July 2018 - As long as we had been aware of the National Dressage Pony cup, it was a goal. ‘Someday’ we will show there. ‘Someday’ we will have the opportunity to attend and spectate. As it turns out, ‘someday’ occurred in July 2018.
Since born a colt, we had made the decision to sell CGF Mischief Managed aka Seamus and had him advertised as such. It seemed a frustrating endeavor as we were certain he would find his person before he was weaned. Or before he hit one year old. Yet he was with us then… and also at 2. And as 2 1/2 rolled around we decided it was would be best for his future to get him out and shown in hand, and thus we began taking him to local schooling shows that offered in hand classes. Much to our surprise, he scored extremely well. And started winning.
A lot. And with consistent scores of 74% of higher.
Right around that time, we learned that the National Dressage Pony Cup (NDPC) was moving to the Lamplight Equestrian Center, near Chicago. It was a drivable distance for us and NDPC had a special in-hand Breed Show division. We began to plan.
Before long, it was departure day and with a freshly bathed and wrapped Seamus, we loaded up in a light rain that Friday morning and headed Southeast toward Chicago. This was, by far, his longest trailer ride ever (nearly 9 hours) but he took it all in stride. With frequent fuel and food breaks, he was happily amused by listening to the local hustle and bustle of wherever we were. Finally we arrived to the showgrounds after 5PM. The riding portion of the show began on Friday, so most had arrived Thursday. Since our classes weren’t until Sunday morning, we opted for Friday as our travel day, which meant the show was well in motion when we arrived.
After unloading him and getting paperwork sorted, we set about getting our bearings. We made our way to our hotel for the night and crashed into bed. Saturday began with breakfast and getting him out to walk about the showgrounds and take it all in. We did little by little so as not to overwhelm him. That afternoon he received his USEF official measurement (until age 7 when he gets his permanent pony card), a bath and his braids. We said a small prayer for the braids and tucked him in for the night.
Sunday morning dawned cool and damp. Scattered sprinkles were in the forecast with straight up rain expected late morning. Not great conditions. But his first class started at 7:12 AM and (3 year old colts & geldings) with only one other entry, moved rather quickly. He placed first with a score o 72.5% and comments which included: sweet expression, well set neck, clear rhythm in walk shows overstep, trot has steady tempo and nice reach and a harmonious type.
Next up, was the top placing colts/geldings of all ages to go up against each other. Again, Seamus was placed first among all colts and geldings.!
Winners and second place ponies of both colts/geldings and fillies, age 3 and under went against each other for the Young Pony Championship and…. Seamus won again! At this point, he had earned one bridle ribbon, one mega-long ribbon and a beautiful neck ribbon!
The entire cycle was repeated for the Mature horses. This took some time, as there were considerably more entries in each class. While waiting, it began to rain fairly hard and our baby pony’s patience was being tested.
The last step was for the Breed show Grand Champion, pitting the best of the young ponies against the best of the Mature ponies. By this time it had been raining heavily for some time and he had been out showing or waiting for over an hour. Needless to say, the final placings had him just outside of the ribbons. Nevertheless, we were pleased beyond belief!
The next day driving home, we stopped in Wisconsin to meet a family who had expressed interest in buying Seamus for their daughter’s dressage prospect. It was a bittersweet moment to see him bond with her the first time she walked him on the lead around their indoor, into the grooming stall and introduce him to his future stall. After lots of discussion, hugs and promises of frequent updates, we drove home that day with an empty trailer and a full heart knowing our little star was in good hands. The slideshow below shows Seamus being shown in all classes.