National Dressage Pony Cup 2021

Obviously Jen will be the one with the exciting post, but last week I took Friday off from work and spent two days with her and her entourage at National Dressage Pony Cup. When I found out it was going to be practically in my backyard at the National Equestrian Center, naturally I invited myself along and brought my camera so that I could be marginally useful :)

How many chins can I awkwardly give myself in a selfie? SO MANY apparently. 

First of all, even without the ridiculously fun horse showing, OH MY GOD IT WAS AMAZING. Obviously I adore Jen, and I also had the pleasure of meeting her mom and BFF Mary at not-Rolex in 2019. I have heard SO MUCH about Connor's breeder Lisa that meeting her literally felt like catching up with an old friend, and I also LOVED meeting Erika (who owns Connor's half-brother Gavin), Jen's grandma, and great-aunt. Since I'm relatively local-ish, when I checked in at the NEC on social media Friday morning, several of my other friends made it a point to stop by Jen's stall and say hi, plus I just randomly kept running into people in the aisles and at the rings, it was amazing. So many beautiful ponies and horses (both small and regular sized ;) they ran an open show in conjunction with pony cup), and I got to see some gorgeous freestyles!

THE PONY RIBBONS I DIED A LITTLE

From a non-competitor perspective, the show seemed really well run. There were several vendors, the merch was fab, the ribbons were GORGEOUS, and everything I saw ran like a well-oiled machine. Two indoor rings were going and I think four outdoor rings? Friday's weather was a bit sketch but Saturday was gorgeous. I'm not gonna spill the beans on how Jen and Connor did (AMAZING, NATURALLY), so enjoy some candids from #Jensentourage

Connor was so down to take selfies with anyone

He is so cheeky and I love it

So when I went to watch Karen at Regionals last fall, we popped in the mobile tack shop and I was OBSESSED with this rose gold bling Fleck whip. I didn't buy it and had SO MUCH REGRET for the last 9 months. I dropped by on Friday and the nice man running it was like "oh we just got these in yesterday, they go so fast!" SO OF COURSE I BOUGHT IT hahahaha. 

#supergroom doing supergroom things. I'm just so disappointed I don't have a Mary in my life. Jen probably regrets introducing us because we are trouble together lol. 

THE CUTEST

Watching Jen's virtual warm up was BALLER. 

Jen's grandma and I are on the same level haha. I showed up Friday wearing my "Champagne after the centerline" and Jen was v. v. disappointed in my false advertising (since I didn't actually bring champagne) so I rectified that Saturday!

Connor: "who let all these ladies day drink?"

They made fun of me all weekend for talking to strangers/knowing half the people at the show, but then when we were taking the above selfie, a friend of mine walked up to talk to me and volunteered to take a better photo for us, lol. Perfection!

Cici's acu vet was there (she treats horses as well) and her daughter even got in on the Connor snuggles!

#bloggerfriendsarethebestfriends

I can't wait to do it again at next year's Pony Cup! Also I may have invited myself to go show some of Lisa's horses at the Welsh show in October :) :) :)