Barn Party

If you haven't been invited to a barn party this year, throw one. There is nothing more stress-relieving than hanging out with a bunch of like-minded, horse crazy folks eating too much food and laughing at stories that the rest of the would find world find boring.

Kern County's branch of Team Symphony

On Friday night, Chemaine Hurtado, owner and trainer at Symphony Dressage Stables, opened her beautiful home to all of her students and friends for her annual Team Symphony Christmas bash. Chemaine had students from all over Kern County show up, and it's a big county. That lady really gets around!

An old saddle Chemaine painted.

Team Symphony's party was like a lot of others. We brought more food than anyone could possibly eat, and I mean that. Somehow the two food tables, yes, TWO, kept getting refilled. It was like the miracle of the loaves and fishes. One thing about horse people is that we love to chow down almost as much as we love seeing our horses dive in.

Let the gift swapping ... okay, STEALING, begin!

Like most barn Christmas parties, we all brought horsey-themed gifts to swap and steal. At the end of the night, I ended up with not one, but two new ornaments! One I "stole," and the other came from Chemaine. She had hand painted each student's horse on an ornament. Mine had both of my horses depicted! 

Chemaine's ornaments - top row, second from the left is mine.

She captured Speedy's profile perfectly! I am so in love with this ornament.

Part of the evening's festivities included a fun game of "Reassemble This Bridle." I laughed because not long ago I wrote a post about cleaning three bridles and getting confused when I started putting them back together. Chemaine paired me up with my friend Wendy, an amazing barrel racer who also rides dressage. Not to change the subject, but here's Wendy on Bloo.

Wendy's another one of my BADASS friends. I have several.

Since Wendy and I were up first, Chemaine gave us a moment to strategize. Not wanting to be responsible for the crown piece and brow band - I look like a retarded monkey when I try to figure out those pieces and that's in the privacy of my own tack room, I told Wendy to do that part while I tackled the reins and bit. We end up winning with a time of 1:16. Take that, retarded monkey!

We had it mostly right!

Like all good things, the evening eventually came to an end but not before everyone handed out lots of hugs and well wishes. It was a Christmas party after all, and the spirit of good will was definitely felt as everyone wished each other's horses good health, top scores, and success in the coming year.

Me on the left with the always awesome Chemaine on the right.

Thank you for having us, Chemaine. I am so looking forward to 2019!