Awards Ceremony & Auction

On Sunday they had an awards ceremony to present awards for each division and event. We got awards for every event! We got a tenth place ribbon for body conditioning, an eighth place ribbon for in-hand, a sixth place ribbon for horse course, and a 3rd place award for stall decorating.

Baja and I wore all of our ribbons when we rode through the auction. We had to go fourth because his hip number was 4. The auction was very sad because the horses were going for really low prices and some of the trainers were really sad to be giving their horse up. I had steeled myself to not cry, but it was hard not to get choked up when telling the crowd what a great horse he was. His bid only went up to $375 and I was a little disappointed he went so cheap.

After the auction, his new owner came back to see him and take him home. One of the first things she said was that she had prayed to get a good, calm horse. I knew right away that she was the right person for him and that God had arranged for him to get a good home. We had prayed that he would get a great owner and I think God placed him in the right home. I told her all about him and then helped her load him up to go to his new home.

The Results

Thankfully they told us the results after all of the top 10 did their routine. We were trying to watch all of the routines after ours and keep a mental tab of where we were placing. They brought us all back into the arena and gave out our finals ribbons. We placed 7th!!! I thought that was great considering we had to go first and I'd never even seen an EMM before. I think that if I had executed our routine a little better, we could've been right with the top finishers. Baja did such a great job and I was very proud of him!

The Finals

The top 10 for the Idols division got to compete in a freestyle finals on Saturday afternoon at 4pm. We got 4 minutes to perform a routine of our choice, we were required to perform certain maneuvers including walk, trot, and canter, canter circles each direction showing a lead change, 360 pivots in each direction, back up, and halt.

Baja and I had practiced at home so that we would be prepared in case we made the top 10. Our routine used beach music and a beach umbrella and frisbees. I felt like we were ready after we did a little practice with the fribees and umbrella on Saturday morning. Then I found out that we had to go 1st. Yuck!!

All of our supporters were ready with their signs and hot pink t-shirts on that we had made. We were ready to go. We entered the ring, our music started and we were off!

Our routine went pretty well, our canter lead change wasn't precise, and I felt rushed to make sure I fit everything in and stayed with the program. I did catch both frisbees, and we didn't have any problems with the umbrella. Our pivots were kind of rushed, but overall we did everything we needed to. The crowd wasn't really into it yet, and when the judges gave their score they were kind of low, I think they weren't loosened up yet either. That's the hard part about going first!

The Horse Course (Riding)

We got to have a little warm up time before doing our riding course on Friday afternoon. Our draw had us going 8th, which was a little better than 2nd! I was ready to get it over with. I had more confidence in our riding that the in-hand, so I felt we would have a good chance at making the top ten at this point. When we entered the ring, we had to do a 90 second freestyle, then go through the obstacle course. Our freestyle time went well, we did canter circles, our flying lead changes, backing, trotting, and 360 pivots. He was a star going through the course, he is so good at obstacles, stood for mounting, trotted and cantered on cue and didn't run out of his canter circle. Backing up through the turn was a little close, but we didn't hit a pole, we went over the bridge with no problem, trotted right over the W poles, did our 360 and left the ring. I felt we did well.

The youth in-hand was after that, they made us wait until after the youth competition was over before they finally announced the results of the top 10 idols who would be in the finals! We were dying to find out, and when they announced it, all of our supporters erupted in cheering!! We made the top 10!!! Yay! Actually we placed 6th in the horse course, and our combined score placed us 5th overall.

The In-hand Course

The competition started at 8am on Friday with the Idols division in-hand course. Our draw had us going 2nd out of 34 horses! Oh well, we would get it over with quickly at least. Baja did well when we went in the ring. He stood well for saddling and picking up his feet. When we got to the trailer, he loaded his front feet in and backed out twice before going into the trailer. His only other bauble was when we did the catch and release pen, he didn't want to leave me! I had to shoo him away 3 times! With that over with, I got to relax and watch everyone else. I didn't feel so bad about our performance once I watched a few of the others go and saw the troubles they were having getting their horses to stand still, trot, etc.

They posted the results after everyone went through and we were in 7th place after the in-hand course!! (later changed to eighth place?!?)

The Competition

Well, we arrived in Murfreesboro with no problems. I was a little worried about getting Legacy into the trailer and down there, but she loaded okay and we got down there with no incidences. Once we got there, they got there hip numbers painted on and then we got them settled into their stalls.


The first order of business was to get them both familiarized with the arena. The facility at the Miller Coliseum is really nice, with covered stalls, a covered breezeway to the arena, and the warm-up area and arena are both indoors. I took Legacy out first and took her into the arena. They had obstacles set up that we could practice on, and I was most anxious to practice with them on loading in and out of the stock trailer. We do not have a stock trailer, ours are ramp-load, so I wanted to get them some practice stepping up and down out of it. Legacy went in right away, but scared herself when she backed out. The second time I took her in she would not back out, she got on her tippy toes but would not go back, so I had to turn her around and lead her out. She didn't mind most of the other obstacles and I walked her all around so he could look at everything. After that, I saddled up Baja and took him in. As I walked him all around the perimeter of the ring, I quickly found out that he didn't like the banners hanging on the railing. So we took our time, checking each one out. The rest of our practice went pretty well, he was a little hesitant at first, but warmed into everything.

After that we had our trainers meeting and I decorated Baja's stall. The youth club had made a sign for his stall and we used beachy decorations to stick with our beach theme. I had dyed the tips of his mane hot pink earlier in the day and he was certainly getting noticed!

The Final Days

GOODBYE BAJA!!!

Well, we are down to the final days before the competition. I am ready to go and get it done. It will be a little sad seeing my little buddy go, I sure hope he gets a great home. Baja is such a sweet heart and good little guy. If I had the room here and the need to keep him, I would in a heartbeat. He is a great little horse.

I have been riding him consistently and am happy with his training. His laid-back attitude has really been a great asset. He is riding well, his advanced maneuvers are not all that slick, but I think we can do all right in the competition.

He's Actually jumping OVER the jumps now!!!

These last days will be spent reviewing our obstacles, practicing for our freestyle routine, and spiffing up his appearance. I also need to get everything together that we need to take with us for 4 days away from home. I think the competion will be really fun and a great experience. We got our t-shirts made and they are really cute, the youth club has stall decorations ready and my finals music and props are ready to go. Off to Murfreesboro!!