About two weeks ago my regional director texted me to let me know about an event we needed staffed. He knows I’m into horses so of course I was not hesitating signing up to work Dallas Dressage Club’s 2-day show. Loving the sport and get paid for watching it and socialize with fun people, who says no to that? Not me. Even thou it was my long weekend off I was looking forward to do this event. And it would not disappoint me!

Fall made its entry to Texas. It was really cold on Saturday morning! And as you can see, this is a metal building. Let me tell you, it was cold in here all day despite the temperature being decent outside. I was grateful that they had some hot chocolate in the concession stand that I could get.

A dressage show is not the very most exciting place to be unless you are interested in the sport. It’s not like showjumping or eventing where the risk factor is higher for injuries. As a matter of fact, I didn’t even hand out one single bandaid during these two days. I didn’t even talk about anything medical. It was only horse talk, and I loved every second of it.

They showed Level 2 to Grand Prix and even though this was a smaller show than normal due to nationals next week it was so fun and inspiring to watch. Interesting enough I find the dressage riders more social then the eventers and show jumpers. I can work a weekend at the Rose Park, not talking to one single rider whereas this weekend everyone came and talked to me. Well, maybe also because I figured that there wasn’t going to be many medical calls on this show I offered to help out wherever I was needed which ended me at the ring entrance. So I saw everyone before and after their show. It was so much fun to see their progress throughout the weekend!

As an equestrian showed in Sweden I found there was a couple of differences in the rules. First of all… they are allowed to ride their program with a whip! That is not allowed in dressage in Sweden… secondly, here it is okay, as a matter of fact quite normal to salute the judge with your left hand. That’s a big NO NO in Sweden. It is simply rude to the judge to do so. After their ride the horses gets inspected. Making sure the bit is good and there is no blood on the horse. That is only done on international shows in Sweden. You are allowed to walk around your horse in a halter. In Sweden you have to have a bridle on your horse at all times outside the stall or the trailer. There is no speaker on these shows, nor any background music which made it a little bit more boring. Just some interesting things I noticed…

While I was eating my lunch this fella came to say hi. Meet Remy. He was out walking his human and he decided that he wanted to say hi to me. It was hilarious because even thou she was an adult, Remy had put in his mind to come and talk to me and there was nothing to stop him.

So we had a little chat, we talked about him being good at the show. We made an agreement that he had to win at least one of his entries. We shared an apple and of course took a selfie. And Remy was a good boy, he kept his promise and actually won both of his entry on Sunday! Congrats to both Remy and his Human!

So now my mind is full of inspiration and determination that some day I will be the one who shows instead of being the EMT… or maybe double duty… lol