Weekend show report Factory Ponies Live

This past Saturday I attended Factory Ponies Live in Spencer, MA. It is an all OF plastic show so it limited who I could bring to play with in performance. It also made things pretty easy. I decided to bring 2 horses that could do a multitude of things in English, Western and Other classes. I also brought Lady Intrigue for another try at that last NAN card she needed for her superior event horse award. It did both really well and really mediocre. But I got to show again and it's been a long time since I have really gotten to show in performance as I did so much judging last year.  I also got to play with some new things and that's always a good time.

   This first entry is Lady Liberty showing in calf roping. My silly cowboy forgot his hat in the box and I didn't notice until 3 classes later. The saddle was made by Pam Perkins and the bridle is a rare western bridle made by Jennifer Buxton. The cow is on long term loan from my friend Joan Fauteux.

The next entry Lady Liberty tried out was this team roping entry. I have known for years that this entry is flawed and have still not managed to talk myself into fixing it (hacking up a fence piece to make a proper gate). Cowboy still isn't wearing his hat. The cows are also on loan from Joan Fauteux but just for the show. The bridle is a Pam Perkins bridle and I have no clue who made those boots.

The next class was other western and cowboy finally got his hat! AND he got mangled into position. I can't remember if I made this doll so he could do this set-up or if I just randomly made myself a bendy cowboy and then found the photo. Either way, it's fun and it looks like the judge though so as well.

Other western was also the first class of the day for Just Because. She is wearing my other Pam Perkins western set. I should probably work up some documentation for my lead-line entry but that didn't happen for Saturday.

Next was western games and I again pulled out the two barrels and a pole game. The doll was made by Joan Yount and the documentation is from Jennifer Buxton's blog. I feel she needs credit here since I am pretty sure the documentation is what makes the judges like this game so much.

Just Because played in western games as well. Not as successfully however. She was playing musical stalls with some poles made for me by Joan Fauteux. The doll is was my 500th doll that I did end up keeping. She will not be riding this horse normally.

Just Because doing western trail. The poles are part of a jump made for me by Marci Driscoll. I made the flowers.

Lady Liberty had better luck in western trail.

In the end Lady Liberty ended up with champion in the western division. She's a good western horse.

Just Because started off the English division with this hunter entry. Here is a shot of the rest of the jump that Marci made me. The doll is my new youth doll. I plan on keeping this one. The tack is made by Jennifer Buxton. There was, as always, some really amazing jumping entries on the table.

Lady Liberty competed in English games with this rescue race entry. I think it was an excuse for me to use more dolls. It was REALLY hard getting the doll to stay on the barrel and not grab the rider inapropriatly. Lady's tack is also Braymere tack.

Just Because (and I) got lazy and didn't think up a different game for English games and did musical stalls again. It didn't work better the second time.

Funny enough Just Because did badly in English trail because I couldn't find the correct documentation. She is approaching the bridge as the documentation indicates, however it says she is jogging. Oops.

Lady Liberty however had correct documentation and did nicely with this gate entry. I should probably Thank Jennifer Buxton again here. While I didn't use her photos in my documentation I was mentally running them through my head to set this up correctly.

Just Because did this versatility challenge as her other English entry. This is almost the best she did all day. Though I think she did get second in western pleasure (Lady Liberty got first).

And look at that! Lady Intrigue came to the show to do this one class and she managed to get that last NAN card she needed! I have sent in the application to get her her Superior Event Horse award in therapeutic riding. And now that poor horse can retire. She has fallen of way too many show tables and it very dinged up. But she has been a very good show horse and has worked very hard for me. Now I will need to find some new things for my Travis doll to do.

In the End Just Because didn't do much of anything at the show except take up space and give the judge something else to look at. Lady Liberty however had a very good show day and not only received western champion but she then went on to get overall performance reserve champion. Not bad for a standing horse.