The Perfect Show Mom

I could not find a single picture of my mother at a horse show; do you know why? Because she was behind the cameras, video and still, at every single one of them. It is classic in the field of family vacations - mothers excluded from most of the pictures because they are the ones taking them all, but in my life it carried over to horse shows. I am extremely blessed in many ways, but the blessing I would like to focus on today is how supportive my family, especially my mom, has always been about my horses and showing.

I can't even begin to imagine the thousands of miles my mom drove dragging the trailer, or the number of yards she hand walked Onyx while I mucked his stall (after I got Coaster however we switched jobs - she wasn't quite comfortable with the 17.2 warmblood, no matter how well behaved he always was...). She met me at the ingate and the finish line of every ride with gatorade and water. Mom would be the first to tell you that she doesn't know much about horses, but I'm a firm believer that is the best attribute to a good show mom, and she was always willing to learn. She always knew when to say something or not and when to leave me be - usually after a less than stellar ride.

In the days of the local hunter/jumper shows she was the secretary at the shows as well as within the local organization and was very active in the Pony Club on an administrative level as well. I can only think of 2 shows in my high school eventing career that my mother did not attend - neither of which was due to lack of wanting to go. As I have gotten older I miss my mom at horse shows. I'm self sufficient at shows, I like to have a ground person for obvious reasons, but nobody can fill the shoes of my mom. She came to a my first show on Flint in June and even after several years hiatus from her show mom duties she still came with a camera, gatorade and water in hand, falling right back into the duty of perfect horse show mom, even when I'm 25 years old.

She is a master trailer driver through all kinds of wind, rain or hail; she reminded me that the only goal was to have fun and do my best; nobody can compare to her videographer skills (even when I fell off and broke my face the camera never waivered). My mother was the rock that I had at every horse show and I truly believe I'm as successful as I am because of her. My mother = the perfect show mom!