Back to the land of the living!

By: The Pony Post Grad on 2:48 PM

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Well it's been a freaking long time since I blogged. Last I was preparing for the Motherlode Round-Up pageant, now it's been a week since the insanity finished, and I still haven't caught up on sleep.

Cutting to the chase I didn't win, not sure why as they won't give us our written score sheets as they promised, but I have some coaching sessions with two of the judges coming up, so hopefully that sheds some light.

After 4 months it is completely bizarre to be back to normal life, no parades, practices, dinners or appearances to go to. I can honestly say it was a great experience, I left it all on the line and didn't weaken. A far cry from the shaking, chaotic hot mess I was at Grand National.

Overall I ended up winning horsemanship (though not by as large a margin as I'd have liked) and winning written test (which honestly considering how infrequently I studied, is shocking). In horsemanship I know my biggest hole was my flag came out of the boot 2 seconds into the ride, I used my pure muscles and awesomeness to keep it perfect almost the full two laps, only at the last second did it waver slightly, not bad considering my little midget was motoring.

When it was all said and done I was first runner up by fractions of a percent. I am very very proud of my performance, though the girl that won is not always my favorite she will do a god enough job. After spending 4 months with my good friend Lorna the outgoing queen, it is almost a blessing to not have to follow in her shadow, she did such a stunning job it will be hard to compare.

All in all I made some of the most amazing friendships, found a new surrogate family, and just had the most surreal experience at the heart of the Posse family. The say everything happens for a reason, the following day, when I was still in tears over my loss I went to put on my award bracelet, inside was the name of the donor. The bracelet was sponsored by the very woman that my mother coached at the pageant in 1979.

I may never know why after spending 4 months, traveling over 2700 miles, and spending several thousand dollars I did not win, but that's ok. I know in the end I may not have won the title, but I was the superstar, capturing the hearts of many. In the end, that's what this is about, not the saddle or the trailer (though I'd love one of those one day!)

Now I am back in Woodside, enjoying some downtime as I prep for my next contest, this time fatty old man takes center stage and I focus on him for a while. I have two more years, with many more experiences to have, and titles to win.

After all "No hour of life is wasted, that is spent in the saddle."

I will leave you with a few tidbits of the contest. My actual reining pattern video will not sync for some reason, but it's on my youtube if y'all wanna see!

We look like we could be related or something! (mommy & I)

you can actually see my photogenic photo right behind me!

they told us to be controlled, the alternative with 

 Mouse would have been absurdly fast

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