Plastic Performance Ponies-Wrap Up

    I took a very long break from live showing. Up until this year, I haven't show at a live show since November of 2019. I judged a few times, but hadn't actually shown. I think I needed a break. I showed at Resin Renaissance at Breyerfest and did reasonably well, but when I showed at Plastic Performance Ponies I did amazingly well with Mocha Latte. At the end of the show we had call backs for overall champion and reserve. Mocha Latte had won champion in 3 of the 4 AR/CM divisions (she didn't show in harness because I do not currently own a harness) and that was enough to get her overall champion. I was extremely pleased with this! I am a good performance shower, but I have never done that well at a show. The lowest placing Mocha Latte got was third and she got more firsts than anything. It was an extremely good show day!

     It's been a long time so I had forgotten that people like to get photos of the shower, with the horse and the awards. Ann Harris took this photo, since she remembered. 

     A week or so after the show I put a bunch of the model sized winnings on Mocha Latte for a picture in the studio. Over the years she has won several halters, this neck sash, and several model sized rosettes (that I forgot to put in the pic). She also won this blanket at PPP and I think it is wonderful!

     I only showed in 2 showed this year, and both of them with Mocha Latte. But it has definitely been nice to be back to showing. For PPP I was really motivated to find new things to do and I found a lot of new entries, or updated some older entries. Before I stopped showing I was kind of stuck in a rut of showing the same things over and over. Now I want to keep looking for new things to do. Maybe I will keep an eye out for shows next year and see what I can do. 

Plastic Performance Ponies-English

     My last division of the day, in AR/CM at Plastic Performance Ponies, was English. I started out with jumper, which was kind of tricky for me to manage. I sold my old jumper jump and I had to add the necessary elements to make my hunter jump work. My flags (which I remembered) kept trying to fall down, I forgot my horse's boots, so many things. But I remembered to take a picture of a third place entry of mine, so that feels like a win to me. 

      The next class was English games and I put up my mimosa hunter classic entry. This was another group of miniatures I bought from Carrie Sloan Meyer. The documentation could have been enough with the little mimosa glass, but the pitcher with the pouring drink added a bit of fun. It's not necessary for the entry, but it was fun. I added the jump since they are often used in mimosa hunter. This one I also bought at Breyerfest from Model Horse Jumps (they are also on etsy) and not only is it a nice jump, it was super affordable. It also adds a bit more to my games entry and I love that. 

      The next class was hunter and I was happy to set up my hunter jump in the usual way that made sense to me. This super amazing jump was made for me many years ago by my friend Marci Driscol. 

     After hunter it was time for dressage. I remembered my bridle number and I remembered to take the number off the back of the rider. Sometimes details escape me, but for this show I was pretty on top of things. 

     After dressage it was time for other English. I put in my versatility entry with new documentation I made the week before the show. I have used a versatility entry like this many times over the years, and when I start with English I usually just add a card that says they started in English tack, since I originally made the documentation for western. My favorite part of this entry is I took all of the reference photos on the documentation. 

     Next up was arena trail. Another poles entry, because most of my arena trail entries are poles entries. 

      The last class in the English division for Mocha Latte was Huntseat pleasure other type. 

     Then it was time for the callbacks. I wasn't really sure how Mocha Latte would do since she had a of a rockier time in the English division. Still, she did quite well and managed to get Champion in the English divison. 

      I have one more post I want to do about PPP and I will get that up soon!
 

Plastic Performance Ponies- Western

          It's a good thing I haven't tried to blog daily for a while. I think I would totally lose my mind. As it is, it's been a week since Plastic Performance Ponies and I have managed 2 posts. Three, once I finish and publish this one. Anyway, the next division in AR/CM was western. My first class was judged stockwork, which doesn't give me a lot of options. I ordered this cow from Lisa Smalley the week of the show. It showed up on the Thursday before, I got her cleaned, prepped and painted, and ready to go into the working cow horse entry. The cow is not a perfect fit for the horse for this entry, but it is better than any of my other cattle options that I currently own. This entry, that I wasn't totally happy with, got 2nd. 

    The next class was timed stock work and I put in my steer daubing entry. I bought a lot of stuff from Carrie Sloan Meyer at Breyerfest. I think I must have spent an hour in her room looking at saddle pads and fun new props. I bought the steer daubing pole and the documentation and ordered a running steer from Carol Herden (and was excited it showed up in plenty of time for the show). This was definitely a good start to the western division. 

     Next was western speed games. There are a lot of games out there, and I have stuff to put together a lot of different games entries. But this hook-a-duck game is one of my new things and I wanted to play with it. 

     The next class was western non-speed games. This took some figuring out because a lot of games are technically speed games. But while speed is sometimes a factor in hoof ball, it's actually a skill game. And it went really well for me. The documentation and ball were also things I ordered from Carrie after Breyerfest. Because I apparently lack self control when it comes to miniature stuff. 

     Western pattern work was next and I went with western dressage. I nearly messed up the reins (they were upside down!) but I caught my mistake and fixed it before it was time to be judged. I am really glad I caught my mistake. 

    The next class was other western and I put my pleasure horse in extreme cowboy doing a cowboy curtain. It was a filler class because I knew the tack and doll were not appropriate for the class. I did not want to change them. We got third and I forgot to take a picture. 

     After that was western arena trail. There are things to do in arena trail other than poles, but poles are the most common. I like this setup because it's a bit more complex and interesting than some setups. 

     I said this was the Leggs pleasure class, lol. The second Leggs belongs to my friend, Larry Nichols.

     Mocha Latte did a really nice job and got first in western pleasure stock type. And I just now realized I didn't take note of how many entries were in any of the classes. I did that for most of Resin Renaissance. I guess I can only remember just so many things. I know there were a bunch of entries in western pleasure stock type. 

    In the end Mocha Latte got champion in the AR/CM western division. I was extremely proud of her 6 first places, a second and a third. The English division was still to come. 

 

Plastic Performance Ponies-other performance

     Plastic Performance Ponies had a class list split between OF and CM/AR, and divisions for harness, other performance, western, and English classes. I don't currently own a harness so my first class of the day was other costume in the other performance division. This was my Jester costume, which I also showed at Resin Renaissance. The hat was still on the horse when the judge looked at it. This was an excellent start to my day!

     I really like to find ways to make my other performance (division) entries flow together if I can so as not to hold up the show with a ton of tack changes. My other performance entry was my vaulting entry, which just required taking the bells off the horse, switching the doll, and adding a few things. The vaulting tack was made for me by Jennifer Buxton. 

      The show was paced in such a way, and there was room, so I had time to start setting up entries as other entries were being judged. It gave me time to set up my little free library and lemonade stand (both made by Kim Jacobs) while I waited for Mocha Latte to finish in her other performance class. Then I switched her tack and put her in the scene. 

     I completely forgot to get a photo of my natural trail entry, which was also in the other performance division, and where Mocha Latte got third place. It was great because I didn't have to change her tack again!

     At the end of the other performance division Mocha Latte had 3 firsts and a third and won other performance champion! That was an excellent way to start the show. I was ready to keep going and see what else we could do. 

Plastic Performance Ponies People

     I was absolutely dragging on show day. It really has been a super long time since I have shown, not counting Resin Renaissance, and having to get up early, after not sleeping well (because I don't sleep well in general anymore) was rough. But Travis and I made it to the show, saw friends we haven't seen in half of forever, got lots of hugs, got set up, and got our pre-show selfie. 

     This is my Little Elecktra doll and some of my new props from Carrie Sloan Meyer. This but wasn't totally necessary for the class, but it was too fun not to add. 

I got a pic with Sarah Hartman

A pic with Ann Harris

And one with Larry Nichols

    I was pretty tired, trying to do my best at something I really haven't done much of in awhile, and I forgot to take many photos. I did get pics of my entries and those are coming in blog posts soon. 

     Travis seemed to find the show day tiring too, since he fell asleep in the car on the way home. But he sat all day at our show table. That is a very tiring day!

    We went to meet up with a group of friends for dinner and we all went out on our friend Kevin's boat and went to the marina to listen to another friend's band. The band wasn't there, but Lauren (our friend) was and she was playing. We originally met her at the American Legion where we used to dance on Friday nights. Lauren would come once a month, perform, and then usually stayed and had karaoke. It was so much fun. 

     Travis got to drive the boat a bit (yes, it was actually moving) and he did great and had a really great time. The night was gorgeous and so much fun. 

     After an exceptionally long day I finally got home and went to bed. It look me 3 days just to get to this little post because I have been tired and busy. Yesterday, my car wouldn't start. After we replaced the battery it works again. But that was most of the day trying to get that taken care of. In the evening, Travis and I went to hang out with Kevin and dance. It's good to keep practicing. More horse show news to come!
 

Show Prep

     I have not done much show prep in a lot of years. I haven't had the need, since I haven't been showing. I think, maybe, some people wonder about that. It started with COVID, which stopped the shows for a while. Then it turned into there weren't many shows, or I was busy that weekend. And really, the thought of getting up gross early, on a weekend, was just awful. When I started dancing a bit over a year ago it really became impossible to imagine getting up super early on a Saturday after being out so late on a Friday night. But our Friday dance spot is closed and now we dance on Wednesdays (and for the Summer, a friend of mine and I go and dance in Connecticut on Tuesdays) but I showed at Resin Renaissance, because I was already going to be close to the show hall, I was already prepared to not get enough sleep the whole time I was in Kentucky, and I did actually have a nice time. I got to talking with my friend Danielle, one night in Kentucky, and she said there was a local show coming up in August. So I decided to look into it, the show was still open for entries, and then all of a sudden, I have show prep I needed to take care of. Alright then. 

     A lot of my recent show prep, which started as soon as I got back from Kentucky, was laminating my documentation. Yes, I bought a laminator just to do this. Part of that was I have had the same paper documentation for years and some of it is getting a little worn. Some of it was when I had my documentation on the table for my judging clinic at Breyerfest the wind kept trying to blow it away. I thought laminated documentation was a better idea. So that is what I am doing. I also, after many years, got a new documentation binder. Little things make me happy. My new binder, which is so neat and perfectly organized, makes me happy. It would be better if it was also pink, but sadly, it is not. 

     Another little weird piece of show prep was sorting miniature books. I had zero need to do this, I could have just grabbed a bunch of random books, but I decided to pull out mostly books that I was at least familiar with, preferably ones I had read, and not dark romance. It amused me to do it, so I did. Anyway, I have a whole ton of miniature books and I feel like now I need to come up with some more ideas that use them. And I am sure I will. 

      There are cows on my porch that just finished getting their clear coat and I have a note on my computer to do some tack fitting tomorrow. I also need to get the show stuff, and my table, make sure everything is clean and probably pack it in my car so it is easier to leave on Saturday morning. I am already tired thinking about getting up early. But I am also looking forward to the show. I will get to see friends I haven't seen in a while, and I will play with a horse. That should be fun. I am likely going to show just one horse again. It's an easy way to do it. 

      So anyway, after years of not showing I am doing show prep and trying to remember all the things that I didn't have to think too much about. Like things I have to remember to bring. And I have to look for my tweezers that seemed to disappear after Breyerfest. 

My Ordinary Life

     If you take all of the random things I have done in my life, and put them in a paragraph, sometimes it seems like I have this exceptionally interesting life. Until you realize that I have had 46 years on this planet and you can fit all the exceptionally interesting things I have done in a paragraph. The reality is that while my life is not typical for most people, it is pretty ordinary. And that's OK. I actually really love my ordinary life. Once in a while I do some really interesting things, but all of the ordinary makes the interesting stuff that much more interesting. 

     So what do I do with my ordinary life? Other than work and pay bills, which I do plenty of. Well, I do a lot of puzzles. And I mean, a LOT of puzzles. I happen to love puzzles. Jigsaw puzzles, word puzzles, escape rooms, word searches, cryptograms. I love puzzles. This was my latest puzzle. I got it at the Mary Todd Lincoln house in Lexington. The paint bottle is for scale. This small 7" diameter puzzle took me 2 days to finish. It made me twitchy and I had to walk away from it several times. But it was still fun. It's my first round puzzle. 

     Members of the miniatures club know that the club has now come to an end. The cost of everything has gone up quite a lot recently. That includes postage. Those facts, coupled with my extreme lack of extra time led me to the decision to discontinue the club. I have been considering it for probably a year. But now seemed to be the time to do it. Jennifer put together this cute photo with one of the July miniatures (the cabinet). I love Jennifer's photos. They are always so detailed. 

Photo by Jennifer Buxton

       I love to read and I do a lot of it. Even when I really don't have a lot of time, I read a lot. Yesterday, I was at my friend's shop and I picked up a journal by this name. My friend asked if I had read the book, I said no, and asked if I needed to. She said it would make the journal make a lot more sense. So I picked up the book. If nothing else, it is a hilarious read! Not for people that are offended by profanity. It's technically a self-help book, without being a regular self-help book. So far, what it is is a book reminding us that sometimes life sucks, and to learn to embrace it, and keep going. To be happy with the knowledge that sometimes life isn't all rainbows and butterflies. I do a lot of that already. More than one person lately has asked how I am always happy. The real answer is I am not ALWAYS happy, I am just happy much more often than not. And I do that by not dwelling on what I don't have or can't have. No, I don't aim for positivity in all things, I am snarky and sarcastic quite often. But I do acknowledge that I have a lot of really excellent things in my life. And I am happy with ordinary. Not every day needs to be an adventure (that sounds exhausting!) and not everything needs to be bigger, better, or more in some way. I have a lot of stuff, but better than that I have what I need. The fact that I have more than that is a bonus. 

     Mostly I wrote this post because there are people that want me to post and enjoy reading my blog. Sometimes that really does surprise me. In general, my life is fairly ordinary. Sometimes I get to do cool things, and sometimes I don't have much to say because it's just another week in my life. Summer is a bit more laid back than during the school year, but this summer I am still very busy. How did that happen? Well, I started working with a Spanish tutor, and I have 3 lessons a week with him. I also started going down to a dance studio in Connecticut on Tuesdays for a couple of lessons. But that is a whole outing in itself because the studio is about an hour away, there are usually several people that carpool, we usually get dinner before the lessons. Wednesdays I teach dance and there is a social dance after the lessons. And sometime in the week I usually have a private dance lesson as well. Friday I have my coffee date with Travis. I still have to work in the studio because paras don't make enough money to live. I have more time to read, and I like that. But even though I have a lot of things I have to do in a week, and the fun things I get to do might shift a bit depending on the time of year, I do have a pretty ordinary life. And most of the time, I really love that.