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Wentworth Hunter Pace - June 6, 2021

After Margaret and I had such a fun time at the fall hunter pace, we opted to go again this spring! This time, while I rode Rejoice again, Margaret rode her horse Jester and had a friend ride Ladyhawke. All Kennebec Morgans!! Jester and Rejoice have the same dam and Jester and Lady share the same sire. Unfortunately instead of a lovely late spring day, we had one of the first intensely hot and humid days of the year. It was definitely a bummer, but the ride was mostly in the shade of the woods and we had a great time!  most of the fences were 3' coops but we found a small log and this hay to jump haha Until we didn't. 😑 We brought along a third friend who rode Margaret's older mare, Ladyhawke. She's a good rider but hasn't known Ladyhawke for very long and didn't realize how much of a cranky boss mare she could be at times. She kicked Jester right in the front leg just about halfway through the ride, and while the cut itself ended up not being a big deal in the

What To Do With All Those Ribbons...!!!

It's no secret that I enjoy showing my horses and have often called myself a "ribbon ho" haha.  Obviously, I do not do bad things in order to win ribbons, and I am definitely the type of person who would MUCH rather have a solid "personal best" type of ride than win a ribbon, but who can deny the fact that winning a ribbon is fun!?  It is a sort of validation to me as a rider, since I do this for fun and not as a professional, so it gives me an idea of where my horse and I stand against others.  Showing is also a way to always try to improve upon our last show or our previous "best" ribbon or score.

So basically, what I am trying to say is that I have a lot of ribbons.  I mean A SHIT TON. Yes, that is a real unit of measure!  LOL!!  What does one do with all these ribbons?

I have several Pinterest pins on my "Equine" board of cute ideas, from wall hangings, shadow boxes, vases full of ribbons, and while they are all neat ideas, none really worked for me.  I don't really want to decorate my house with ribbons.  There is no way I can fit them all into my tack room.  I can barely fit the year end ribbons and awards in the tack room, so trying to figure out what to do with the regular horse show ribbons was daunting.  They have all been in a huge plastic tote since 2012 and I didn't think leaving them there forever was that much fun.  I mean, I worked my TAIL off for those things LOL!  I wanted to at least be able to enjoy them a little bit!  And throwing them out just seemed blasphemous!  Haha! 




Ultimately, I made a choice, after staring at this blank wall since we moved into our new home in April 2015.  We have a daylight basement and while part of it is a garage, the rest is a spot where we do have storage but also we hang our coats and leave our shoes.  I see this wall several times a day.  Hey, wait a minute...I hatched a plan!



I gathered inspiration from both of these blogs, Diary of an Overanxious Horse Owner and Been There Dunne That.  I thought their methods of using gimp braid and upholstery tacks was a good bet.  However, with SO MANY ribbons, I knew I would not be able to create the same look by allowing anything but the round rosette parts to show.  

It took some time.  Approximately five hours to be exact, and about 3o minutes per row LOL!  Tough to find time with a very active nine month old, so it took me several sittings to get it down, but it looks pretty good!  



This is every single ribbon I have won since I started showing in 1988, in the (pretty close) exact order I won them.  It is missing about ten special ribbons (special to me for various reasons and displayed in either Sparky's shadowbox or will be in Dreamy's shadowbox someday).  I did not show much during college and took two summers off when each of my boys were born.  It doesn't have this year's 2016 ribbons yet.  And this doesn't include the over 100 year end ribbons either!  That is a different plan, different post LOL!  I think I can fit about two more rows after I finish the tenth one (you can see it is only halfway across - ends with a third place ribbon).  Clearly, I am going to run out of space in the next year or two and then I have NO IDEA what I will do!!!  

Comments

  1. Wow, that's a crazy number of ribbons. They look really cool up on your wall too.

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  2. Hey your super blog is Haynets Equestrian Blog of the Day! Come and take a look: http://www.hay-net.co.uk/haynet-news/9583/equestrian-blog-of-the-day-clover-ledge-farm

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  3. I'm so impressed that you've kept your ribbons so well organized! Once my ribbons outgrew my bedroom wall, mirror, curtain rod, and dresser, they started to end up in odd places. Like the linen closet. My current solution is to leave 90% of them at my parents house, and send my niece and nephew home with a new ribbon every time they come to visit ;)

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