My 35th Bday & Valentine's Day

My 35th bday was uneventful. We ended up taking the kids to iJump in Texarkana and shopped and just enjoyed being together... turning 35 is not what I wanted to do but ya know, that can't be stopped.... Seeing the kids have such a great time was the best bday present I could ask for!

Our kids had the best Valentine's Day parties! They have such great teachers and friends and it's so fun to see them interact w/ them and grow into little people all their own. Seeing the kids grow so fast is breath-taking and wonderful but also so hard to see. I never dreamed these 2 tiny people would make my heart explode like they do.

2018 Dixie Nationals, Jackson, MS

We are home! Boy was it a good, COLD, tiresome, weekend in Jackson, Mississippi! Shelby, and the rest of Shaw Performance Horses, competed at the 2018 Dixie Nationals in Jackson all weekend. This was Shelby and Hershey's 2nd year in a row to go. They competed in the Youth Walk/Trot division.

Shelby and Hershey were in the following YA WT classes and their placings:
Showmanship: 2,2,2,1= 2nd
Youth Halter Mares: 6,3,4,5
Trail: OVERALL 1ST
Hunter Under Saddle: OVERALL 1ST
Equitation: OVERALL 1ST
MPHC Western Pleasure: 2,1,2,1= 1st
Western Pleasure: 2,1,1,1= 1st
Horsemanship: 1,2,1,1= 1st

Showmanship practice:
it's THAT COLD that the horses need their blankets on!

 Time for Trail!!

Bree LOVES Shelby. She was giving her sweet cuddles and loves the smell of Shelby's hair. haha

 DAY 2 started w/ English classes and ended w/ Western Pleasure and Horsemanship

Time to go warm-up for pleasure and horsemanship...and LITERALLY WARM UP!

 Even Champions have to earn their keep on this team. Shelby is never one to sit around and not be helping or cleaning the aisle or stalls or grooming someone's horse. She understands the value of THE ENTIRE showing experience and she's a tough little pistol! She will do as much as she physically can w/o anyone's help. Hershey always has a spotless stall and there's not a hair out of place on that mare. She's a great best friend and Hershey loves her dearly.

 And that's a wrap! This duo did FANTASTIC and worked SOOOO HARD!!
Shelby and Hershey won the YA WT High Point! This was also her 2nd year to be the YA WT Trail Champion!

Last year at Dixie Nationals 2017 when she had just won Trail

It's unreal to think we've had Hershey 2 years this Valentines Day, drove to Cypress, TX to "Look at" this mare w/ Alan and Linda and came home w/ her not knowing how this would go and now, look at all they've accomplished since then! They are best friends and both of them would do anything for each other. They have their spats, as any team/friendship does, but they have such a special and unique bond that they just click!
 Last year at Dixie Nationals they were the Champion in Youth Walk/Trot Trail, 3rd in 6 classes and Top 5 in all the rest classes, now they are the YA WT Hight Point, MULTIPLE champions for Congress, Pinto World, Top 10 at Paint World, Ft. Worth Stock Show champion & Top 5,  MPHC, etc.. the list goes on and on...Here we were "just going to do lessons once a week, no big shows, none of that.." and it amazes me that we get to care for and guide this wonderful child of God and His beautiful creature He created for Shelby! We can't wait to see what God has in store for this pair. We just pray He continues to give us the guidance and strength to encourage them and cheer them on as they succeed and blossom on this journey together.

Ft. Worth Stock Show 2018

What a week/weekend! We showed at our first Ft. Worth Stock Show and we hauled Hershey all by ourselves! Shelby's trainer, Alan Shaw, needed to stay home to be w/ his family since the reoccurrence of his youngest sons cancer and he insisted we still go. Shelby was under the guidance of Tim and Karen Wildes all weekend and they treated us like one of their own! It wasn't easy but it was a memorable and great weekend and show. VERY tough competition w/ deep classes! She competed with the best of the best in Texas. It was definitely worth all the hard work, long hours, anxiety over the changes and newness of this adventure and the memories that were made!
Shelby was in 8 classes and placed in all but one class! There were 4 judges and below are the placing she got under each (a gate is no call out. they only called up to 6th place and she got 7th in those that she wasn't called out for)

Walk Trot Trail, 5-10 years old: 4th & 6th place w/ 2 gates
Walk Trot Hunt Seat Equitation, 5-10 yrs old: 2nd, 4th, 2nd and 4th
Walk Trot Hunter Under Saddle, 5-10 yrs old: 3rd, 4th, 2nd, gate
Walk Trot Horsemanship, 5-10 yrs old: 4th, 4th, 3rd and 2nd
Walk Trot Western Pleasure, 5-10 yrs old: 3rd, 5th, 1st, 6th
Youth Halter Mares, all ages: no call out
Walk Trot Showmanship, 5-10 yrs old: 5th, 2-gates, 6th
She won 19 RIBBONS OVERALL!
That is an insane success and HUGE accomplishing weekend, if I must say so! She had a blast reuniting w/ show friends and meeting new ones! We were surrounded by loving, caring, helpful people who love our kids and our family. God has truly blessed us w/ our Horse Family!

Here's some highlights of our weekend in Ft. Worth, Texas...

We made it!!

Hersh is all tucked in and ready for bed. Ready to start the next morning in Trail!

 Day 1 of the FWSSR: Trail

Practice for Trail was from 6am -8:45am and Shelby was in the first class to work at 9am. Needless to say this momma was a little frazzled not having more than an hour and half in the pen to work the pattern but Shelby did fine.

 

In case you can't see him real well, this is not your average "Show Dad." This is the one and only Jay Novacek! His wife and daugther show. His daughter, pictured beside him in my sneaky pic, was showing at the FWSSR too.

 Practice is over, she's dressed and ready and here we go....

Hersh and Shelby placed under 2 judges in Trail winning 4th(white) and 6th (green)! Had a little mishap in our L chute back-up but hey, it's a learning curve and they did great w/ NO pole ticks at all!

 English practice w/ who I like to call, "Magnical Unicorn English Princess," Karen:

Day 3: English and Western classes: 

HS Eq & HUS practice and award time.. she ROCKED her HS Eq and HUS! All that hard work w/ Mr. Alan and Ms. Karen paid off FOR SURE!

Time to practice Western classes!

 Here we go... Horsemanship & Western Pleasure

 Day 3: Youth Halter Mares all ages and Showmanship:

 All Showmanship Pretty...

 Hershey was very happy to be home!!