Note to self: I’m doing all this for fun, right?
That reminds me of some pictures I received in that archive I purchased a few months back. There were plenty of shiny, happy people in this one group of pictures from the Motor City All Halter Live Shows in the late 1980s and early 1990s. But others? Not so much.
(First, let me say that I’m not making fun of anybody in the following photos. Heaven knows we’ve all taking less than flattering pictures in the past. Most of my Elementary School photographs come to mind. Sixth grade, in particular.)
It just struck me funny that in this large group of pictures taken to commemorate a fun, enjoyable event, the camera managed to catch more than a few of those fleeting moments where the thought "Why am I doing this again?" was probably foremost in our minds.
If it had just been one or two pics, I wouldn’t have noticed it so much - or, at all - but seeing them all grouped together just made laugh. Mostly out of recognition: late Saturday night at BreyerFest, anyone? Doesn’t matter how much fun we’ve had, we all look like we could use a few stiff drinks and a nap.
9 comments:
Ha! Halter showing is *easy*. it's the performance showers who really earn their drinks and naps!
Oh hell. At the end of *every* live show I'm to the point of "why am I doing this" and "This is fun? Really?" But I go back for more.... lol!
And Jen halter showing is easy only IF you're not dumb enough to try to manage 4-5 different rings at once.... I managed to miss a WHOLE DIVISION of OFP at my last show... *sigh*
I confess I pretty much stopped performance showing because the stress of changing all that tack was kind of spoiling it for me, but I still love live showing. Haven't been to one in way too long.
I wasn't doing so well there for awhile but then they started double-judging for breed and collectibility, and suddenly my Eighties collection can hold its own again.
It is kind of funny. Wasn't ANYONE smiling?
Oh, plenty. It's just that the "too tired to smile anymore" people stood out. And looked so darn familiar.
MCAHLS was pretty intense for an all-halter show - two divisions, 50 some classes, a 35 horse limit per entrant, some classes with nearly 100 entries. Not for wussies, fer sure.
Performance showing is for crazy people. Love a beautifully made tack set, but all those tiny bits and buckles? Plus, I ain't that coordinated.
Oh, sure, halter showing is *easy*... until you decide to do like moronic yours truly and show a fifty horse halter string on top of a six horse performance string with multiple tack changes. Two performance rings, four halter rings. NEVER AGAIN.
Just wanted you to know how much I have enjoyed your blog. Another old time collector. Never really a shower. Fell out for a while. Ran across your blog while trying to figure out how to purge the collection that sits in boxes forever down to a manageable size. Still haven't figured it out but really enjoyed the trip down memory lane!
LOL Love it! Yes, showing can be very hard work. I pretty much stick to one local or semi-local show a year now. I did a year of pretty intense showing and burned out. Shows can of course be a ton of fun and usually are, but the packing, loading, driving, existing on too little sleep, unpacking (sometimes a long walk from the car to the show hall is involved), stressing about knocking over your own horses or worse, someone else's horses, racing around to each class, packing again...it can make for a very tiring day. For every show I try to get the show string down a little bit more but if I'm at a show where all the Saddlebred divisions load at once...nightmare! LOL
I can't even imagine showing in halter only anymore. Doesn't seem worth the time, money, and effort it takes to enter, prepare for, and travel to the show just to plop a model down on the table. :D
"Performance showing is for crazy people. "
We're gluttons for punishment. Oh, well.
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