So what is a Progressive Barn Party?

A Progressive Barn Party is, for lack of a better word, awesome. Yeah, that helps a lot I know. Picture this: A barn at a horse show full of horses and people form different farm. Each of those farms bring some sort of food to share, and everybody walks around the barn to eat and socialize with everyone. That is basically the idea here.

So what can this do for you when you participate?

This is a great networking tool! Maybe some of you have horses for sale or a stallion at stud or give riding lessons. This is a chance to meet tons of new people! Maybe you're looking to buy a new horse for your young rider - maybe somebody you meet here has a friend that couldn't make it that has the perfect horse! Also, a variety of food to munch on is incredible!

What makes a great barn party?

The first thing that make a great barn party is a variety of people and a variety of food. You want to have the best food in the barn. Keep in mind this doesn't have to be expensive. Who can argue with Sloppy Joe's? or Cookies? Maybe you want to go in the direction of drinks...how about Sparkling Punch? There are endless possibilities! Don't worry about the plates and silverware - we'll take care of that. We'll also try to get some music going during the barn party, but I haven't been down to look at the facility yet so we'll see what happens with that.

Other notes:

I'm going to try to get a barn map put together for that day so people will know what food is where. So be sure to tell me what you want to bring and where you want your stalls to be so I can put you on the map :) That will also allow you to be sure you are bringing the same thing as someone else. Keep in mind this is for the Iowa Falls Show only - not the Waterloo Show. If you have any questions don't hesitate to email me - I'm always available for questions :)

Wow...its been a while...sorry guys...

Alrighty, I've really slacked on keeping you all updated...my bad. I've been super busy since I last got on here - school, work, and SHOW STUFF!!! So here's what I have for the 2 shows this year...there might be some stuff you guys have already hear or know about but this is everything I have TENTATIVELY planned for the shows this year...keep in mind, this is subject to change.

WATERLOO - NATIONAL CATTLE CONGRESS FAIRGROUNDS

June 25

3:00pm Horses may arrive

4:00pm Open Arena

6:00pm Grill out

June 26

6:00am Open Arena

8:00am Classes begin

We have some things that are a little bit different this year. Because of an event prior to ours, horses will not allowed on the grounds until 3:00pm...I can't stress that enough! I would hate to have people waiting around in Waterloo with horses for hours. I hope to have things set up in the office by then but no guarantees I guess.

I will definitely have the arena open as soon as I can and I'm planning on that to be around 4:00...could be sooner though. Something that we did last year and liked a lot was the Grill Out! We are planning this again this year...its very simple. You bring stuff to grill and a dish to share...we'll bring the grill and we'll all have a great time socializing!

I will open the arena as soon as I get to the grounds the morning of the show...we are starting an hour earlier this year. Hopefully this will get us out a little bit earlier so we're going to start at 8:00am.

Keep in mind we are still doing our high point awards for the overall HORSE, YOUTH, and ADULT!

IOWA FALLS - ELLSWORTH EQUESTRIAN CENTER

July 22

12:00pm Horses may arrive

1:00om Open Arena

July 23

6:00am Open Arena

8:00am Classes Begin

Game classes only - 6 JACKPOT CLASSES!!!

4:00pm Progressive Barn Party

6:00pm Open Arena

July 24

6:00pm Open Arena

8:00pm Classes Begin

Halter, Pleasure, and Games - 3 MORE JACKPOT CLASSES!!!

Ok...this is a bit new for me. We are making this a 2 day show this year...it was like this last year, but we will have a different format this year. Saturday will be a show with just game classes. This includes 6 OPEN JACKPOT CLASSES!!! We will try to be done by 3:00 or 4:00 so that we can all be ready for the Progressive Barn Party...if you don't know what this is keep checking the blog...I'll post that later this week or this weekend to explain the whole thing. After the classes are done, there will also be an open arena for all that want to use it.

On Sunday, I'll open the arena once I get to the fairgrounds and it will be open until we drag before classes. These classes will be set up a lot like the Waterloo show. We'll have halter right away and then pleasure followed by games to close the day. Keep in mind for BOTH DAYS we will have overall highpoint awards for overall HORSE, YOUTH, and ADULTS!

Remember that if you have any questions, just shoot me an email :) See you all this summer!