Our Dixie Stampede

 The strips on my costume flew out in the wind as I cantered into the arena with the other 'Indians' (who actually spoke French) and the Cowboys.  Country music sang out from the speakers and people clapped and cheered us as we circled at high speed. Masina, my horse, caught the excitement and sped up, narrowly missing Liz, a fellow (French speaking) Indian.  It's December 12, the Fete de la Noel (Party of Christmas) at Club Hippique.

Me and Masina*

Tristan and Lucky Luke

Christianna and Mickey. Christianna is a Spanish dancer in the show, but she's not wearing her skirt in this picture.

Aidan's horse, Ramses, was in use at the moment here, so we don't have a picture of him mounted.

Masina was very impatient. Mom captured that perfectly here: 

He would violently throw his head up and down, trying to yank the reins out of my hands. He also wanted to eat all the grass underfoot, it was very annoying. :)

Christianna was scared of Tornado, Aidan mesmerized by something or other, and I have no idea why my face looks like that.

Christianna and Jackson at Mickey's head. Jackson's mom is a missionary here as well, you'll see them in later posts.

This was really a show Club Hippique was putting on for Christmas, but it really had nothing to do with Christmas despite the fact that Santa showed up at the end.  In the show, different countries were represented. Christianna was a Spanish dancer in the Spanish show, Tristan and Aidan were Cowboys, and I was an Indian. We older three were in the U.S. show. Everyone else in the U.S. show spoke French. There was a Chinese show, French show, the Spanish show, Argentinian show, U.K. show, the U.S. show, Swiss show, and Russian show.

Little Spanish Dancers, all in a row (with M. Arnold, the really tall man in the white shirt).

One of my favorite acts was in the Argentinian show. Two girls (one was Liz) lay down on a board and Tornado (the feistiest, fastest, most out of control crazy horse that loves anything that has to do with speed) jumped over them. They were so scared, it was funny!

They also held up the board for Tornado to jump over.

Another two of my favorites are the polo and racing.

And of course, there is the U.S. show. Our performance was called "The War for Firewater." Cowboys vs. Indians would gallop up to the bucket at one end of the arena and fill their cup. Steering with one hand, they would guide their horses over a small jump, and then dump their prize into their team's bucket. The team that wins has the most firewater, or as our teacher Arnold put it, "The team that can get drunk the most." :) He even joked about putting vodka in the bucket, but I told him I'd rather have Coke. :P

Enter the Cowboys

Enter the Indians

When it was my turn, I galloped across, filled my cup, turned Masina around, and he swerved! I was so mad! Last rehearsal he did it and I guess Masina figured he could get away with it. :( But I did bring back some water.

The Cowboys win!

The boys were very happy about their victory, though I protested that the Indians had won three times at the rehearsals, and this would be the Cowboy's second victory.  (it's the harmattan, and some of the harmattan dust got on the camera lens, ha ha).

Some of the Spanish show.

Toro, toro!

Tristan is on the top far left, and if you look closely, you can see Aidan's cowboy had right above Santa's head. Christianna is covered up by Santa. Count the phones. I see five. :)

Only kids UNDER 12 got gifts ( I know) so Tristan and I didn't get anything. :) But, Aidan got riding gloves and riding socks, and Christianna got a cap and riding socks. Wow! (Aidan: Yeah, we both got socks for Christmas.)

Also they were serving dinner ( a very French dinner, we loved it)! They had this AMAZING (I use that word a lot) chocolate for dessert, one of my favorite parts.

(from left to right) Mrs. Amy, Christianna, Greta, Lois, and Laelle. 

Dad, Tristan, and Jackson.

There's always stories behind Mom's smiles... :)

There was chocolate...

...and now it's gone ;)

When it was all said and done, it was 10:30 pm, and we finally went to bed at 11:40 !!! That is unusual for us (but thankfully, no one was too grumpy when they woke up!!).

*Thank you, Mom, for taking so many of the pictures and videos!

 Thank you, GranAnnie, for sponsoring our membership and making this possible!! We love you! 

And thanks to everyone in my family who let me take nearly complete possession of the computer while trying to load all this ungodly amount of footage!