Finally, an Update

The Arizona Touch of Class Miniature Horse Show came and went. Mom was super busy during the show and after as school and my training occupied most of her time. This of course made her neglect to give me time on the computer to update my blog. I kept trying to tell her all my followers would be disappointed in me and here we are, almost two months later and I'm only now getting to update my blog. So I'm sorry for the delay!

This year at the show I had my own custom set up. I'm pretty sure that the trailer was bought solely for me so that I'm able to have a stall at my shows, though Mom insists its also to haul the other horses in. With some nifty miniature horse sized stall panels, some hay, and a bucket of water I instantly had a place to relax while waiting in between classes at the show. Friday I was even nice enough to share some extra space with Missy. I had a lot of visitors come up and pet me while I was waiting for my classes, I always enjoy meeting new people and they seem to enjoy meeting me just as much!

I ended up being the smallest full grown miniature at the show with my official measurement being 25.5 inches. Friday I had three classes: Open two year old stallions under 28", amateur junior stallions, and liberty. I placed third, second, and fourth respectively. While fourth may not seem so great for liberty that class was the largest I've ever been in. There were 14 horses! I was not only the smallest but the youngest. As soon as the music started and I felt Mom take off my halter I took off running! The judges said if I had only trotted just a little bit more I would have place much higher, if not have gotten the blue (first). That gave Mom and I a goal for next year: more trotting!

Saturday I only had one class and that was costume. I was up against a pretty little filly dressed up as a male trainer (yuck!). I'm happy to report that I took first place in my pinata costume! The crowd went wild over me. After the class a few people came up for pictures and just to meet me. All I wanted to do was follow that filly. Even if she was dressed up like a man I was in love! Mom had to ruin my new found love by reminding me about Missy who was waiting for me at home.
On Sunday I didn't have a class so I stayed home while Missy went to show. She had three classes that day: open senior mares under 28", amateur senior mares, and solid colored mares. Mom was showing Missy in the open class and got second place then reserve champion out of all the senior mares. Amanda showed Missy in the amateur class and got first place! Unfortunately Missy wasn't exactly thrilled about showing (she's not like me, she'd much rather stay at home than be in the lime light) so by the time the champion class came around her attitude was sour and she wouldn't put her ears forward for the world. It cost her a championship. Maybe next time Missy! In her color class she placed third, not too bad.

Since the show life at home has been pretty quiet. I've been training and conditioning with Mom but I haven't gone to any more shows. The last show here was an AMHR show. Mom didn't think I had AMHR paperwork and wanted to wait a little longer before hardshipping me into the registry. Turns out that I DO have AMHR paperwork! Mom was updating my breeder on how my show went and discussing future plans to hardship me into AMHR when Janet told my Mom that she had filed the stallion report just didn't finish actually registering me. All Mom has to do is send in the paperwork and I'll be fully registered. This is a huge relief as it wont be even half as complicated to register me now as it would've been to hardship me.

I didn't end up going to the Phoenix Pet Expo, sorry if you were looking forward to seeing me there. Mom's car had been having problems and she didn't want to risk getting stuck far away from home with me. She was keeping my safety in mind, like all good mothers do.

Mom is done with school for the summer, well, save one online class. Next fall she starts her student teaching then she graduates with her bachelors. Until fall comes though her days will be devoted to me. Maybe I'll even get to go to her work again like I've done every summer. I love seeing the kids!

Oh, I also got a twitter so that I can do small updates through out the day or at least during important events like the horse show. Follow me to receive fun updates on my life @thekinson

Well, that's it for now! I promise I wont let Mom keep me from updating for so long again! Until next time, I'm out!

Missy's First Show

The first show of 2011 happened over the weekend and as it turns out, I'm not the only winner in the family.


Missy and I took the show circuit by storm. Our Moms looked almost as good as we did. The only bad part about the day was how cold it was and how early I had to get up! We had to be at the show grounds by 8 am, unfortunately we didn't get there until almost 9 so everything was done in a rush. Thankfully Missy and I were groomed the day before so there wasn't much that needed to be done.

We knew the show would either be full of other minis, preparing for the big upcoming show, or there wouldn't be any there besides us. We were wrong on both counts! There was a decent sized turn out but not a huge amount of minis and all were mares. Missy beat them all though and walked away with the blue. Since there were no other stallions I got a blue by default then had to compete for the championship.

I didn't exactly want to beat Missy but I didn't want to loose to her either! The championship would show who really is the best Mini. I'm happy to report that your favorite stallion, that's right, me, Kinson, took the championship! Missy's mom claims it because she didn't have Missy set up and look her prettiest but I think its just an excuse. After all, aren't I the most handsome mini you've ever seen? Mom keeps telling me to be modest because this was a small show and the judge isn't an AMHA judge. March is when we'll see how good I really am.

Mom can say what she wants. I'm proud of my ribbon and I know she is too. Small show or not it still takes a good horse to win. Lucky for us there's two great horses in this family. I can't wait for the AMHA shows in March, especially Touch of Class, where there will be many other mini's and we'll really have to strut our stuff. We're hoping to make enough points to qualify for nationals. Wish us luck!

As good as Missy and I look in blue ribbons, we look even better with championship rosettes and sashes!

Mom is trying to decide if I will continue to compete in the Show Circuit shows or if we'll switch to Blue Ribbon series. Show Circuit has specific mini classes but Blue Ribbon offers better high point rewards and is an overall better show. For now I'll be competing in both, until one can be decided on. I will fill in my Tour Stops for April and May soon, I've been really busy with all this show prep!

I do know that I will be at the Phoenix Pet Expo on May 7th. Hopefully Missy will be there too, but I can't make any promises. She's not as portable as I am! She demands a whole trailer when she travels. Pffft! I just need myself and a car to get me where I'm going! Missy also doesn't like a lot of strangers touching and petting her, so she needs to get over that if she wants to come with me. Come see me at the expo if you're there! Just follow the crowd that will be following the cutest pet there.

Until next time, I'm out!

Holiday Pet Festival

 

I got to see Santa in person when I went to the Holiday Pet Festival!! I can't believe he took time out of his crazy busy schedule this time of year to make a special trip to Arizona, just to listen to pet's Christmas wishes! Kia and I both got to tell him our Christmas lists in person. I wish he would have brought some of his reindeer for me to meet though. Oh well, maybe next year.

The pet festival was a lot of fun. Mom and Amanda didn't think that it would be very busy, or that there would be a lot of dogs there. They were both wrong! The festival was hosted by Tranquility Trail Animal Rescue and the turn out was amazing. Just about every human attending had a dog with them. I didn't see any other animals but dogs brought. Though, some of the vendors were actually rescues and had some animals-like cats and guinea pigs-available for adoption. I'm used to Kia, who is much smaller than me, and Nikki, who is the same size as me but there were dogs there that were BIGGER than me! There was a lot of... I think Mom called them cape grains? Or was it great danes? I don't remember, but there was a lot of them there! One was only 19 months old and already 37 inches tall-that's bigger than Avalon and Cody! There was another who wasn't quite as told, but was older, and his legs were as thick if not thicker than Avalon's. I couldn't believe how big they were. I really wanted to play, and so did they, but our Moms said no.

Aside from all the dogs, and the attention I got for being the only horse there, I got to do some shopping with Mom. There were many different vendors there, a lot of breed rescues (including a Great Pyrenees rescue! I remember those dogs from when I lived in Wisconsin), some non-breed general rescues, dog boutiques, artists, crafts, and cat trees. I had a lot of fun and was glad to have my friend and sister, Kia, there. When it comes back around next year you can bet I'll be there and you should be there too!

Happy Hanukkah! Until next time, I'm out!

The Show Circuit

Yesterday was the first show of the season! Grandma couldn't make it out (Mom wasn't sure that she was going to actually show me up until a few hours before). Amanda managed to make it out to the show with me-she even sat in the back of the car with me! It was hot during the day and Mom was worried that it would be too hot for me to show. Does she forget that I live outside?! It was cool by the time the show started. Usually before shows I'm bathed, shaved, bathed again, then fancied up. This time I got a nice cool bath and only my face buzzed (I no longer sport my majestic goat beard). I didn't even have to run for weeks before to get totally trim! Mom was saying she wished we had prepped more though because the mares there were looking good!! There's always next time, right mom?

I'm a pro at gong places and showing now. Nothing at the show really seemed to get me excited. Amanda commented on how you would never know I was a stallion because of how calm I am. Even though there were other miniatures at the show I was by far the smallest. I think that's why I get so much attention at shows, because I'm so tiny and devastatingly handsome. From the time I stepped out of the car there were swarms of people that approached me. I don't mind the petting but these strangers aren't Mom, Grandma, or my friends-they don't know my itchy spots! After all the attention it was finally time for me to enter the arena. I've had all summer off and I kind of forgot what to do in the show ring. I happened to remember what to do after the class had been pinned. Oops! Sorry Mom, I'll do better next time (and you'll groom me better too, right?)! I took second. Not bad but I know with some training and grooming I can do blue. We stuck around to watch the cart class which was actually pretty big. It had six entries. Aurthur Ramirez was there showing his cart horses. Maybe one day when I'm older I'll pull a cart. Until then I'll leave that to Avalon. After the cart class had finished we headed off to meet Amanda's parents who had really wanted to see just how tiny I was. By then I was exhausted but I hung in there. The little dogs, at least I think they were dogs I've never seen ones so small, kept barking and growling at me as if I was scary! I got a carrot as a treat then it was time to call it a night. I got into mom's car again and we headed home to my cozy stall which had my dinner waiting for me. Its official: show season has started. Training season has started.

I'm out!,