Well, let me just tell you that Matthew's second horse show ever was so incredibly amazing. We got there at about eleven on friday...so, meaning, of course, nobody was there...I spent about two hours doing what I do the first two hours of every show anywhere; namely, leading a prancing, snorting, half ton animal around the show grounds by a cotton rope. I walked him into and around both arenas, let him sniff the jumps, etc. I think he was more interested in pawing and rolling than the fake purple flowers in front of oxxers. After I managed to wrestle him into the covered arena, I led him back to his stall and tossed him in there for about half an hour until they brought the 30 bags of shavings we ordered, then I opened six and made a pile in the middle of his stall and spent about twenty minutes amusing myself by watching him spread them by sitting in them, pawing at them, rolling in them, etc. He is so cute...I swear I'm not biased, I swear it. He is just too goddamn cute. He started to get antsy while mom and I started to spread the other bags in the other five stalls, so I started singing, and then he calmed... man, let me tell you, "Save Tonight" by Eagle Eye Cherry sounds so fucking awful after you've sung it about eighty million times through, i never want to hear it again. Er, yeah. Then Jason and Kristen got there with Charles and Casey and Bert and Jasmine, and the Hollisters got there not much later...so thenceforth I started to tack up Matthew to go school. Note that by this time everyone else was there too, so the tiny schooling arena was packed with horses with about as much room as sardines have, and just my luck there were red ribboned kickers interspersed liberally throughout the whole goddamn happy bunch. Well, I assumed Kristen would want to get on him first because she always just has, even though I think myself perfectly capable of handling anything Matthew does. SO Matthias is standing, fully tacked, hot, sweating in this ninety degree weekend weather, and I'm like "Kristennnn...KRISTENNN..." and she throws a fit because she wants to eat her sandwich and put up the goddamn show curtains and this and that so just throw him in his stall because I will ride later. No. No, no, no. UH UH. Sorry, wrong answer, errrrrr, thank you for playing our game! My mom sees my piss off ed ness and goes to ask Jason if I can go school Matthew, and he readily agrees, so green or not, stupid and insane and mentally challenged as Matthew might have been, I angrily swung up on his back and headed down there. Kristen was pissed. You know, because I guess she's so used to being the designated green horse rider, and maybe she feels challenged or whatever...but why should she?! All I want is to school my four year old, 17.2 hand thoroughbred before every goddamn freak from five miles around stuffs their fat asses in the middle of my four-stride-now-made-eighteen-because-I-had-to-swerve-to-avoid-morons line! And NO! She couldnt DO that right now, because she needs to put up the CURTAINS! Okay, um, what exactly do we pay you for? So I did it all by my fucking self. And you know what? I LIKED IT. At first he was so, so bad. I get really unnerved in schooling arenas, what with all those fat bastards staring at me with blank looks and getting in my way when i have clearly stated i am taking the OUTSIDE rail and that means you should GET OUT OF MY FUCKING WAY. Jason kind of gave up after i nearly axe murdered these stupid girls on their goddamned ponies and said go down to the covered arena, try him there. By this point i was so angry with everything. With the ponies, with my freakishly running horse, with my throbbing lateral shin muscles, and with my helmet which kept fucking slipping over my eyes. I wanted to shoot every bastard that spoke to me. And matthew wasn't helping matters, either. But I am not an aggressive rider, and no matter how bad he gets I am always gentle and am never angry with my baby. I began to just sit there, because i figured he's going to run anyways, and let's see how he likes it if i hang on his mouth like he hangs on my hands. Meaning, readers, that whenever we'd come to a fence i would not move, i would not look at it, i would just...sit. And guess what. He slowed right down, and was so perfect. I could have killed myself. Next day, we get up around eight, eat breakfast,(Horse show breakfast for Lili= two danishes, biscuit with jam, glass of milk, four glasses of water. Every show...), get to the barn, i get on, school, (kristen's still being kind of rude) and we get in the ring for our first pre green trip. It was so beautiful. He was slow and collected and we won that class. We didn't place in the second and he was a butthole in the flat, nearly knocked off this paint's head. Although that mofo deserved it, and i am goddamn serious. Uh. Long stirrup that day was okay too, i guess. Next day they completely overwatered the arenas so my first pre green trip was hell, the footing was so deep matthew sunk in it up to his ankles in the corners and we scrambled all over the place. Sixth in that class, and that shocked the shit out of me because we missed our leads twice. Second trip was gorgeous again, second. Flat was fourth. Long stirrup first, second, third, second, fourth, Reserve Champion (little stuffed fox that I named Felix). Judge loved him. I'm glad it's over, though. I love showing more than anything else in the world, but it makes me tired. and maybe i'm not grand champion, but there will be time for all that later. Matthew made me proud. he was like a different horse. The 29th is his fifth birthday and the three month anniversary of his training. meaning he is doing well for where he is. He is amazing, and will be beautiful one day. ANd i'll be with him, so there. I am so satisfied, and I got my curses out of me all in one entry. Wicked. I am the best. No, correction. Matthew is the best. I am not looking forward to going back to superficiality and bastards tomorrow.