2009 National Mini Horse Show, Tulsa, OK

By George I think she's got it, she's got it, she's got it
in fact I'm sure she's got it.........

Last Tuesday, the Barngoddess, the Little Princess and I headed to Tulsa OKLA for the National Miniature Horse Registry Show. This is an annual show that brings contestants from around this great USA and our friendly neighbor to the North, Canada, to showcase thier miniature horses.

This year the Little Princess started showing minis in June at a Regional Show just outside St. Louis MO, followed by regional shows in Columbia and Carthage MO.
She was showing not only the Haven Lee Farm horses, but also showed a horse named "... Double" that belongs to the Barngoddess's good friend.

Six weeks ago, the girls got together and the Little Princess was taught the ropes to driving a horse pulling a little two wheel cart. Now the Little Princess is a quick learner and this proved to be the fact this past week.

So onto the story.........
Tuesday was a trip to Tulsa with the Home away from Home. Got there and unpacked and helped set up the stalls for the coming week. We all spent the night and I got to go back to work Wednesday am. PS it's a heck of a commute from tulsa to Mt Vernon.
Any way....
The Little Princess showed in a number of classes: Hunter Jumping and Regular Jumping along with Halter class. The Hunter Jumping is where the horse has to jump over so many obstacles without hitting the jump. In Regular Jumping the course is similiar but different... don't ask me, I thought they looked the same. And halter is where you show the horse without doing much except having the horse set up correctly. The LP didn't do too good in these classes. Horse knocked over jumps, etc.
But along came "Showmanship" and our little princess took 8th out of 20 some. This class involves the horse doing it's job, along with the LP doing her part. To come out with 8th is remarkable for a person only having showed 3 times prior. GREAT JOB SHE DID......

Then came the costume classes. She was with a group that took Reserve National Championship on Firday night and returned with a different horse and costume on Saturday Morning and took Grand National Championship.

But the cream of the whole show was when I got to watch as she drove for the first time in a show, no less the National Show. She drove "Double" the gelding owned by Viola's friend. Our little girl took 5th place overall. One judge even rated her as #2 (but the other Judges didn't..who cares) she came away with a 5th at her first show driving.... what an honor.
Here we see her getting ready for the big event.



and here is a picture of her actually driving...... too bad this old man can't take pictures that are in focus.



What an honor to watch the Little Princess driving. She was better than some of the others, in fact a lot better, but as we are an unknown name and not some big fancy trainer....... well the Little Princess was indeed #2 in driving and will show it next year when she drives somemore.

So home finally late sunday night and back to the rat race again today.

The Little Princess and the Barngoddess are still on cloud nine from a 5th and then an 8th showing, along with the costume classes..... but to take a 5th after only 6 weeks driving, and at her first show driving (the NATIONAL EVENT) indeed makes us really

CELEBRATE LIFE

to the fullest.

Congrats Little Princess and I look forward to watching your excellent driving skills next year with your own horse.