Say "Hi" to baby Kat! 
After years of mailing my niece horsey presents, horsey cards and mulitple trip outside, when she comes to visit, to see the horses. I have finally suceeded in creating a horse crazy kid. Since I have none of my own (and never have any) I will have to make do with my brother's little girl. this really hasn't been hard either since my brother was raised around horses and even did some showing himself and his wife my sister in-law also rode horses in college and did some showing.
So when I called up ealier this spring and asked if baby Kat would like to show Stretch in her first Lead Line class - the answer was an enthusiastic YES! Grandma Vaagen pledged to pick her up an outfit and also help out with stall fee for the show. I offered to pick up the lead line class fees and the the show we picked out to do at is the upcoming Monroe Show because it is near where my brother and sister-inlaw lives. She is 3 and I know that's young but not too young for a quick Leadline class - I never did Leadline when I was young I and want to make sure she can if she wants. She's a total ham and I have no doubt that she will love being the center of attention for the 5 minute class.
I contacted show staff and asked them to add a Leadline class - they had no problem doing so even promising some cute awards for her and any other child who wants to do it.
Grandma and I hunted online for a couple of weeks for a used Leadline outfit that was in-style and her size, we gave up and ended up buying a new one from Unicorn Horse Show Clothes - an online company that specializes in Leadline and Walk-Trot clothes. Grandma went with the Leadline-in-a-box kit, which will provide Kat with chaps, a shirt, pants and a handlers shirt for whoever leads her in the class. She picked out the below shirt and pants and chaps to match.
In addition to paying part of Stretch's stall fee (which is very nice considering the Monroe Shows put on by Washington State Quarter Horse Association - changes the HIGHEST stall fees around at $165 per stall, incase you are keeping track...one can attend AQHA's Select World Show and pay less for a stall 
) Grandma will also be at the show to watch and is letting me crash with her in the hotel. Which is very nice because with my skylight shot all to heck my living quarters my LQ Horse Trailer is not exactly the ideal waterproof shelter that is required for rainy type shows in and around the Seattle area 
. Hence the reason why Grandma choose a hotel over bunking with me.
Bonus for Stephanie!! Since I have somewhere to stay during the Mornoe show I won't have to buy a plug-in at the Fairgrounds RV park and can put off buying a new skylight for another month or two. This frees up a small amout of cash, so I can pick-up the over-reach boots for Stretch, english boot hooks and a pair of darker DevonAir breeches that just went on sale at Stateline Tack instead!
We'll do an after photo during the show with her all decked out in her new horse show outfit on Stretchers...