Gigi is a six-year-old haflinger pony from Maryland.  She was donated by a friend of Pal-O-Mine that wanted her to be involved in our mission.  She is very quiet and calm, and loves kids.  She has a ton of movement, but a nice smooth trot.  Haflingers are known for being tough, strong, hardworking, and sturdy.  Gigi is traditional haflinger color, with a golden chestnut color and blonde mane and tail.  She is a cutie!

Skippy is a 10 year old paint mare who has a history of reining and eating (hence her rotund appearance).  She is getting back into shape and working on becoming a dressage/therapy horse.  She is a tobiano paint and enjoys her job very much and has an outstanding work ethic.   Paint horses are known for their athletic ability and agreeable disposition.  Her partner Rambo, a bay quarter horse, also loves his job, keeping Cookie company!

Please help us welcome them at the Mane Event, our largest event of the year on Saturday May 3rd at 1 pm.  All are welcome!

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Walk Only Division
1st- Kim Wolf , riding DW
2nd- Barbara Spindler, riding Jill
3rd- Briana Maldonado, riding Mac

Walk Trot Division
1st- Barbara Spindler, riding Jill
2nd- Kim Wolf, riding DW
3rd- Briana Maldonado, riding Mac

Walk Trot Figure 8 Division
1st- Barbara Spindler, riding Jill
2nd- Kim Wolf, riding DW
5th- Briana Maldonado, riding Mac

Overall Grand Champion- Barbara Spindler
Reserve Grand Champion- Kim Wolf

Special thanks to my fellow co-captain Caroline Thompson for all her hard work and her horse show hair skills, Sam Heim for all the preparation that she did, Meg, Kim, and Liz for bathing our team, Meg and Liz for being amazing grooms, Paddy and Trevor for being all around awesome (Trevor is our new horse show groom!) , and Christine, Carol, Lisa, and the rest of the Pal-O-Mine gang for supporting us and our first show of the season!

It was really a special experience, and on behalf of everyone at Pal-O-Mine, I am very proud of our riders and our horses.

Also, special thanks to Tina Rocco, the Long Island Horse Show Series for Riders with Disabilities, Horseability, and the Thomas School of Horsemanship for a great show and great competition. It was a great day!

Please come support the team at our next show on Sunday June 8th in Muttontown at the Muttontown Park and Preserve.

She is a black and white pinto pony, probably a shetland or another small breed of pony. She loves carrots and to be groomed in her stall, and is settling in with the busy atmosphere of Pal-O-Mine Equestrian.

She came from a little backyard barn in Ridge, NY, where she lived there with her baby (yes baby!) and another pony. Her baby was 8 months old and sassy, and as big as her!

She drives a cart, which we got with her, so she has a full cart and harness! It is very exciting, our very own driving horse. She will be a great asset to our program!

However, she doesn’t have a name or anything (she just came with her halter, her harness, and her cart, that’s it!). So we are having a “Name that Pony” fundraiser to be able to purchase her some supplies. For a few dollars, you can put a name in a box and we will pick a name on the day of the Easter Egg Hunt! I still haven’t thought of my name, but a few people put in Cookie, and I thought that was a good one.

Additionally, the pony has no clothes, so if you are a pony lover, please donate some funding to dress the pony. For $100.00 you could purchase her a waterproof blanket, for $75.00 you could purchase her a waterproof sheet, for $50.00 you could purchase her pony leg wraps, and for $35.00, you could purchase her a pony-sized girth. She is a sweetheart, and is ready to be loved by you!

The recent arrival of our beautiful new halters has caused some stir amongst the herd. Seems that Redford, the veteran of the Pal-O-Mine program was a little miffed that he hadn’t gotten one too, after all, he has seniority. So someone promptly donated his halter and it should be arriving shortly. Below are the list of horses and their status on whether they have a halter or not (word is, that all the horses are having a competition on who loves them the most and those without a halter are feeling a little left out).

Yankee- Sponsored by Selena Sibai
Maxwell- Sponsored by Richard Newman
DW- Sponsored by Betty C.
Cora- Sponsored by Philip Varca
Redford- Sponsored
Tiara- Sponsored by Kim Wolf

The following horses don’t have the fancy schmancy halters and if you are interested in sponsoring them, contact Caroline at

♫

cthompson@pal-o-mine.org.

Vinnie

Cajun
Jill

Loretta
Mac
Dallas
Sundance
Jake
The Donkeys: Jake and Annabelle

We also could use a couple extra for the occasional visitors that we get, so there are plenty of sponsorship opportunities!

Enjoy the pictures:

I remember a time, in the good old days, where I would ride in sneakers and sweatpants and didn’t think anything of it!  But times have changed, and as I transitioned from being a student to an instructor, I realized that by wearing inappropriate riding apparel, I was inhibiting the success I could achieve as a rider and also creating a dangerous situation.
Helmets

Proper riding attire always begins with a helmet.  No matter what, this is the bread and butter of all riding attire.  Helmets can range in price from $50.00 to upwards of $400.00 (my dream helmet is a whopping $469.00 http://www.doversaddlery.com/gpa-professional-riding-helmet/p/X1-36252/cn/39/).  If you are a recreational rider, and just plan on riding and competing at Pal-O-Mine Horse shows, the helmets that we sell at Pal-O-Mine are perfect.  They are adjustable (to fit growing head sizes) and lightweight and keep heads cool in the heat, and warm in the cold.  If your aspirations are to compete, velvet covered helmets are advised (as they are a part of more formal attire).  It is NOT recommended at Pal-O-Mine to wear bicycle helmets, ski helmets, or any other helmet designed for other use besides riding.

Riding Pants

I recommend for all my English riders to invest in a pair of riding pants, commonly known as breeches or “britches” or jodphurs.  Breeches are designed to fit under tall boots and jodphurs are designed to fit over small paddock boots (see below for boot explanation and examples).  They provide protection for saddle sores on your inner knee (where the leg comes into most contact with the saddle) and have an appropriate fit for the rider.  While many of my colleagues are jeans fans, I am not a jeans fan.  I find jeans ride up on my leg, the seam rubs against my knee (especially when I don’t have my stirrups), and are just not comfortable for me to ride in.  However, as I said, many of my fellow riders are huge fans of jeans so you if you like jeans and they are comfortable, keep wearing them!  Also, if you are a western rider, jeans are proper riding attire (and if you really want to get serious, full chaps over your jeans).

This rider is wearing full riding chaps.

Footwear

Depending on what kind of pants you wear will also influence what kind of footwear you choose.  First, let me talk about the DON’Ts of footwear.  1.  Do not wear sneakers, dress shoes, or shoes without a heel.  They do not provide the proper support for your ankle and are very dangerous, as the shoe could slip through the stirrup and get caught.  2. While Pal-O-Mine encourages sturdy boots, the more advanced your student gets, the more appropriate it would be to purchase actual riding boots for your student.   Actual riding boots (whether tall english boots, short paddock boots, or REAL western cowboy boots) provide the appropriate support for the foot and the ankle, are narrow enough to fit in all of our stirrups, and encourage the proper placement of the foot, heel, and ankle, encouraging good equitation and balance.  3. Boots that look like riding boots are also just as detrimental as sneakers because they focus on fashion and not the position the rider needs to be in.

As an instructor, I will sight some of the problems I have with footwear.  I have many students who wear sneakers to their riding lessons and their sneaker’s tongue  gets caught on the top of the stirrup, causing the foot to get stuck in the stirrup, being dangerous, but also not allowing the student to have a proper foot, ankle, and heel placement, which also greatly affects the student’s balance.  Another big problem I have is with work boots or Timberlands.  The tread on these boots is so thick that when the stirrup gets stuck on the arch of the boot, the student has a difficult time moving the stirrup back to the ball of his or her foot (which is the proper position of the boot in the stirrup).  The tread causes the stirrup to get stuck, also being dangerous and being detrimental to the balance of the rider.  Additionally, these work boots are traditionally very wide and can get stuck into the stirrup or not fit at all.   Finally, if a student wears a shoe without a heel, the foot can slip through the stirrup, causing the foot to get ca

My best recommendations for footwear include the following:

For riders riding in breeches, I recommend tall english riding boots.  The support of these boots cause for optimal leg placement and encourage appropriate positioning and balance.  This is also proper riding show attire for individuals over 10 years old for horse shows.

This rider is wearing riding gloves, tall English riding boots, and breeches or “britches”.

For riders in jodphurs, I recommend short paddock boots.  These boots are convenient to put on (as opposed to the tall boots) and jodphurs come with elastics that go right over the boot.  This is also proper riding show attire for individuals under 10 years old for horse shows.   The zipper kind are even more convenient than the laces, and can encourage children who have trouble tying their shoes to be responsible for their own footwear.

This rider is wearing jodphurs and paddock boots (what you can’t see is the elastic attached from the pant to under the boot, preventing the pant from riding up).   For show attire, garters, gloves, and a proper riding jacket and shirt would be necessary.
For riders in jeans, I recommend half chaps and paddock boots (see below).  These provide the feel and look of the tall boot without the hassle of putting on a tall boot.  They can also be worn under breeches (I wear half chaps and breeches with my paddock boots in the warmer weather). However, they cannot be used for a larger show (are acceptable for Pal-O-Mine Shows).  OR, if you are a western rider, REAL western boots!  I love western cowgirl boots.  I just got a pair for Christmas

These are half chaps and paddock boots.

This rider is wearing proper western attire, with jeans and real western boots.
Gloves

While gloves are pretty much mandatory in the winter, it is up to the rider whether they wear gloves in the other seasons.  I always wear leather or cotton riding gloves because it allows me to better grip the reins and also protects my hands from the chafing of the reins.  Riding gloves are fairly inexpensive and are designed specifically for riding.  Gloves are optional, but I recommend them fully.

Ultimately, it is up to you and your instructor to discuss apparel, helmets, and footwear, as there may be special considerations to the situation that cause accommodations and adaptations to proper apparel.  Especially if you are interested in competing, it is important to get proper riding apparel that can be used in your weekly lessons and for shows.   These are just some tips to keep in mind when purchasing apparel for the rider in order to maximize the success and safety of the rider. 

Pal-O-Mine Equestrian has a strong relationship with The Rider’s Choice, a tack store that you can purchase and/or order all of the above apparel from.  The Rider’s Choice is located at 3333 Veterans Highway in Ronkonkoma, NY (631)471-5050.

It is located close to Pal-O-Mine (take a left out of the POM driveway, follow Old Nichols Road past the LIE and down a while until you hit Veterans Highway.  Take a Left and the Rider’s Choice  is on your left down a ways.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask your instructor!

First thing, Melvin, Thereso, or Jose wakes up nice and early and feeds the horses, donkeys, goats, sheep, ducks, and bunnies their hay and grain at 7 am.  Imagine how hard it is to  navigate a snowy, icey, slushy Pal-O-Mine, so  you can see how it can take much longer than usual.  Add wind and rain, and it makes for an unpleasant start

Then, Dee, our weekend receptionist/administrative assistant braves the hazardous conditions and comes in at 8 am and with the go-ahead from Lisa, lessons are canceled.  While for the most part Pal-O-Mine Equestrian keeps lessons running in all types of weather, certain conditions will prompt Pal-O-Mine to cancel which include: extreme winds (the horses don’t like it and we  have a lot of branches), icey conditions on our property, dangerous conditions to and from the property, extreme cold/heat, flooding, and frozen ground (when it has been very cold, the ground freezes and it is bad for the horses to ride on hard ground).

So over the weekend, we had all of the above!  So both days of lessons were canceled, but that doesn’t mean Pal-O-Mine shuts down.  Animals, especially horses, still need to be fed, watered, groomed, and cared for, whether we have lessons or not.

So after Dee arrives, she begins to call all the students and staff and tells them that the lessons have been canceled.  While Dee is hard at work, our little bunny, Cupcake, comes in the warm office and hops around (he hops around more when no one is around, but he still gets his exercise).  Even though their are no lessons, we still need the help from our dedicated volunteers.  Jim, James, Maryanne, and Liz as well as instructors Heather and myself all begin our duties.   Kiki hung out in the office all day napping, and Nala (our barn cat), dropped by to supervise every few hours.

Since the storm system has been going on for a few days, our horses are wet and probably a bit chilled, and when horses sit for a few days, they are also very energetic :).  So it is up to our team to bring every horse inside for a few hours, groom them, exercise them, treat their hooves (because being in muddy, cold water can cause some problems, either dryness or moistness), and change their blankets.  That means every horse: Yankee, Boo, Redford, Goodboy, DW, Tino, Jake, Jill, Max, Tiara, Loretta, Mac, Diva, Cora, Dallas, Sundance, Vinnie, Cajun, and Tex.  And the other horses, such as Ellie, Fabio, Magic, Diamond, Apostle, and Derby, also need a change of blankets and to be dried off.  So that is about 25 horses that have to be cared for!

Once we bring in the horse, we have to hang up their wet blanket and find them a new dry blanket (this is the need for every horse to have access to at least two rain sheets and one winter blanket, that way if they get wet for a few days, they can have a dry blanket on so they don’t get cold, see my blog about our Wish Lists).  We then groom the horse (which takes about 20 minutes), check and treat the horse for thrush (a common problem with horses that is a result of damp conditions but is easily treatable with Koppertox [on the wish list] provided it is monitored and comes around in damp conditions, but disappears in dry conditions) and put hoof oil on the horses hoof (despite the wetness on the inside of the hoof, the outside of the hoof often dries out in the water, so oil is needed to lock in the moisture) (which takes about 10 minutes), tack and prepare the horse to be exercised (5 minutes), exercise horse (30-45 minutes), untack and groom and put on dry blanket and put in a stall or back out (20 minutes).  So as one can see, it takes about an hour and a half for each horse, so it takes quite a bit of time to care for the horses on a snow day, that is why the more help the better!

Once all the horses are exercised, groomed, cared for, dried off, warm, and their wet blankets are hanging, then around 4 pm, its time to feed, hay, and water, which takes about an hour.  So while it seems like Pal-O-Mine is closed for the day, it actually is a bustle of activity

So next time Pal-O-Mine has a snow day, just think about all the hard work and care that our beautiful horses are getting, and maybe stop by to say hello or help out (just call us first :)!

Happy Winter everyone!

Rhiannon

The second, I think, is the incriminating photo. NEVER allow an eight-year-old to tighten their own girth! This is probably why I was in the dirt a few moments later.

Enjoy!

And PS: I write the blogs in my free time, which isn’t often, so I will do my best to keep up with them

 So Pal-O-Mine Equestrian has created Wish Lists for each of these horses.   Many of the items are so great because all the Pal-O-Mine horses can benefit from them.  A great website to buy the items from are DoverSaddlery.com and StateLineTack.com.  These companies are local New England companies that ship quickly and have great customer services.  If it is easier, you can even buy the item right off the website and ship them directly to Pal-O-Mine.  Our address is on our website.   The Annual Holiday Wish List is a great way for you to show your support for our horses by seeing something that you and your family purchased being used by the horses. 

But if you want to purchase something a bit more personal for our horses, you can sign up for our Hold Your Horses Fundraiser!   Our horses never seem to have the correct halter on (for those of you who don’t know what a halter is, it is the equipment that goes on the horses head when leading him or sometimes riding him).  The halters we have get mixed up, broken, stepped on, or a too small halter gets put on the wrong horse.  So, we have our Hold Your Horses Fundraiser!  For $100.00, you can purchase a horse or donkey a custom halter with his name on it, Pal-O-Mine’s name on it, and with a tag engraved with your name on it, showing that you can hold your horses!  Our horses are in desperate need of new halters and would love your support.  The beautiful halters will come in hunter green, with a silver overlay and black writing.  This is a great idea to support Pal-O-Mine and one of our trusty hard working steeds!  Contact Rhiannon or Caroline at the barn for more information and if you are ready to HOLD THOSE HORSES! 

Ultimately, our horses have so many needs that we rely so much on the love, tender care, and devotion of our students, volunteers and staff to support them throughout the year.  So during this season of giving, sign up for one or ten items on our horses wish lists.  They will surely be thankful!

 Well where do I begin???????

So much has gone on over the past few weeks that I don’t even know where to start.  The horse show went on fabulously, with our students doing very well and our horses doing great too!  The volunteers at Paard Hill were great, and it really was a fabulous day. 

 You also may have noticed some new buildings on our property.  Because of generous donations, seven new run in sheds were built in our paddocks so that the horses have shelter in cold, windy, rainy, and snowy weather.  See, most of our horses hate when it is bad weather, and not because of the weather, but because they prefer to not be in the barn overnight.  They have started to grow their winter coats (the limited daylight in the fall and winter prompt the hair to grow longer on the horses) and when they are in the barn because of bad weather, they tend to sweat quite a bit.   They get a little stir crazy too!  So they would prefer to stay outside, even in the worst of weather (and even when it was cold and raining over this past week, some of them still didn’t want to be under a roof, they just let the rain soak them like fools!).  So now the horses have little chalets that they can roam in and out of as they please.  I wanted to take a picture of Yankee relaxing in his, but it was raining so hard I was afraid my camera would get wet!  When the weather is bad, though, they have two types of apparel they sport: rain sheets, and heavy waterproof blankets.  Rain sheets are great for cold, rainy days that are above freezing as they provide the horses with the insulation they need to keep warm and keep the rain out.  Heavy waterproof blankets are for those really really cold days and the snowy days that run a chill through our bones.  Each of our horses has a blanket, but some of our blankets are in rough shape (duct taped, have holes/rips, or just dingy) so we are in desparate need for some new blankets.  Blankets range in all sorts of sizes, from our smallest girls (like Tiara and Cora) getting size 68″ to our big ladies and gents (like Jake and Loretta) who get 84″ and 87″ sizes respectively. 

 Other ways we prepare for winter is wrapping our water tubs with bubble wrap, providing insulation for the water so it doesn’t freeze (when we get those really strong cold snaps, everything freezes!).  We keep our doors shut at night and even sometimes turn on a large heater in the barn because it is too darn cold!  We put plastic up on the windows of the barn to keep the draft from chilling our horses.  And we wear lots and lots of warm clothes and have nice thick gloves.

One of my students mothers dropped off some hand warmers for the season, which if you want to get in good with your instructors and volunteers, a box of hand warmers and some hot cocoa will surely do the trick.  It is the nicest thing when parents bring you something to warm you up after you have had a long, cold, four hour day out in the freezing weather. 

Some recommendations for our students to stay warm:
- Fleece Riding Breeches
- Winter Riding Boots
- Warm socks
- The Best Winter Gloves EVER! http://www.doversaddlery.com/ssg-winter-rancher-gloves/p/X1-3961/cn/29/ (Although, simple dollar store gloves will do the trick on most days)
- Tube neck warmers (scarves tend to fall off and could get caught on something)
- Ear bands (make sure they fit under the helmet)

Winter gets cold, but we still have lessons!  It takes a real cold day to stop us from riding, after all, the horses need to be ridden by their students!  So just remember, neither rain, nor sleet, nor gloom of the night stops us at Pal-O-Mine.  Winter is coming, but we are ready for it!

So on this evening before one of our most important horse shows of the year, I wonder if my students are feeling the same sentiment. I think to myself what horse shows were like when I was a kid, and how they are similar to Pal-O-Mine Horse Shows and how they are different. So my blog this week will give you an insight on the competitive world of horse showing, from my point of view.

Now my experience differs a bit from some of our other instructors that have horse show experience. I own a registered morgan, named Yomen, and I showed in breed shows. Breed Shows are basically multi-disciplined horse shows that the horses are all from the same breed (think of them like Golden Retriever Shows, only golden retrievers doing a bunch of different things). I showed my horse in a division called Junior Exhibitor Hunter Pleasure. Junior Exhibitor meant I was under 18.

But I am getting a little ahead of myself, my first show was a small, one day horse show, with probably about 60 horses from various local stables. I showed in beginner walk-trot and it must have been 1990. I rode a beautiful palomino quarter horse gelding named Benji, who was, at the time, my best friend. My riding instructor, Andrea, prepared me properly, by lending me a show outfit, and I got on my horse. Well, in the warm up area, I found out that at a very young age, I had made a pivotal mistake. I forgot to tighten my girth (the strap that holds the saddle on to the belly of the horse), and as I was trotting, off I roll, and Benji trots off to go eat on the baseball field that was neighboring the riding ring that we were showing in. In tears, I dust my nice, clean, borrowed outfit off and go get my horse, my pride and my confidence shocked a bit. But after I got back on, I earned myself a blue ribbon (in those days, in the beginning divisions, there was what known as the Danish system, if you did a good job, you got a blue, if you did an okay job, you got a red, if your horse left the ring or ate grass in the center the whole time, you got a white ribbon, I was not a stranger to white ribbons!).

I showed in pleasure (judged the horse and his behavior) and equitation (judged my position and my skills) and two classes later, and a blue and a red ribbon, I took off my borrowed jacket, gave my horse to someone, and went home. Weeeellllll, as a youngster, and like many Pal-O-Mine parents and students, I had no idea what type of preparation went into a horse show, the weeks, days, and hours before I waltzed in, got on, rode, and got off. I soon found out as I began my show career.

For a small one day horse show, like the ones at Pal-O-Mine, the following needs to happen. Normally Caroline and Lisa S at Pal-O-Mine takes care of all registration, forming classes, designating one of the 15 horses used for the show, organizing instructors, tack (the saddle and equipment the horse uses), volunteers, and all the logistics of the event, so I will spare you those details, although COUNTLESS hours go into organizing all of this, and even once this is done, it still isn’t fool proof.

Christine, myself, Lisa, Heather and Sam, and Caroline, as well as volunteers prepare the horses for the horse show, which let me tell you, is no easy job. Most horses get a bath in the week prior to the horse show, provided the weather permits. This costs money in TONS of shampoo (our horses like special horsey shampoo and conditioner) and conditioner, and hours by volunteers (about two hours each horse). Soaking wet and bathed ourselves in the remnants of horse dirt and scruff, all horses (except for Boo, he hates haircuts) get a haircut. Their whiskers trimmed, their bridlepaths (the part on their neck where the bridle sits), sometimes their furry legs, and their beards all get cut. If you are like Vinnie or Jake, you get a full body clip. A full body clip takes about two hours. A show trim takes about 20 minutes for each horse, and multiply that by 15 horses, you get the picture.

Barbara cleans all the tack (bridles, saddles, surcingles [the handles the students hold], halters, etc.) for the show, which takes about an hour per piece. And multiple that by 20 saddles, and 15 bridles, well you get the point.

Merissa, myself, or Caroline pulls manes (we shorten some of the horses manes for stylist purposes- hey, what can I say, we are pretty vain) of some of the horses and make sure everyone is in top condition. After all these hours, one can only imagine what our faces look like when we show up the day of the competition (very early in the morning), to find one of our angels have decided to sleep all night in a mud puddle. You can clean ‘em up, but you can’t keep ‘em from gettin’ dirty!

So after the hours of horse prep and administrative work, and all the work that the instructors put into it (remember, all these hours are volunteer hours- most don’t get paid to prepare for a horse show), it’s the day of the show.

If its an off site show (like the show at Paard Hill), the horses need to be fed at 5 am so they are all digested before transport. If it is on site, 6:30 am will do. Volunteers and staff arrive at 8 am, prepare the tack and the horses, prepare the arena and all the equipment. We start the day and off we go! And what a long day for all, the horses, the staff, the volunteers, the judges (who most of the time volunteer their time, and fly in from all over the country or drive from far distances just to judge the shows), the burger flippers, everyone!

Whew, I am exhausted just talking about this show, and this is just a one day show. I use to show in weekend, week, and three week long horse shows! More to come on that!

But let me give you an idea of the price of a normal one day horse show for me when I was a kid:

Entry Fees: $10 per class x 2-4 classes- $40
Trailering: Depending on Distance, anywhere from $25 to $350
Instructor Per Class Fee: $20 per class x 2-4 classes- $100
Horse Use Fee: (before I owned my own horse) $25 per class x 2-4 classes- $100
Tack/Apparel Rental: $50-$100
Stall Fee: (if off site and stalls were available): $50 -100 per day
Braiding: $30 per mane, $10 per tail

As one can see, a one day horse show could cost you up and over $500! Week long horse shows cost over thousands of dollars. I am sure you are asking yourself, “How did a little kid afford this type of habit?”, well, before I bought my own horse, my grandparents would pay for one show a season (one in summer and fall). Once I got my horse, I worked off every penny of my showing! And how did I do this? I learned to braid (another blog will be devoted to this). I would make about a $1000 at every week long horse show I went to, which paid for my expensive horse show habit.

But overall, the moral of the story is that a lot goes into horse showing, and even more money goes into the competitive world of horse showing. Most people donate their time and energy to make Pal-O-Mine horse shows affordable so it is not too expensive for our students.

Pal-O-Mine believes in the spirit of competition, which is one of the reasons I chose to teach at Pal-O-Mine. I believe that just because a child has a disability, it does not mean they can’t feel the healthy motivation of competition by being placed according to their performance and the performance of their peers. So on the eve of our competition, we should all wish all of our riders good luck, and thank Pal-O-Mine staff and volunteers for all the hard work they put into making these shows possible.

Good luck riders and enjoy the show!