Costume Fun

Besides hunting and getting the house ready for new floors, October was also the last month that Jessie had a show with the Nevada Bandits.  This of course also added more for us to do since Jessie needed to practice the patterns and of course keeping herself and her horse in shape but we also had to get a costume together for the costume contest-fun, fun, fun!!!  

We got the idea for the costume from a jacket that my sister had-a skeleton.  So, I got online and found Jessie a head to toe realistic skeleton costume and then found a book that had great outlines of a horse 'inside out'. 

I studied this book and made an extra effort to run my hands over her horse to get a bit more of a 'feel' for her bones and then a few days before the show we started drawing her skeleton with washable marker.

   Then, on the day before the show, we started painting the horse.  The girl's had a blast with this and did a super job.  Turned out to be a great opportunity to learn about the 'boney' structure of the horse.

 Before we new it, a couple hours had past and we had her done.

 

   We decided to only do one side of her do to lack of time.  The tricky part was now getting her not to lay down before tomorrow's show.  We moved some panels and made her a small pen which proved successful-we had a clean horse the next morning that only needed a couple places touched up.

 Ta-Da!!!   The finished costume!!  It turned out really well and was a lot of fun!

   Jessie and Nina won the costume contest for their age group.

 After the costume contest it was time to get changed-if they wanted to- and get ready for the rest of the events.  Jessie has continued to improve with each show asking a little more from Nina and in turn, turning in faster times. 

  Practice paying off.  This was something that I was really hoping that Jessie would pick up and learn this year-a little effort, practice and not giving up when it gets a little tough and trusting in God for the results.  She did too!!   She won high point in her division for the last 3 shows but because we missed one show she didn't get over-all high point.  She still brought home a beautiful headstall and many other goodies and memories from a great experience.

    In the mean time, Marisa thought that the mornings were a little cool but she still had fun hanging out with Jessie and I and all of our friends and family that came to watch.  I still can't talk her into competing next year but that's ok, its not her thing.  So, for her since she wasn't able to play soccer due to her braces, we are going to do lots of baking and sewing per her request.  :)