Scottsdale Classic

A trainer practicing for western pleasure

This horse is a paint and a quarter horse (registration wise) He has a FAKE tail in and it stays taped up until he shows and then they take it out. Horses wear fake tails to have thicker tails for showing. Funny huh?

This girl is just warming up and I snapped a few shots (my braid job BTW)
This girl is warming up RIGHT before her class. I love her turnout. So classic and crisp.
This is a reining horse SLIDING to a stop. Its SOOOOOOO cool to watch.
I love this show saddle...dripping with silver. It must weigh 80 lbs.
My braid job. (crappy version b4 I learned the other way)
My filthy, sore, tired hands. This picture doesn't show the cuts and bruises and exhaustion obviously.


My favorite time of year! I love the classic. I haven't seen a horse under 15K. I've been braiding for about 8 years now, but seriously for the last 4 have I been getting some money. I usually clear a grand in about 3 nights. Its good. I was braiding last night and planned on being done about 11pm and getting a little sleep in my van before checking horses in the morning for folks. I was about to collapse from exhaustion when I realized that I'd lost the van keys. I retraced my steps for 3 hours. I couldn't find them anywhere. I was locked out of my van and couldn't sleep so I found another braider and he was SERIOUSLY WORLD CLASS! Anyway, I hung out with him and he taught me some GREAT tips and basically I've been braiding the LAZY way for about 4 years (which is costing me money not to mention unhappy people when they fall out). I always thought I was pretty good, but I'm really crappy compared to this guy. I'm gonna work real hard to get as good as he is. He is a full time braider and clears 100k a year. He braids 3500 horses a year and attends the big shows: hunter, AQHA world, APHA world and a bunch of others. I don't plan on doing that many, but I would like to own a horse and off set the cost by braiding.