Work days

We hosted the first two horse shows of the season last weekend, but we had a lot of work to do to get our barn in shape to host the ten other teams in our region.

So the whole team met up on a sunny Saturday afternoon to do some chores around the barn.

Lauren Z., Sarah Jo, Jill and Whitney work hard painting jumps.

I showed up a little late since I had to take the biology GRE that morning (which was a blast). I hitched a ride out with my friend Katherine, and as soon as we got to the barn in Coolville Hannah JC, our assistant coach, sent us to buy more white paint for the jumps.

Then we helped clean tack (saddles and bridles), paint jumps and collect garbage and scraps to throw in the burn pile. Hannah JC and I almost started a brush fire when we lit the garbage, but we took care of it with our unsung firefighting skills.

After all the work was done we broke out the hot dogs and Gatorade and chowed down.

Hannah JC and I roast our hot dogs.
There's nothing like standing next to a scorching fire after a hard day's work.

Michael's truck served as a buffet line and shade provider.

It was a good day of hard work in the sunshine, but we still had things to do to get ready. We all pitched in doing odd jobs during the following week, and we were all trying to ride as much as possible to get ready for competition. But still we needed to meet for another work day the Friday before our show.

Our horses needed baths, big time. It had been raining off and on all week, and some of the horses had been frolicking in the mud.

Beckee bathes Big E

It was on the verge of being too cold to bathe the horses, but we all suffered through it. The horses were all great sports -- most of them stood quietly and didn't get too cold. Those of us that weren't bathing the horses got the super-fun job of moving the jumps so that Michael could steam roll the arena.

Yes, I said steam roll.

Our arena has great footing. It drains beautifully, is nice and deep and cushiony, but the ground underneath is rocky. For some reason or another all of the rocks from the soil below the ring have made their way up into our footing. It doesn't seem to cause any problems for the horses (especially if they have shoes), we just have to be sure we check their feet for rocks after every ride. However, it makes the otherwise gorgeous riding ring look unsightly.

Luckily, Karen Hiehle, our head coach, owns a construction company. So she has access to a steam roller, which her son, Michael, uses on our arena to push all of the rocks down back into the ground where they belong.

We needed to do this before our show, but all of the jumps were already set up in the ring. So a few of us had to move all of the jumps out of Michael and the steam roller's way. It was rather tedious and hard work -- you'd be surprise by how much a wooden pole weighs -- but definitely worth the effort.

Part of our beautiful, steam-rolled arena before the jumping portion on the Saturday of our show.

Hosting a horse show is always a lot of work. There's so much preparation to get the barn and horses into show-off order, but it's always worth it at the end of the day when you know you helped make the barn beautiful.

I always leave the barn after a work day satisfied and proud -- if not a little bit tired.