Weekend Rewind (3-5-12)

It was one of those very fast, long, exhausting weekends - mainly a horse show weekend for us (well my daughter & me).  She rode well - first show she has cantered this horse - so that was the big hurdle, but she did great.  Here are a few shots from the weekend.

Did I mention she LOVES pink?  A barn friend gave her the pink/white saddle pad (has rhinestones on it too) for Christmas, matches her pink/black gloves & the pink peackock bands on the stirrups.  Although black and white is the preferred tack/clothes colors - this horse (not ours) loves the weight of this pad combined with the fleecy pad (also pink), so we do what makes the horse happy - if she loses a point or 2 overall, oh well.  If it was a really big important show, we would definitely try to find another saddle pad that exact thickness.  For some education/background - the white stuff in his mouth is spit - called lipstick - sometimes it gets thick & drips - but that is a good thing - means he is comfortable, connected, etc with the bit - things are going well. 

diamond pattern mane braid

My daughter (12 yrs old)  also had a chance to try her hand at mane braiding.  Again, not our horse - but a friend's who kindly let my daughter "have at it."  She has a braiding book & has been reading up on the different styles - this is an acceptable style for arabians (this is horse is arabian) and he was also going be ridden in the show - so perfect timing.  She did a really good job for her first try & it stayed in all day until she took it out that evening.  She has a few finishing touches to fine tune, but she's got the idea.

straight pin her her jacket seam

Here comes the bad mom part -- I had to alter her show coat a little so it wouldn"t be so boxy and accidently left a straight pin attached to the inside of the lining.  I didn't realize it until she was warming up just before her ride - it glistened in the sunshine - can I you how she felt about that?  I tried to bend it a bit so at least it wouldn't come loose, move around & stick her (or the horse) during her ride, but she really wasn't happy with me about this (can't blame her).  The only funny thing I could tell her was - sit up tall & straight & you won't get stuck.... this is kind of a joke, since that is one thing she is working on - sitting up taller than tall in the saddle. 

replaced the plain black buttons with a little more flashy silver toned button

Note about the jacket & my tip of the day --- I can't & won't buy an expensive dressage show coat for $175 & up - especially for a growing girl, so I buy a suit jacket from the boy's dept at Target.  This one I took in at the waist just a bit so it was a bit more fitted - when the pin incident happened.  I also buy the fancy/pretty buttons at JoAnns (fabric store) & replace all the buttons on the coat.  This jacket only had 2 front buttons & dressage coats are supposed to have 3 buttons... so I added a fake button towards the top & put a heavy duty snap to close the front - didn't do velcro closure since the horse doesn't like that sound (just in case it came undone during her ride).  So, my $29.99 purchase - (actually $19.99 since I had 2 - $5.00 gift cards) was turned into a dressage coat - buttons cost about $10.00, and a little of my time/effort.

Although she didn't place first (came in 2nd) - it was still a successful show - she rode well & performed some of the movements better than she had during her lessons (and didn't get stuck with that pin).  These events take up most of our weekends, but we do get to share it with good friends from our barn and meet others who come & show. 

I also tooks pics of all of our riders, and it will take days to go through them.  I can tell I've improved in a few aspects of (horse) photography - I didn't take 50 pictures of each rider, hoping to get 10 good ones - I averaged 20-25 of each rider & know that I will be able to get several good shots from that amount.  This time I also shot in RAW in addition to JPEG Fine - so I'll be able to adjust some things - it is really a challenge to shoot into shade - I can't enter the show arena, but stand outside (in the sun) & shoot into the shade of the covered arena - not to mention those horses aren't standing still.  My other job(s) of the weekend, besides photographer, mom, etc.. grounds crew, gatekeeper for the show -- nothing like multitasking -- now where's my aleve??

Other details:  all photos SOOC - only slight cropping, 85mm lens and 50mm lens; button pic - Droid phone (older model) camera

Hope everyone had a good weekend - our weather was perfect for spending time outside.  Hope no one over-worked themselves where they are feeling as sore (& exhausted)  as I am.

UPDATE:  I have also added the 1st image (daughter on horse with pink/white tack) to the weekly challenge found on Mom Tried It: Shoot.Edit,Submit.  Click here. to see other great submissions.  This is my first time to participate in this group.