I hadn’t been to an awards banquet in ages, and I wasn’t really planning on going to one any time soon, except that after the year-end show (that I did not attend), someone (i.e., Amanda, who was looking for 2017 show dates) pointed out that Eli came in 6th in our division. Huh, cool. At this point, I was 50/50 on going to the banquet, because someone from my barn could just pick my ribbon up for me.

And then a board member asked if she could nominate me for a position on the board. Um, sure? After the votes came in (almost all positions “ran” unopposed, including me) I am now the Secretary. Okay, well now I felt like I had to go. So I bought a ticket and made sure to keep that evening in my calendar clear.

I mean I guess the view is kind of okay, or something.

It truly was fun to see everyone dressed up. And honestly I actually don’t recognize most people when they are not attached to a horse. The venue boasts the best view in Austin, and the food is okay, but the margaritas are delicious. I probably had one too many. The banquet had a silent auction and a slide show. I am not sure on the silent auction totals yet, but I think everything got bid on and went to new homes.

The slide show was awesome. Normally, slide shows are not exciting. However, someone managed to find video from the past few decades of the Austin-area hunter/jumper community, video from the 90s, the 80s, even a few black & white clips from the late 70s, I think. It was so neat to watch. Especially with people recognizing the riders and former barn locations, former show locations … I think it was truly the highlight of the evening, and DVDs of the video were for sale. I bought one, but I am not sure whose purse it wound up in …

My dress was longer than the ribbon, I promise.

I even didn’t realize when my horse’s name got called for his ribbon, and a trainer from my barn was like, “that’s you!!” four times before I realized I had better go pick it up. I had gotten a little too involved in a conversation with Mrs. Hummel, so oops.

If the awards banquets are always this fun, I think I’ll just keep going.