I like the show and the facilities - especially compared to some of the others we've gone too. I REALLY appreciate the barn with the big stalls with dirt floors - several shows we went to this year had tiny stalls with CEMENT floors. The in-hand stuff was all done in a small indoor arena and all the driving was done in the nearby outdoor arena which was nicely packed and had good footing. We also love that it is only an hour from our home - a HUGE plus. The show committee also did a good job and were extremely helpful and always available.
I am craving grilled chicken burritos from Taco Johns right now and there is one right down the road so guess what we also ate several times over the weekend.
I did hear the numbers were down a little but my impression was more so that a lot of people have shown a lot already this year and now that we are just a couple of weeks out from Nationals they wanted to give their horses a break - especially the young ones - and the other reason just being financial. This show wasn't any more expensive than others we've gone to this year but just with gas prices and various accumulated expenses some people just needed to pass on a show or two. There is some talk about possibly moving it to earlier in the season next year.
The best thing I came away from the Lake Elmo Show were several compliments on my children's behavior both in and out of the ring. Believe me, they are no angels so I am always pleased and surprised when I have people go out of their way to come up to me and talk to say what a nice family and what well behaved children I have.
As far as talking about show results I know it is a touchy thing here on the forum so usually I don't even bring it up but we have been working really, really hard at home and taking lessons and we happened to do well at the show and I am proud of my family. We did just OK in our halter classes - in the ribbons but no firsts (I am just NOT a good halter person and every horse we have but one could stand to lose a pound or two) but everything else performance-wise went great. It was a four judge show so it was hard to keep track of the specific results for each and every class - I just now looked at the trophies to refresh my memory and try to be accurate. Our kids of course, love to bring home trophies and have the most recent Lake Elmo trophies from this past weekend still on display on our buffet and we brought home 30 trophies total - almost all of them performance class related, and then a mess of ribbons of all colors. I am VERY proud of our "A" gelding star "Phantom". He was the "High Point Performance Horse" of the show, winning in Hunter, Jumper, Pleasure Driving and Roadster. My son (who is 7 years old) got one 1st in Youth Pleasure Driving with him and our newest "B" gelding "Lad" had wins in Pleasure Driving, Roadster and Youth Pleasure Driving with my daughter (she is 10). My daughter also won Youth Hunter and Jumper in both A and B divisions and both kids won 1sts in Youth Showmanship. We took four horses total though two of them just did a couple of halter classes and Hunter and Jumper, the other two are true all-round horses and did it all.
Being pregnant now I can't do Jumper and Hunter so I am doing the driving classes and my husband has been doing the jumping of all the horses and he loves it. People were teasing him because he was warming up and stretching out before the classes but then we were so proud of him because he won Open Hunter and Jumper and had the fastest time of all the teens and adults that jumped. "Fast Runner" or "Sprinter" doesn't exactly come to mind when you look at him so it was fun to see him go so fast and surprise everyone. He got lots of cheers. They moved Hunter and Jumper to the end of the day on Saturday instead of Sunday so it was fun to have a much larger crowd than usual cheering on the entrants.
Though I've talked about our "results" and how we did, I still go back to what really made the show weekend fun and that was getting my workaholic husband AWAY from work (sort of, he still had to watch the Viking game Friday night) and getting away for the weekend as a family and camping out in our trailer and having everyone - right down to our three year old pitching in and helping with everything. Washing horses, mucking stalls, feeding, grooming, clipping, etc. and then cheering each other on. Sometimes our three year old shows in Color class though this weekend he decided he didn't want to. We've found a "hobby" the whole family participates in and enjoys and works hard as a team and that is priceless to me. Early on when we first started showing (just last year) we had no clue what we were doing and usually didn't even place and yet came home feeling just as good and having just as much fun talking about what went right and what went wrong and what was fun and what wasn't, etc. Not everyone is in to showing and I had horses for years and enjoyed them just as much without going to shows but the whole experience of setting goals and learning and seeing hard work pay off has really meant a lot and I think will carry over into other areas of our childrens lives and even with my husband and I. It is so much fun also to see my husband learning and having fun.