A Tale of Two Horse Shows

I went to two different horse shows last weekend. Neither of which I competed in.  Saturday night was spent at the Del Mar National and Sunday was the Hipico Real del Mar show in Rosarito, Mexico.

Why yes, I did buy a limited edition Flexible sweatshirt

I was originally going to come down for the show in Mexico, which we were invited to in February.   But once I saw that the National was going to be the same weekend I knew I wanted to go to that as well.  Especially once they announced Flexible's retirement ceremony.  I absolutely love Flexi and Rich.  While it's sad that they don't ever compete in Oregon, I'm glad I was able to see them one last time.

So many tears

 I had texted early in the week with L to see if she was going to be at the Grand Prix and maybe meet up.  I was super busy Saturday before the GP and didn't follow up.  To my surprise, about half way through the GP I heard someone call her name and looked over and she was sitting in the same row as I was.  I texted her then and she kindly took me over during the break before the jump off to meet the other bloggers there. I got to meet Carey, Alex, Karen, and Susan.  We didn't have very long to chat and I wish we had had more time.  I also ran over at one point to see a big group from my old barn and talk to my old trainer for a bit. I had to leave right after it was over because we still had over an hour drive back to my parent's house and I had been up for close to 20hrs at that point. The GP course was super hard; I don't know if I've ever seen so many retire on course or be eliminated.

Seriously, best arena view ever

Sunday was wet and cold, not your typical SoCal/Northern Mexico May day. We got to Hipico Real del Mar as they were walking the .80m course and I really wanted to be out there jumping it. The rain started during the second rider's round and it was super nasty.  We didn't stay very long but from what we did see, the show looked a lot like a US show.  There were kids not knowing where they were going, trainers at the ringside looking frustrated, and parents in the stands trying to jump every jump with their kids. There was one dad who was talking during his daughter's round, counting down the strides and telling her to wait or kissing when appropriate. But it was all in Spanish. It was very cute. I'd say the biggest difference, besides the language, was that none of the girls had their hair up in their helmets.  Everyone just had a pony tail and one or two didn't eve have their hair tied back.  What would George Morris say?!