The BYO 2015 - Other Performance

When I left off, I was explaining just what The BYO is, and sharing my longhorn photography story.  So without further ado, let's jump right back into the show report, shall we?

The BYO starts off the day with Other Performance.  This is good for me, since I rarely have a lot of horses showing in the Other Performance Division, so it gives me plenty of time to get set up at my table and finish tacking and adjusting horses for the later divisions.  It also gave me time to socialize, and take pictures of everyone else's Other Performance entries.

Native American Costume entry owned by Val Tudor.

Parade entry owned by Chloe Hinton.

Other Costume entry owned by Christie Partee.

This year, I had one horse showing in the Other Performance Division - Goodness Gracious, or Grace for short, my Artist Choice "Hickory" resin sculpted and painted by my friend Sheila Bishop.

My goal for this year's BYO was not to do any tack changes.  So, Grace would be showing in the Halter Showmanship class, and then I decided that with the same halter and handler, she could also show in Other Competition with an In-Hand Trail set up.  Sue disagreed however, and as I was setting up my entry for Other Competition, she told me she'd rather it go in the Western Trail class, since despite being a tackless entry, the halter was a stock-style halter and the handler was outfitted in Western style attire.

So, Grace only got to show in one class at the BYO this year, Halter Showmanship, but at least she came away with first place and a NAN card.  :)

Goodness Gracious, first place in the Halter Showmanship class.

Two of Christie's horses wound up winning the Other Performance Division Champ and Reserve, and then we were on to English!

A Trip to Texas - The BYO 2015

Once again, I've failed to update this blog on a regular basis as planned.  But, it's better to jump back in than ignore it forever.

So, I just returned from the BYO All Performance show in Sanger, Texas.  I had a wonderful time - it's always great getting to spend the day hanging out with some of my favorite people from the region, especially my fellow performance junkies!

The BYO is a show like no other - first of all, the full name of the show (this year) was The Oh-My-Gosh SEVENTEENTH (Believe It or Not) Absolutely Positively Gonna Happen Every Year (Good Lord Willing and the Creek Don't Rise) Annual North Texas Equine Miniaturists Association Bring-Your-Own Many Rosettes and Almost Certainly Some Trophies (There's a New Box on my Porch) No Tag/No 3x5 Card, No Database (Yet), North American Nationals Tune-Up, Pre-BreyerFest Strategy Soiree, Swap Meet, Schmooze-Fest,All-Performance Qualifying Show with Pink Performance NAN Cards (But Only Two Per Class), Pot Luck Lunch, All-Day Grazing, Still No NAN Tag Preparation Required, Celebration of the Sesquicentennial (aka One Hundred Fiftieth Anniversary) of the End of the Civil War , but No One Will Be Forced to Sing "Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory" (Unless They Really Want To), Shopping Opportunity with Linda Roberts, General Chaos, and No Longer on the Parking Lot Weiner Roast XVII In A Building with Working Air-Conditioning, a Full Kitchen, and Lots of Parking With The Traditional Additions to the Ever-Growing Title (I'm Blaming This Years' Silly Ideas On My Anesthesia Hangover Because I Don't Know Where They Came From Except that Smithsonian Magazine Featured the Civil War Thing This Month).

So, you can see why most of us just call it The BYO.  ;)  It's also called the BYO because entrants have to Bring Your Own - tables that is!  The show is held in the foyer of Sue Stewart's church, and while they have plenty of chairs for us to borrow, the tables have to be brought in.  It's also what you would probably consider a "no frills" show - all of the ribbons, rosettes, and trophies are recycled from other shows.  The class list is streamlined, with OFs and CMs/ARs all showing together in three performance divisions: Other, English, and Western.  It's a fun, laid back atmosphere, and plenty of local model horse friends stop by and hang out even if they're not showing.  But like all of the other shows in Texas - the competition is fierce!  The BYO is specifically supposed to be a practice/tune-up show for NAN and BreyerFest, so often, the entrants at BYO are some of the region's best and most dedicated performance showers.  Despite that, it's still a fun and friendly show, with everyone helping each other and Sue giving critique at the end of the classes.

Oh, and did I mention there's a potluck?  While the entry fee for showers and spectators alike is only $5, all guests are also expected to bring a side dish or dessert to go with the main dish of grilled hot dogs made by Chef and Results Secretary Extraordinaire Brad.

This was my second time showing at the BYO, and I was really looking forward to it since first of all, I feel like my performance showing has improved since I was there last year, and second, I had a string of performance horses, old and new, that I was really looking forward to competing with.

All of the horses I would be showing at the BYO after tacking up Thursday night.

After leaving Little Rock in the early afternoon, I arrived in Sanger, Texas Friday evening.  My friend Carmen graciously invited me to stay in her guest room so I didn't have to book a hotel.  My GPS sent me driving on a route that was a bit of a round-about way to my destination, but driving through some of the ranch lands made for gorgeous scenery.  I even got to see some authentic Texas Longhorns!

While I was stopped to take pictures of the longhorns, two country boys pulled over to ask if I was ok.  Our conversation went something like this:
Country Boy [in thick southern accent] : Ma'am, are you alright?
Country Boy #2 [also in thick southern accent] : Are ya having car troubles?
Me : Oh, I'm fine, thank you.  I'm just taking some pictures.
Country Boy #1 [confused] : Of the cows?
Me [bashfully] : Yes.. of the cows...
Country Boys [stare at each other, then back to me]
Country Boy #1 : Alright, well you take care then...

Well, I still thought seeing longhorns was pretty special!

Anyway, I figure this is a good enough teaser for now.  I'll post again soon with an actual show report, with pictures!  :)