Dressage in Greenville and TexMex

 Greenville, TX

The paddocks at the Longhorn Arena and Event Center in Greenville, TX

Dressage 

Today we got up and picked up doughnuts at a local doughnut shop, had coffee, and then drove to Hunt County (a new county for us) to watch Sharon compete with her horse Simon in the a Dallas Dressage event.  We were just spectators so we didn't have to deal with the logistics of picking up your horse, getting it ready, driving it out to Greenville, parking your rig and trailer, and offloading the horse.  We weren't there for that part or all of the other parts that lead up to those parts.  We just rolled up, pulled out our cameras, and said, "Oh look horsies!".  

We got there in time to watch Sharon work with Simon in the arena.  She says Simon is a temperamental horse and since Dressage is basically boiled down to, "how well do the rider and horse follow directions" it's good to get him settled in.  

Sharon and Simon concentrating during practice

If you ever want to live stream horses, here is the info.

More practice

I found the hidden barrels for barrel racing

Before Sharon took the main stage, I took a walk.  They do Equine Therapy here too.  It's right next to a hospital.

We kept our smoking alcohol in the car

This horse liked the giant swamp cooler keeping the place under 100 degrees

In the cheap seats!

All of the T's crossed and the R's dotted!

The Dressage event consists of a rider memorizing a pattern as well as a list of things to do or in this case being read that pattern and list.  The rider's coach or friend will yell out an instruction like Canter, and a Cone Letter like M, and the rider will direct the horse to do that thing and the judges watch and, well they judge.  At higher levels the rider is expected to have the route memorized.

I need to learn to video better

When we packed for this trip I decided to bring my big camera.  It's a Canon MKIII and I have 3 lenses for it.  It's all very heavy and takes up a lot of space but I felt it would be worth it to document this trip.  Today is the day I decided that I just like my phone better for what I am doing.  It serves my purpose better.  I shot comparison photos to show the difference.

I shot this with my Canon at 200mm.  I had to buy a backpack for the camera and lens.

I shot this with my Google Pixel 6 Pro at 4x optical zoom.  I keep the camera in my pocket.

If you want narrow depth of field the Canon is great.  Bang for the buck and bang for the weight, I will take the Pixel Pro.  I can even go in and use editing to create a digitally zoomed image to match the zoom of the 200mm on the Canon.

The Google Pixel photo edited on my phone. Good enough!

Tex Mex

After the dressage event we headed home to cool off.  After Sharon was done doing everything she needs to do after an even, we met her at Rivera's Salva Tex Mex in downtown Princeton, TX.  It's a newish place that she has been wanting to visit.  It was a great lunch and fun recapping her thoughts on the Dressage competition.  We also got to ask her newbie questions about horses.

Home made chips with your own individual salsa for double dipping!

Growlers and Guitars

After lunch we headed home again but not before stopping at Big Spray Brewing in Princeton, TX to see if they had packaged beer.  They only filled growlers and our growlers were at home so we said we would be back.  Instead, I picked up our growlers and went to Growlers and Guitars to fill them.  I filled 2 and bought a couple of cans.  While my growlers were being filled I got to listen to some live music.  It seemed like a good place if you wanted to listen to loud country music.

Great selection

Live music

Board games

Grand Sumo 

One of the few sports that Donna and I enjoy equally is Grand Sumo.  NHK shows a 30 minute recap and the action is so fast you don't have time to get bored.  There are Bashos every 2 months and each is 15 days so it isn't much of a commitment.  On Sunday something happened that I had never seen before.  The commentator hadn't even seen it before.  They stopped the match to fix a mawashi (the loincloth that they wear) and then restarted it again.  I felt it gave the favored wrestler an advantage.  

That's it for today.  If you didn't read yesterday's post you can find it here.