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Oh - now you're going to have to post some pictures of the shows :)

I have almost no pictures of the shows. I run the computer, take judges to and from the airport, and deal with dressage show moms. About the only time I see a ride is when I go out to a ring to pick up more completed tests, because there are always people out there clamoring to see their tests 10 seconds after that final salute. Sometimes I look up from the laptop, and see someone ride by, and I remind myself that other people are out there, riding horses.

One of my few fringe benefits is that I get a free lunch, and get to take judges up to the midway (this is the Ingham county fairground, and we set up inside their race track) where all the food concessions are. I even get to drive a golf cart. :)

I took one judge there for lunch, and we stopped inside the big arena, where a regional Arab show books the rest of the fairgrounds. The judge was "r"-rated, and spent all her time with warmbloods. So we watched a foal-in-hand Arab class.

She never paid attention to Arabs, and was amazed at how tiny and dainty the babies looked. She said they looked like fairy horses.

Lots of stories, few pictures. Like the long discussion I had with the TD over the fantasy uniform a Michigan State campus cop designed as a quasi-military uniform. It was all black, and basically cribbed from the nazi SS. I contended that yes, she was a sworn police officer, and police can ride in uniform. But since MSU did not have a mounted division, they did not have a mounted uniform. She let that one slide.

Another time, an airline pilot tried to ride in his pilot's uniform. The TD rightly pointed out that, despite his on-the-job title of "captain", he was neither a sworn police officer, nor did he hold a military commission. Therefore, his "work clothes" didn't qualify as a uniform any more than a Detroit Lions uniform would for dressage rules.