Hamilton, NRBC and Graham are in the Books!

We showed in March at the reining show in Hamilton.  It was in the middle of nowhere! But, the facility was cool.  It has a hotel and restaurant on the grounds, thank goodness!  The town of Hamilton has very little in it, especially in the way of eating!  It really surprised me, because Hwy 281 runs right through the middle of town.  Plus they have a really cool town square, with a beautiful old court house.  I always love those old courthouses!  Anyway, the show was kind of a dud for us.  Alli Buffington showed Priss (aka Playboys Last Fling) and had a good run.  They had a few bobbles so the end result was like a 68.  It was derby, so that wasn’t going to win her anything, but she looked great on the mare….and really taught her a lot for her next derby!  Todd showed Canelo (aka Pick N Berries) and had a fantastic run, except the horse kicked out on the lead change.  So his 74 run was quickly taken to a 68 between the penalty and maneuver score.  Bummer.  He also showed Willy (aka West Coast Willy) who marked a 71.  Unfortunately, he swapped leads in the center a few times.  They don’t give extra points for that.  So, he too, was on target for a 73/74, but it was not to be.
We were at the NRBC, in Katy in April.  I am convinced that no one in Katy has a kitchen in their house.  There is never a time that you go out to eat that the restaurant isn’t packed!  The show as always was big and action packed.  Todd and Alli both showed in the Derby.  They had good runs, but didn’t score high enough to make the finals.  We stayed in a corporate apartment this year.  That was nice!  We have never done that for a long show like this.  We usually stay in a hotel, but man that is a long time in a hotel.  We will definitely do the corporate housing again!
At the end of April we went to the Graham Stampede in, yep you guessed it, Graham!  What a lovely town.  It was very picturesque and quaint.  Beautiful homes, lots of restaurants and plenty of hotel rooms.  The facility was good.  Not my favorite facility, but definitely good for the competitors and horses.  Us spectators have different needs than the people showing!  We had a great show!  Todd marked a 73.5 on Canelo and had a great run on him!  Tracy and Envy (aka Such a Day) had a great show.  She was reserve champion in the NHNP L2 and was 3rd in the Green Horse L2.  Miko Garcia had his first time in the pen, ever, on Red (aka Red River Banjo).  He marked a 66.5, stayed on pattern and finished in the top 10 of his first ever class!  It was really awesome to watch!
Our next show is the Great Escape at the Greater Southwest Equestrian Center in Katy.  We looked forward to seeing you all there and until next time, see you down the show road!!….Taumi