the bridgehampton classic

So totally out of our realm of normal, but so fun and so great, and so glad we did it. My cousin-in-law Alex rides horses and is quite accomplished (not to mention just a great, sweet, beautiful person too). She and her horse Coastal rode in the Bridgehampton Classic this week in a few events. We went out on Thursday (her first day) to watch her jump competition.

She is so sweet and just dotes on the boys and asked them to help her get Coastal washed and ready for their event. They were more than excited to meet him and give him a bath. They had a lot of fun with the hose! After the horse sneezing incident (scroll down to the 3rd to last picture in the post) with their race horse, Timmy was more than happy to see the horse from a far distance. Far enough where there would be no snot.

After he was all clean and dry, it was time for Alex and Coastal to get dressed. We followed her over to the ring where her event was held. Watched all the riders/trainers/owners "walk the course". By now, the nervousness had really set in for Alex. The horse (who is 25 years old by the way) looked like he was about 5 seconds from dozing off. Alex said he always looks this way before an event- I thought maybe he was just saving up his energy for the jumping-I wasn’t so far off. We met up with John’s cousin Kevin who also is so good to the boys. Timmy really loved him and was willing to visit the horse upclose as long as Kevin was holding him.

Alex went 16th and did awesome! A totally clean ride (none of the rails knocked down- don’t I sound like I know what I’m talking about??!) and damn, that horse can fly!! He came out all kinds of pissed off and we heard Alex yelling "git" at him once or twice, but whatever it was- it worked. He was sooooo fast and jumped so high and it was so exciting to watch. Alex rocked and came in first place!!!! So glad we were there to see it and take pictures.

Doesn’t she look so proud?

See how great Alex is? She gave the boys a little ride on Coastal (who was a good, good boy and very sweet- especially if you had some treats) and they can’t wait to do it again. Timmy was in charge of carrying the first place ribbon. Eventually he relented and fed the horse one treat. He liked it but didn’t love the slobber so much. Must be residuals from the snot thing.

We all went out to dinner at Cliff’s Rendezvous (the same owner/food as the Elbow Room) and had a great night. Didn’t get home til around 10:30ish, Timmy passed out in the car around 10 and everyone had a great, great time.

I can’t wait to go to my next horse show. Oh, and Alex and Coastal got 2nd place on Friday, and 7th out of 72 on Saturday. But she told me Coastal had the fastest time on Saturday, but knocked down one rail on a jump. Not bad for a 25 year old guy, huh?

Took way more pictures than what’s posted above. If you’d like to see them all, check out the album on the left on the top of the blog.