A country show

(image from here)

On the weekend we went to a country show.

The last country show that we went to was with friends in New South Wales, before our children were born. It was so much fun. The pavilions were filled with prize winning baking, flower arrangements and giant vegetables. We watched wood chipping competitions and wandered through the livestock pens, patting prize winning goats, lambs and calves. We spent ages in the poultry shed, imagining what chickens, ducks or geese we would one day like to have running around on our farm. At the time, we owned 5 acres of land - but that's a story for another day.

But this country show was a little different. We did watch the wood chipping and I absolutely loved wandering through the old pavilion: cakes, jams, biscuits, embroidery, quilts, beautiful spring blooms. But with the exception of the pig races - which were a real highlight by the way. There were no farm animals.

But there were horses. In fact I felt a little out of place without my cowboy boots and cowboy hat. There was the usual show jumping, etc. and then there was the rodeo.

I realised that there are two very different type of horse people. The gorgeous young girls dressed in smart riding attire and polished boots. Their hair braided and tied with ribbons. They rode immaculately groomed horses, whose manes had also been braided and their tails neatly trimmed.

Then there are the cowgirls, who follow the rodeo circuit. Dressed in jeans and checked cowgirl shirts, their pony tail hairstyles loose under giant cowgirl hats. Dusty cowboy boots in the stirrups. Most of their horses were decorated with a bit of 'bling' of some kind.

I'm not trying to make any generalisations here, more of an observation. I'm not a horsey girl. I don't move in these circles. I just found it interesting.

In any case, the day was lovely. The weather was magnificent, we grabbed a yummy steak burger and sat in the shade of huge trees and watched the dressage events. Later we piled high onto the grandstand to watch some of the rodeo. We bought Mr Whippy ice-creams (now called Mr Whip for some reason) and pink fairy floss.

On the long drive home the kids fell asleep in the car while I looked out the window across the farm paddocks. Cows, sheep, goats and chickens.