Ocala is fun, kids are happy and mom is pooped! On Thursday we waited all day for the rain, and it came just when Tara went into the ring with Gracie (show name: Good Gracious) in the baby green division. Gracie wasn’t loving the rain dripping into her ears and shook her head to let us all know it. She rallied in the second round and did us all proud. The hunter ring has two enormous trees (Willows? Still haven’t found out) that are just amazing.

The girl wanted to get to the show grounds as early as possible, so I’ve been dropping her off at 7:15 a.m. so she can walk the jumper courses with Tara. The boy and I then return to the hotel and visit the fitness center where I am able to fit in 30 minutes of cardio, while the boy spends two minutes on every machine six times.

On Friday, we arrived at the show grounds just in time to miss Tara’s Level 4 Jumper class, which meant we walked all the way to the jumper ring and then had to walk all the way back to the tent. The boy just about lost his mind and nearly cried from the effort. How is it possible that the child who runs from the time his feet hit the floor till he closes his eyes at night can be brought to tears by a 10-minute walk? And I’m the one with the back fat?

Luckily, the golf cart kept him entertained, and he locked himself in the dog pen, which was effective on many levels. He also made a new friend—check out the pictures.

But the big excitement came on Friday, when Tara found two “day rentals” for the girl and her friend Rachel. We tried them out and agreed to lease them for the day so the girls will get to show on Saturday in the maiden division.

I’ve now answered the question I posed last week, “Horses: Vow of Poverty of Stupidity?” My answer? Yes! I called the husband to alert him to the exciting developments and the silence was deafening….or maybe it was just a bad cell phone connection? I was going to do the braiding myself to save a few bucks until I saw the horse’s mane. Never mind!

So here I sit in the hotel room, trying to convince two girls and one boy that it’s really a good idea to go to bed at 8 p.m., especially when we’ll be leaving for the show at 6:30 a.m. I am the good tired that only comes from spending at least 10 hours at a horse show. Ahhh, vacation!