55th
Pennsylvania National Horse Show
October 12 - 21, 2000
Report by Dana
Frank |
10/13/00 Left Oklahoma at 8:00 AM. Totally uneventful trip.
10/14/00 Arrived in Harrisburg about 8:00AM. Peter had a stall all ready for Callie, so we got to just move her right in. Spent the balance of the AM getting things unloaded and getting the camper hooked up. Got a quick bite to eat, then got Callie clipped. Killed time in the afternoon by watching a few horses go in the Jr Warmup class. Some pretty nice rounds, but the horses did look pretty spooky in the ring. Peter has found a Pre-Green gelding for Laurie to try, and she'll get to sit on him sometime this week. Grabbed a quick dinner, did a quick stall pick and headed to to the hotel to hit the sack. So much fun being up for close to 36 hours straight! Aren't horse shows fun? We get to sleep in tomorrow AM, and Jesus and Ernest will take care of Callie for us.
10/15/00 Long day today. Got to sleep in, and got to the show about 7:30. Went to eat with Laurie. The Equitation was today, and ran from 7AM until after 8PM tonight. It was the most entries they had ever had in the Eq. Did some shopping to kill time. Laurie did a light hack with Callie before lunch, then we just hung out and visited with friends. The finals tonight were amazing. Sarah Willeman wound up winning, and she was great. Jennifer Jones was second. It was very tight between the two of them. After the Eq was finished, they opened the ring, and the Open horses got to hack in there for a while. Callie was very good, and we can get her in again at 6AM. Guess where we'll be!
Day 1 - What a disaster! The prize list said that horses would be allowed to begin stalling at noon. Guess what? At noon, no stalls or tents were erected. Peter called us just as we were about to make the turn into downtown and diverted us back to Prince George's to wait it out. Apparently, trailers were lined up for blocks waiting to unload, and there was no place to unload.
Around 5 PM, Peter told us to head into town. Made it in without any problems, but were about ready to head back to OKC when we saw the facilities. They have blocked a street, and the stalls are in a tent in the middle of the street. The stall rows are so narrow, that you cannot have anything in front of your stalls. Only one horse can go down the aisle at a time. You have to open the stall doors fully, just to get horses out!
We were fortunate in that Lenny Marconi and John Bragg's stalls backed up into a space, so we were able to stash our hay and grain behind their stalls. It's horrible! Water is available from fire hydrants with hoses attached.
Got Callie into the ring to school a little. The ring is long (260') but very narrow (80'). The footing looks okay and she was really good. Maybe at nine years, she's finally growing up! LOL
The good thing is that our hotel is just across the street. The bad thing is there is basically no where to park a dually and it's a terrible neighborhood after dark. We had homeless people hitting on us for money every time we left the area of the MCI center. We had a guy claim he was a parking attendant and try to get money from us for parking our truck. Our hotel is gross. My room has wallpaper falling off the walls. Boy, this is fun!!!
Day 2 - Schooling this AM was from 5:30-6:30. Got Callie in for a little while. It was very crowded, but she was great. Peter begins showing in the Conformations later this morning.
Well, Callie was a very good girl today. She jumped around great in the first round, but got a little bit deep to the final oxer, and wasn't stellar over that fence. She wound up fourth. In the second class, she was awesome and jogged first. Unfortunately for us, Olin Armstrong and Celebrity jogged second. Olin had previously won the Model for the Regular Conformations, so we got bumped to second. That's the second class between Harrisburg and Washington that Callie has been bumped a place in! Oh well, that's the Conformation division.
The jumpers begin tomorrow, and some of the International horses began arriving today. They are lucky, I guess. They are stalled in the underground parking area of the MCI Center, instead of out on the street.
Well, that's all for today. We have another early school in the morning (5-5:45AM). Callie doesn't show until late in the day, so we'll be able to come back over to the hotel and take a little nap before we have to get her going again.
10/25/00 - Today was a very good day.
Callie schooled great this morning, in preparation for the final day of the Regular Conformation Hunters. Got to go back to the room for a little bit after schooling, since she wouldn't show until mid-afternoon.
In the first class, Callie was spooky (surprise, surprise) but jumped around really well. Unfortunately, she was pretty spooky jumping into the last line, and Peter had to stick her with the spurs pretty hard over the final oxer, and she overjumped it pretty big. She wound up eighth in that class.
In the next class, she was awesome. Just clocked around and laid down a really nice trip. She wound up winning the class, and didn't get bumped down in the conformation judging.
In the hack, she was very good, but only wound up fourth. Olin Armstrong and Celebrity won this class, so we knew he'd be Champion. We had no idea about who was going to be Reserve. We rather figured that Hilton with Scott Hofstetter would get it, since he'd been fairly consistent. Well, they announced Reserve, and it was Callie! Not bad. Reserve Champion in the Regular Conformation Hunters at both Indoors shows and it was only her fifth show over the 4' fences. Good Princess!
Later, as I was unbraiding her, we hear an announcement calling Peter to the ring for the Leading Hunter Rider presentation! We were all so proud. Peter was named Leading Hunter Rider and won a great WIHS jacket and a Tad Coffin saddle. Peter's horses all got good ribbons, so it really was a team effort for this.
I've posted some pictures. Here's the link.
WIHS 2000 Photos
