vicarious horse showing

Just because I'm not currently competing myself doesn't mean I don't love a beautiful day spent at a horse show.

striking poses all around. except Pig. Pig is sick of our shit already lol

Mostly I've gotten my fix by accompanying Brita and some other barn mates to their various horse trials and jumper shows and whatnot, but the other weekend I made it out to Loch Moy for a rated dressage show with Austen.

the sky was doing weird but cool things

It was kinda cool being at Loch Moy for something other than a horse trial haha. Plus Austen has been to a couple of my shows so it was nice to return the favor.

team spirit!

And obviously I was happy to make myself available for dog holding and last minute test learning and quizzing (and then the occasional heckle when Austen still went off course bc I'm actually kinda an asshole). Mostly tho it was cool to just watch Pig go out there and do his thing.

dressage done right?

I'm sure Austen will have plenty to say about the details herself eventually (maybe) - I was mostly just there for the atmosphere, ponies, and booze. Let's be real haha.

It was supposed to be lesson day for me at eventing barn OF... but I skipped out, choosing to go to the show instead. Idk. Y'all have probably heard more than enough about me being tired of hustling up rides, and I just didn't really feel like riding Gogo or Noel again. Hanging out at a horse show with friends sounded WAY better.

two very handsome (and sweet!) dudes

Esp bc I got to meet another blogger and internet-famous ponykins: Jan and Penn!! Obviously it'll surprise exactly nobody to learn that Jan is absolutely wonderful in person. But Penn. Omg. Guys. What a sweet quirky friendly horse!

"Ppl, plz to give me this sweet smelling beverage?" - Penn

Jan arrived after Austen's day was wrapped, so we got to hang out a bit and decompress while she unpacked and schooled and whatnot in preparation for the following day's tests (which she already wrote about and hot damn did they do well!).

contemplating the xc fences on the hack over to school

I mostly just liked watching tho. Especially watching how other riders like to go through their warm-ups and practice movements and stuff like that. Both Austen and Jan have been known to write fairly detailed reports of how they ride certain movements and whatnot, but nothing quite compares to actually watching.

i think they'll stick to dressage tho haha

Penn is just freakin adorable too. And such a nice guy! We all wandered around the xc field a bit longer after Jan finished her school, then off to a quick dinner before I took my (unfortunately sick) self home.

Penn spies water!

Fun times all around, I think. It's been an odd year for horse showing for me lol - I've attended way more as spectator than as competitor. But it's cool. Watching and supporting friends is fun too. Do you like to go watch horse shows? Or is it one of those things that if you're going to go, you're going as a competitor?