Fall Show

Every year Sumner Hill Stables hosts a fall show which consists of several divisions, a group trail ride, and a Halloween costume contest. Today I went out to help set up for this show, which is next weekend. We set up a whole stadium jump course (this is movable jumps made up of poles and their holders called standards) and cleaned up the back pasture for cross country. The stadium course is so amazing, the jumps are brilliantly colored this year thanks to Tiffany; she did a great job painting the boring white poles. The cross country course should be pretty good too. We had to roll these huge “rolltops” down to the bottom of the hill (the rolltops are a wooden cylinder) and clean up around all of the jumps. All of this was pretty easy, but it did take eight volunteers and four hours to get it done. It will be worth it.

In past years the show starts with dressage in the morning, following with stadium then cross country. This will go in order from the lowest division to the highest. That means it starts with pre-beginner novice, beginner novice then sometimes novice. Sadly this year, there will be no novice since our cross country course is lacking the appropriate height of jumps. Anyways, after the riding classes are done lunch/dinner is served as the riders prepare for the trail ride. This simply consists of riding down the road and having a fun time with your riding buddies. After the trail ride everyone gets their horse ready for the costume contest. This is especially funny, people are so creative. One year a friend of mine went with a Winnie the Pooh theme. Her pony is very fat and has large ears, so Eeyore was the perfect costume for her. My friend literally painted her pony blue and added a big pink bow to her tail in order to make the costume work. It took weeks to get all the blue out, but they did win first prize!

Sumner Hill’s Fall Show is a fun place for one and all! It’s a great experience to learn how a show works and have fun with our friends!