It has been a while since you have heard from us, and maybe you were wondering if we’ve just disappeared. While I sometimes dream of vacations spent resting under the shade of a palm tree on a tropical beach somewhere, the truth is that I, and many of the folks at Bluebonnet, spent the last several months working hard to make the Bluebonnet Horse Expo and Rescue Horse Training Challenge happen.
Although the Expo & Challenge are a tremendous amount of work, I also think they’re the most wonderful weekend of the year. During the Expo & Challenge, we get to provide affordable educational opportunities and shopping to horse lovers from across Texas and beyond. We might even get a chance to sneak away and do a little shopping ourselves! We also get to see friends and make new friends, and you can never have too many horse-loving friends. We also get to watch the talented and dedicated horsepeople who have worked with a rescue horse for four months come together to show their horses off. It is all wonderful!
But the most wonderful part of the weekend, at least for me, is seeing the adoptions. Our Adoption Team is incredibly hard working, often approving adopters late Friday night after they leave the facility or getting up early in the morning Saturday to approve a last minute applicant, all so they can come to the event and hopefully meet their new best friends.
I love hearing all the great stories. A couple of adopters this year adopted their first ever horse – I love to imagine them getting up Sunday morning, looking out their window, and seeing their very own horse in the pasture, something that fulfills a lifelong dream! Some of our adopters this year were families who kids hope to get into riding, showing, or playdays. I love to imagine their joy when they take their first ride at home or win their first ribbon at a competition. And some of our adopters are more experienced horsepeople who were ready to add a new horse to their herd. I love to imagine them planning for the future with their new equine friend.
If you haven’t gotten to experience The Most Wonderful Weekend of the Year, I hope you’ll join us sometime. Enjoy the shopping and clinicians, and stop by the barn. Maybe you’ll meet your new equine best friend. Even if you don’t ,you can have fun seeing all the happy faces of new adopters and imagining their excitement and joy as they bring their new horses home. It will do your heart some good to see so many happy stories!