Horse Show

There were 10 riders in the show. Evelyn was #101. The group was broken into 2 groups. Evelyn being in the first group. Evelyn also drew quite the crowd. Besides us, she had Grandma and Grandpa Murphy, Eric, Chrissy, the kids and Aunt Deni, and Rhonda and Sara. Quite the cheering section.

Here Evelyn has her patterns to study.
Evelyn with her beloved Freckles, AKA Freckles minus the Freckle. That was his name for the day.

I just have to say, that the horse show was so exciting, fun, and I was so proud. Had tears in my eyes on so many occasions. Evelyn looked so grown up and so sure of herself. I just had to stand back and admire. Then walk away after I kept bugging her with do you know your patterns, remember to acknowledge the judge, smile, feet up, shoulders back......... I gave Evelyn a big hug, gave Freckles minus the Freckle a good ear scratch and a whisper to be good to my/his girl. And then go back to my spot under the easy up. But I was nervous too, so had to walk around to visit some of my horse buds: JJ, Scottie, Sassy, Rosie, and many others whose names I don't remember.

The show opened up with playing the National Anthem with all the riders in the middle of the arena. No matter how many times I have heard that song, it still brings tears to my eyes and makes me feel very proud.


This is the judge. A big tall cowboy. He was very good with the riders, giving them encouragement and praise.

First event was Trailing. Evelyn was first to go. The riders take their horse through a series of obstacles following a pattern. Evelyn did great. Freckles didn't want to go over the bridge, but Ev was forceful and over he went.

This is the gate. The riders have to stand on one side, back their horse, go through, and back their horse again. Like you would do going through a gate.

The riders have to lead their horses through cones,
do a pattern over a series of logs, continue through another pattern over logs, then slow to a walk and step over logs until they get to the bridge....
Here Freckles hesitated going over the bridge and needen some encouragement
Evelyn did get that guy up and over the bridge. Once over the bridge, they had to stop their horse and acknowledge the judge. Riders must always acknowledge the judge. If the riders did not, he would give them a reminder.

Next event was Horsemanship. All 5 riders in her group were in the arena at the same time.

Evelyn is on the far left, closest to the announcer's tent.

The riders must show good riding posture and good horse handling.
The riders jog their horses around the arena while keeping good posture and following the judges commands. The riders also walk their horses, have to reverse, back up the horses and then line up in the middle of the arena in front of the judge.
The judge carefully inspects each rider.

The timed events were the last 2. Poles and barrels. Freckles just didn't want to move very fast. He knocked over one pole for a 2 second penalty.

Barrels was flawless, none knocked over, but again, Freckles just was not in the mood to run today.

Barrels was the event Evelyn was really looking forward to. One of her dreams/goals is to be a barrel racer. Well, this was her first try at it! Great job too. Next time Freckles needs a little more kickin' in the sides with the spurs to get motivated to get out and get moving.
This is what a very proud girl looks like at the end of her first horse show and her favorite event.
Overall here is how our girl did:

Trailing - 3rd

Horsemanship - FIRST!!! Look at that look of excitement on her face. Quite the cheers when Evy's name was announced!

Poles - 4th

Barrels - 3rd

Overall score - 2nd in her group, by 2 points!

Oh my. Not bad at all for Evy's first horse show. Not bad at all. Actually very excellent! And most importantly, Evelyn had so much fun! You could tell. She was all smiles and looked so proud and so sure of herself up there on her boy Freckles. (aka Freckles minus the Freckle)

Here is the show group proudly displaying their ribbons.

Evelyn and the show judge.
Oh my! Look at all those ribbons. The kids hooked them onto their belts.
Here is Evelyn with her friend Sara. They have known each other for 5 years.

Evelyn with Miss Nicole, her riding instructor.

Way to go Evelyn! We are so proud of you. You have earned your belt!!

The Strauss' called to see if Greg wanted to go to the lake with them. We were headed to the pool. Greg said yes to the lake, Evelyn quickly changed her mind to a yes to the lake, no to the pool. So, off we headed to swim and relax for the afternoon at the lake. Thank you Strauss' for giving us a call. It was fun to spend the afternoon with you, as always!

Horse Show

Hey Y'all. Want to letcha know bout Evelyn's first horse show!

Sunday, June 29, 9 am

Serrano Creek Equestrian Center in Lake Forest.

Evelyn is nervous, anxious and so excited. She gets to ride her beloved Freckles and got to give him a nick name for the show.

Evelyn is doing barrles, poles, trailing and showmanship. There will be a real live horse show judge to judge the riders.

We went out and bought a Western blouse for the show and new jeans. Boot Barn, y'all! Evelyn also needs to wear a nice belt and have her hair in a nice bun. We have to practice that one. Need to shine up her boots too.

Evelyn has been dreaming of this and now can say that she has fulfilled one of her dreams. And accomplish a goal that she has set for herself. Way to go Evelyn.

If you are in the area, and care to drop on in, Evelyn would be thrilled to see ya.

Let's spend a little time with Evelyn now

No, this is not the Greg blog.It's a family blog. Where I can write, brag, vent, about what I want to. Mostly write about the family, the kids, the dog.

While Evelyn is at all Greg's games cheering on the team, and playing with the other sisters who are younger than her, Evelyn does have interests of her own. She is quite the young horse woman. She has loved horses for years, gone on trail rides and somehow convinced grandma she needed riding lessons for her birthday. Well, that has turned into weekly riding lessons and dreams of becoming a professional barrel racer.


Since we don't live in the country or have a vast amount of acreage behind our house, Evelyn takes lessons in the heart of Lake Forest. It's a very nice equestrian center nestled back in the trees with nice arenas and even a great riding trail. We have met the nicest people there too, and the greatest horses.


Evelyn is taking Western lessons. She looks like she has been on a horse all her life. Her horse love is Freckles, a stubborn older guy who doesn't like attention and would rather show you his back side. She controls him like a pro in the arena and gives him plenty of hugs and pats and shows him that she loves him unconditionally. Maybe he is warming to this sweet young lady who loves to ride him and dreams of owning him and him alone one day.


Today Evelyn is moving to a more advanced riding lesson. She will be riding with older riders. Should have seen the smile on this girls face, like a jack arsh with a mouth full of bumble bees. I am so excited too and can't wait to see this girl in action.

Over spring break Evelyn attended a one day riding camp at the stables. Oh what fun these gals had. The did competitions, painted the horses, won awards and had a horsey great time, y'all. Evelyn won a few ribbons too. She proudly displays them in her room (messy though it be) Here are some fun photos of the day.

Girls just havin' a fun ole time painting this sweet horse. Can't remember her name but she is so sweet. And she looked so purdy when she was done.
I believe she was summer and spring. The girls were in 2 teams. Each team had a theme to paint their horse.
The other side, the other side, the other side o' this horse.
Oh, just lovely.

Oh, hello there Evelyn. Gotcha!!
Here are the girls waitin' to get their awards for their hard work that mornin'.
Sweet! Evelyn won 3rd and 6th for the 2 events she did. Yee haw!!
Lookie Lookie. How great is that!
The group o' campers proudly showin' off their awards from the day.
Here's a closer view of Evelyn and that's her riding instructor behind her, Miss Nicole. Woah! Back the horse trailer up! Is Evelyn almost as tall as Miss Nicole? Did I forget to mention how tall Evelyn is getting. Hard to keep her in clothes and shoes lately.
Here is one of our favorite horses at the stable. A big ole' sweet horse who can be very intimidating at first given his size.

I must also say , that this girl of mine is just the sweetest, kindest, sweetest, beautiful people I know.Did I say she was the sweetest? Sure she has her moments, but not that many like others in this house who will remain nameless. She is kind, friendly, patient, funny, loving, sweet, kind, a wonderful friend, adventurous, patient, a beautiful young woman, a super friend, sweet, kind, a super sister, loving, funny, and just has a wonderful soul. Can't find enough great words to describe this girl of mine. Just wonderful, super, mine. She just goes with it, hardly a complaint, always happy, always helpful, always her. We have fun hanging out together. I love watching her ride horses and just hanging out with her. She loves to run with me and I am afraid one day here will out run me with those long legs of hers.


So, that's my Evelyn, my girl. You are wonderful, awesome, you are definitely you. One day you will fulfill your dream, you will have a horse and you will be riding. One day. Don't ever loose sight of your dream. Never. Never. Not ever.