The theme of the day was black and white (White for Domestic Violence Awareness) and the morning started with a minute silence and the release of white balloons and one purple one for June. Now anyone who has seen horses at a show will recognise that when you line up a heap of horses, you'll have the calm ones standing there, and then half a dozen or so horses off to the side, jig jogging sideways, forwards and generally giving their riders a challenge to stand still, due to a variety of reasons. Throw in the bobbing balloons, well, lets just say I was waiting for a couple of riders dismounting and holding their horses in place.
But not this day. Those horses lined up, stood their ground as quiet embraced the grounds and we stood, a tear in our eye but with love in our hearts. The balloons were let go and they made their way gently on the breeze, to the stars, to June. I think she definitely had a word with those horses that day.
It was a very long day, competition was fierce, but so much support amongst the riders. If someone was having an issue, there were many willing hands to encourage or hop off and help. Miss Lilly had a lovely time, shared between Aunty Kellie and Aunty Donna and me. Her daddy was riding his beloved Bubbalicious (in Luke's own words) - "You think my main mare would have a tougher name than Bubbalicous" and her mummy was busy helping other riders, and getting the chance a lot of new mum's crave, and enjoying some adult conversation.
We were so thrilled that Luke won an inaugural challenge done in June's memory. So next year he'll have to drag Bubba out of the paddock and defend their title.
It's a marvellous thing when a community comes together to support one and other. I also felt some of that support during my rare day out, with many coming up to say hello, having a chat, helping me get from spot a to spot b. I slept well that night, and felt happy to be part of such a lovely day.
Some photos from the day courtesy of the lovely Mrs Donna Norman.
Well I'm day 6 post chemo. 2 of this new drug down, 2 to go. I remember when my oncologist said to me, "this will be completely different from your previous treatments" I thought, yep, I got this. Definitely can handle a bit of pain over nausea..... yep. no drama... sigh.... When will I learn. Thankfully after last month's faceplant on the bathroom floor, trying to make sure I had undies appropriately placed by the time the ambos got there, we were better prepared, and we discussed different pain relief measures to prevent a repeat performance. And we managed to avoid all that. I even got a little smug and thought, hmmm this pain isn't quite as bad as last time.... then Sunday night hit. Suffice to say that me and my high horse about taking certain strong painkillers got a reminder that sometimes its just whatever gets you through. I kicked that soapbox to the kerb.