Unfortunately I have yet to have that favorite ribbon. Not for horses anyway. I have never shown a horse or competed in any equine event. Key word is YET! Hopefully when I start with the RH competitions that will change.
I did show dogs when I was younger. I competed with my springer spaniel, Belle, in obedience and won almost every time we competed. Very often we won with a perfect score of 100, which is pretty rare for a kid and which also made us the highest scoring dog in the show many times.
Then I got a golden retriever puppy. Her name was Charm and I showed her in conformation classes. Her sire was the number 1 Golden in the country at the time, his name was Fella. I started showing her in fun matches and AKC sanctioned matches for practice. She always won her class at the very least.
Her first real show, she took Winners Bitch from the 9-12 month puppy class. That gave her points towards her championship and it means that she beat all the adult bitches as well. That was my favorite dog show ribbon!
This was not that day, I do not have that picture, although I am guessing my mom does somewhere. But this is a picture of me showing her in California. I was 14 at the time. (I"m almost 50 now) So ya, this is an antique photo! LOL
Anyway, it turned out that she had bone cancer and I ended up having to put her to sleep shortly after she got her first points. I was devastated, but she was in pain, and it was the right thing to do. It hit her so fast. One day she had a lump on her face, and then another month after that on her leg, and then she started to get really sick. My step- dad was a vet and he ran the tests and there was no doubt what the problem was. I was with her when he put her down. It was a hard thing for a teenager to deal with, but I wanted to be there. So because it was the only real ribbon we won together, it meant more to me.
I went on to show many more dogs after that. I even worked for a professional handler for a while, often beating him when we competed against each other, but none of those ribbons meant as much to me as the one I won with my sweet girl Charm.
Hey, the question is what's your favorite ribbon, not favorite equestrian ribbon! I think you look older than 14 in that picture! But while its so sad you had to put her down, at least it was a quick thing instead of years of deteriorating health... I bet your gonna start racking up those horse ribbons though :)
ReplyDeleteSounds like a sweet Dog and I think that fits just perfect for this day.
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