By Julie Preble, Assistant Editor

This past weekend turned out to be a lot of fun. I was able to spend time with my sister, Emilee, during her layover in Denver, and I had a girls’ night out later that night.

However, one of the most exciting and surprising things happened on Sunday.

As most of you know, I’ve been taking reining lessons for the past few months. Thanks to a recommendation from trainer Terry Wegener (from Vista Verde Ranch), I started taking lessons with Michelle Chapman of Eaton, Colorado.

Not only do Michelle and I get along well, my reining skills have really improved.

On Sunday, she gave me some pretty exciting news. Her daughter decided she wants to show. Because I ride her daughter’s horse during my lessons, Michelle said I could show the mare, too. (That’s the great thing about NRHA’s Green Reiner classes: You can get a taste of showing without owning the horse.)

For someone who’s loved horses as long as I have, it’s a bit surprising that I’ve never shown. While I did own one horse and lease another (at different times) in high school, neither of them was ready for the show pen.

So even though this show is a couple of months away, I’ve already started getting nervous. Memorization of anything tends to be hard for me?let alone a full reining pattern!

I know what I’ll be doing in my spare time at work: Perusing old H&R‘s for those first-show articles. Do you have any tips or suggestions?

I’ll be sure to let y’all know how it goes!