I've been away for the past week dealing with the big W (dress fittings, shoe shopping, budget planning, decorating ideas, etc.) and have fallen extremely behind on my blog! While I was back home handling wedding details, I got the chance to go back to The Royal. Background info: I grew up in southern Ontario and would go to The Royal every year until I went to university. It was usually me and friends or me and my dad who would go but this year my mom and dad came for the experience :)
For those who don't know what The Royal is, here's a quick clip:
My parents and I got tickets to the last evening show. It was a great night showing a ton of different styles of equestrian sport including driving, dressage, trick riding, liberty work, and of course show jumping. One of the best classes was watching the 4- and 6-horse hitch classes. It was absolutely fantastic! Now, my family is not horsey at all, so having them there and enjoying all the classes was wonderful. I was amazed that they were as captivated with the dressage freestyle as I was. Of course the show jumping at the end was spectacular, having several international and olympic riders compete in the Ricoh Big Ben Challenge.
Dad standing in with the giant pumpkins!
54 drafts line up for placings!
Of course, another great part of the Royal is the trade show. If you are a bargain hunter, this is the place for you! We didn't have much time before the evening show started once we got there, so we checked out some of the bigger shops and then had to get to our seats. We found a few nice deals, including half-off of my favourite breeches (woot!), FINALLY getting a halter plate for Koda, and a gorgeous saddle pad for less than half of the original price. I did search around for a corrective half pad and a nice ap hunter green pad, but didn't find anything that would suit.
Behind the scenes!
The Royal is MASSIVE
In other news, winter has reared it's ugly head up here and it is colder than ever. I had the indoor arena booked for the weekend, but when the weather isn't going to heat up above -20C, I won't ride. Here's hoping next weekend will be a bit warmer over the weekend!
Good Grief! That is COLD! I am so lucky to live in Southern California where the temp is fairly mild all year long!
ReplyDeleteI would love to go to the Royal! So cool :)
ReplyDeleteThat is so cool that you've been to the Royal! It's on my "to-go-to" list.
ReplyDeleteAlso, you just made me feel silly for whining about below freezing temps here, cannot even imagine negative 20. Try to stay warm!