Wairarapa A&P - Sunday

Finally it was Kody's turn, and the others got a whole day to just chill out and enjoy themselves in the sun (yes, the sun came out for us). I'd entered Kody in the Pleasure Horse classes - but due to competing in ring classes I wasn't eligible to ride him, so Alicia was taking the reins for me. They started out with the combination class, which blew Kody's mind a little (his first time in a situation with other horses crowding and passing like that), but by the end of that first class he had the idea.

He did fab in the best walking class, though didn't get called in - I was still really pleased with him and he never jig-jogged once or put a foot wrong at all really:

He was really relaxed for the trotting class too, and was going forward of his own accord (it's lovely that he doesn't need to be kicked along). A spectator ringside even commented on how lovely Alicia's riding was (which would have been much cooler if they hadn't assumed I was her mother! Jeez - talk about ways to make me feel old!):

More pics of super stunner Kody looking like he's been doing this forever! He really does take things in his stride:

Kody is really balanced for a baby horse too - I think only a couple of missed canter leads, and they tended to be when the judge had the whole ride cantering for a long time - he would get a bit tired and drop back to trot to rest his muscles, then pick up the wrong lead when asked to resume his canter. But Alicia was patient with him, and let him have a few trots when he needed to and asked for his next strikeoffs in the corners and just generally made things easier for him which is exactly what I wanted:

He came 3rd in the newcomers class (first season of competition) and the judge was surprised at how young he is. He stood like a rock while in the lineup and while the judge put the ribbon on him:

Alicia's boyfriend, Nick (yes, we both have boyfriends called Nick and mothers called Jane..) had come up from Wellington to watch her classes - so he was hanging out ringside too... even introduced their dog to Sam (Sam looks very unsure of this!):

Alicia, Nick & Mum all stuck around to help with packing up and loading - which was nice. The weather stayed beautiful so I had an easy drive home over the Rimutakas and the Haywoods. The horses were all very happy to go out into paddocks. Pippa and Neo were stoked to have us home as well. So all-up it was a great weekend!