...and we're off!

...to Columbus, OH, for the Quarter Horse Congress! Leaving tomorrow a.m. to see Mocha show in the Green Western Pleasure on Tuesday a.m. I am already nervous! It just recently hit me that this is MOCHA I'm going to watch this year. I am always excited to have any of my horses show, but this year is just extra special and emotional for me. This is just one of those rare experiences in life.. to have raised, rehabbed, and trained a horse from crippled to Congress! It just goes to show that if you know your horse, and put in the work, that you don't have to be a big name or a professional to train a Congress contender. This is just doubly exciting for me since not only did I rehab him, but I trained and finished him up until a month ago.

This is Mocha after 30 rides with me. It's the earliest footage I have of him riding. I wanted to post something so you can get a feel for how far he's come in a year, unfortunately I don't have where he REALLY started on video, which was in the round pen, not knowing how to canter, and not picking up the right lead. This was right after I finally was able to get him to pick up the right lead, but you can still see he was off to the right at this point in time, although substantially better than he was at first, not even being able to hold the right lead.

So here is his "before video":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7jfANxd8t8

And his after video, less than a year later, from the QH Congress will be posted on Tuesday! WAHOO, what a dream! :)

~Amy