Wednesday, May 11, 2011

OUT WITH THE OLD/IN WITH THE NEW

I get goose bumps when I remember the joy of this Mother's Day. 

It may have taken me 3 days to recover from the exhaustion and pain of travelling to Lexington, KY to watch my daughter compete in her last Intercollegiate Horse Show Association National comptition, but it was worth every ouch!

Allie has competed both as an individual and for Berry College the last four years at Nationals and has recieved some very good results.  Last year she was Reining Reserve Champion, and competed at the NRHA Derby.  This was her last chance to be champion. She travelled up on Thursday with her team and by Saturday night Berry College had a slim lead for the team Gold.  It all came down to Allie's Team Horsemanship class, the last of the show.  If the Oregon State competitor beat Allie, then Berry would be Reserve National Champions.  Not bad, mind you, since Berry has never been National Champions or close.

Catherine and I joined up with Allie's friend Keri in Rome, Ga, and her husband drove us 7 more hours to our hotel in Lexington.  It was a rough ride, as I'm not very good at trusting others to do the driving, so stayed awake the whole journey making sure he stayed on the road.  The funny thing was Catherine is a control freak like me, so here both of us were watching intently that he drove us safely.   The night was miserble for me, as I shared a bed with Catherine.  I didn't want to wake her so tried to lie very still, and not toss and turn in pain.  At 4am I was up and rearing to go.

Allie started the day with the final round of the AQHA Cup, where she performed an awesome reining pattern to clinch the Reserve Champion. But was she always destined to be the bridesmaid?  Other team members did their thing and finally it was Allie's turn to ride for the Team.

The class started with rail and then on to the individual patterns.  Allie's ride was very good, but this is the best college riders in the country so they all did great rides.  The awards are announced in reverse, so 10, 9,8 etc.  The 4th place rider was the girl from Oregon State!  We knew Berry had one the Championship, but where would Allie place?



The silence was deafening when only two were left standing.  When they announced the Reserve Champion the whole place went crazy!  We were crying and screaming, including Allie, who bowed her head in tears of joy.

This week two of my babies leave the nest.  Allie is taking her incredible win and Bachelor of Science Diploma and staying at Berry as the Assistant Coach, where she will continue to help Berry win many more Championships.  Catherine is graduating with a Bacholor of Science in Phychology on Saturday and begins her hunt for her dream job, while doing Post Bach classes in medicine.

I am throwing out the pain of RA (I wish!) and getting my horse ready to compete in a few shows this summer before going to England for a month.

And the Newest addition is only 7 weeks away from making his entrance into this wonderful world! When the circle starts all over again.

1 comment:

  1. So glad you got to see Allie win the blue. There were tears all over the country for that win. You must be so proud of Allie, Cat, and Lora... so many good things all happening at once. Congratulations on being the mother of these wonderful ladies!

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