2007 in Review (Winter)

Since I did not send out a Christmas letter with my cards, I thought I would do a review of our year, a season at a time.

In January at the Oregon Hunter Jumper Assn. Awards Banquet, Natalie was the 2006 Pony Equitation Champion! She was also Reserve Champion in Pony Hunters.

Also in January, we were lucky that the U.S. Pony Club National Convention was here in Portland. Natalie and I attended two full days of seminars by famous riders, judges and coaches! Natalie also did a research fair project and presentation on horse shoes and won 3rd place! Jim joined us for a dinner and presentation by Amy Tryon, a past winner of the renowned Rolex 3-Day Event.

February brought more Pony Club fun.  Natalie and 3 of her fellow pony clubbers participated in the Oregon Region Quiz Rally... it was an entire day of being quizzed on their knowledge of horses.  Her team placed 4th out of 13 teams! All the hard work really paid off.

We were able to sneak up to Gig Harbor, Washington to visit our friends the Guinn Family. My best friend from college and her family recently relocated there from Las Vegas. It is truly a blessing to have them close by, and we always have such a great time with them.

In March we celebrated Jim's birthday, and his parents came up from Las Vegas for a whirlwind horse show weekend. On Friday and Saturday, Natalie did her first Arabian show on Memo down in Salem. They did low hunters and were awesome! On Sunday Natalie did her first Dressage show up at DevonWood in Sherwood. Another successful day! Boy were we tired after that!! Natalie had some 2nd, 3rd and 4th place ribbons to show for her hard work. Way to go, Nat!