Australian Horse Shows!! Sydney and Canberra.. THE BIG ONES

We have been back from Aussieland for over a month now and I am just now updating the pictures we accumulated whilst there. It was nearly impossible for us to upload our pics while in Australia and I apologize for the lack thereof while we were on another continent. However, we did take a MASSIVE amount of pictures and will now share them with the usual dialog. :) Unfortunately, there is sooo much to catch up on during months of training and shows, alot that is quite monotonous...

Czar~ all I have to say is do NOT go into his stall with flip flops on while attempting to put his blankets on for the night.. He is one stallion who will try to bite you no matter what you do back at him, he enjoys the pain. He freaking looks fantastic in this picture right before he goes into the show ring at Nationals in sydney, to bad i hated handling him. He fights you on everything, cleaning his hooves out, brushing him, bathing him, ANYTHING.. 


My baby Fever never won in the show ring. I cant imagine how this happened cause he is totally beautiful and sweet. Although I can tell he was becoming more studdy.. He wont be a little colt much longer.. I would easily have taken him home in my suitcase!

   

See how pretty he sets up!! He is a warmblood though, not full Arabain so he was a little more muscled than most of the colts. However, he still had the best head and liquid eyes, along with the biggest heart.

The winners line up, lots of amazing horse and riders!

Jess' famous "butt squares". He learned how to do these way faster than I did, and all the horses that he did always won their classes..These little markings are usually called quarter markers cause they are used to mark the hindquarters of those poor individuals who arent pure bred. It is suppose to make them look more stream line and smaller.. too bad we dont have something like that for those of us who want to slim our butt and waistlines.... 

Jess caught Chelsea and I doing our nails while we had some down time.. We were using some hoof polish on our own nails, it worked really well and helped us feel pampered too lol. We were able to find some time to have fun and enjoy a girl moment.

                       

Lunch Time~ Consists of bran, molasses, grain, and water. This mushy    stuff is the horses favorite midday meal and let me tell you, it is a blast to make!! It is so soft on your hands after.. and squishing it between your fingers is really satisfying... 

The Costume section of Nationals

There were only 4 entries but they were really fun to watch.

Apparently you have to be able to gallop your horse full out in full costume. 

Very cool!

Goanna... Thats what they call the giant Iguana we saw on the show grounds! Jess was tickled pink and could stop talking like the crocodile hunter and he stood under the tree filming..

Our dearest friend Lisa on her slightly crazy steed, Forest.. The name says it all doesnt it. He is quite pretty but his temperament drove me crazy and he was always in my face and wiggling all over the place when I was trying to get him ready for the show ring... She did amazing in the ring! We owe her so much, easily the nicest person we meet in Australia. I dont know how I could have made it through the shows without her guidance, attitude, and hilarious personality!  

Precious moments SITTING... The very few opportunities to sit and actually watch the show.

Poor Chelsea!! She fell a sleep sitting in the sun watching the show!! We were up around 430 to do the usual feedings, prep and such, and often would be in bed til after 10.. I know it sounds wussy but we ran our heads off for 3 weeks straight like this with NO DAYS OFF!!!! We were all pros at finding a moment to catch some rest... sadly... but makes for a great pic! tehe

There are the spoils of WAR! We made off like bandits at Nationals!! This was only one wall, only the first, second, and supreme champions went on this wall. We won a ribbon in almost every category. Trophies went to the overall winners of their class, and the garlands went to the ridden horses that won over all of the  best  in each ridden class. We did pretty dang good! 

Cart Races taking place on the track behind our camp site in the Nation's Capital in Canberra.

Me and a war veteran cast in bronze at the National War Museum in the Capital. Our half day off to see the sights of the city (lame but grateful).. Which is weird cause there is nothing there. It was build in between Sydney and Melbourne.. they couldnt decide which to make the national capital, so they make a whole new city in the MIDDLE OF NO WHERE. Seriously, there is miles of wild forest, then pop the Capital.. no history no nothing, but there it is.. funny Aussies...

This pretty much concludes our Horse section of the Australian trip. There was a lot of the day to day ventures that we didnt fit in, I may put them in later but I wanted to put our horse shows on here for all to see what we actually did while there. The rest of what we have is our short vaca down under.