqualified, but all the laughing I did made up for it. I was so proud of everyone!!

The only bummer of the whole show, my daughter in her haste to change into her costume forgot her belt and buckle in the bathrooms. We didn't realize it until the next day and it was already gone sadly.

On a side note, I noticed something yesterday. It seemed like I was one of the few people that would praise my horses when we left the ring. Is this something your not supposed to do? We certainly weren't dressed as well as the others, and we didn't have fancy halters, but we had so much fun, we never once thought about anything else.

Our show crew (or part of it). My oldest daughter is holding Prize. She was offically dubbed my show mom. She kept everything organized for me, since i had a few classes i had to quickly change horses and numbers. She baby sat horses, held papers, fixed hair, cleaned horses. What a girl! The boy and his mother in the middle are our travel partners. Nicer people you will never find.







Gypsy Moon's Autumn Lily and Summer in Costume as... gypsy's










My mom did alot of training with Prize before i got him, so it made alot of things easier. If this was a timed course, we would have set a world record. He did everything he was supposed to, just very fast lol. He wanted to get back to his girls.











Spunky's turn. Shes only 2, but this would be her 3rd show. She's an old hat now and was so well behaved during the show. She's my baby girl!


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## GypsyMoonMinis (Aug 16, 2010)

My beautiful girls, they did so well!


























Summers showmanship class. So cute to watch her ans tiny little autumn. You can tell she's young, her attention span was rather short



But she remembered her pattern and watched the judge! Now if I can just get her to smile


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## GypsyMoonMinis (Aug 16, 2010)

He went alot slower in trail. We wouldn't have taken first if he had ground tied 











One of 2 jumps Spunky tried. We've only done a little bit of jumping at home. Shes still young so I do very little. Mostly I just wanted to expose her to the class. I didn't care how well we did.






Thanks for letting me share! I've learned so much from everyone here on the forums. Thank you


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## Becky (Aug 16, 2010)

Now, this is what miniature horses are all about! Congratulations to you and your daughters. Well done!!!


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## Watcheye (Aug 16, 2010)

I had fun just reading about it and seeing all of the fabulous pictures! Good Job!


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## wrs (Aug 16, 2010)

Great job.


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## cretahillsgal (Aug 16, 2010)

Congratulations on all the good placings! Looks like you had fun. It makes me long to be able to go showning.


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## AnnaC (Aug 16, 2010)

Many congratulations






Well done to you all - you obviously had fun and enjoyed yourselves, which is exactly what showing should be about!

The pictures are great - like a breath of fresh air - and your horses are lovely, especially little Autumn





Thank you for letting us share





Anna


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## targetsmom (Aug 16, 2010)

I LOVED reading the story and seeing the wonderful photos. GREAT JOB!! Yes, this is what showing should be all about!!!!

BTW, I give my mini a nice pat on the right side of her neck as soon as she finishes a pattern. Don't know if others do it, but I usually can't help myself.


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## WhiteTailsMinis (Aug 17, 2010)

A wonderful post - felt as though we were there too! LOL

Beautiful photos but then the horses and people in them beautiful too.

Looks like a great time - we recently tried our first show and you get hooked instantly don't you? LOL

Congrats on a wonderful show! You all looked like pros out there and the facility seems really nice also.


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## dreaminmini (Aug 21, 2010)

This was SOO awesome!



This is only our 2nd showing and I still remember the excitement of our first show. It is SUCH a rewarding pasttime, especially now that we have a bit of a clue and our horses are starting to place where they should. I especially like driving. Are any of your horses training to drive? It is the MOST fun of all. By the way, I always praise my horses after a class; our horses are awesome with great temperments and are always well-behaved at shows. If they don't place high, it is usually due to our inexperience, not theirs. I find in their 2nd show season they are really showing themselves so much more as well. They seem to know why they are there now


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## GypsyMoonMinis (Aug 21, 2010)

THanks everyone. It was an amazing experiance and I can't wait to show again.

My little gelding is old enough for driving now, but they others aren't ready yet. THough I have started some ground work in the long line. Can't wait!


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## Jill (Aug 22, 2010)

Beautiful horses, great pictures and wonderful results


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