A few weeks ago I was invited to ride in the PVDA Ride For Life’s Dancing Horse Challenge. This will be my third trip to the DHC, a fantastically fun freestyle extravaganza at the Price Georges Equestrian Center in Maryland that raises money for breast cancer research AND gives us all an excuse to wear a lot of pink and embarrass our horses, so it’s really a win-win.
I’m dragging Karateka III, the wonderful PRE Stallion I trained to Grand Prix, along for the ride, and we’ll do his extremely-awesome Ricky Martin and Black Eyed Peas kur that helped us win the Dressage Under The Stars event at the Players’ nightclub in Wellington, Fla., a few years ago.
I’m getting ready—polos and saddle pad with a pink ribbon, glitter, pink points for my tailcoat from Dameron Enterprises, a plan to torture Tres with the same thing we did to his mane for his Challenge of the Americas quadrille a few years ago except with pink pom-poms, even a pink helmet from my friends at Charles Owen.
But here’s the thing. After the DHC there’s a swanky cocktail-attired party. And just as in the last two years, I’m facing a serious, life-altering question: How do I make my helmet hair look black-tie chic?
I have long, straight hair down to my shoulderblades. To put it up when I ride, I put it in a low ponytail, with a hairnet at shows, and then flip it up under the helmet. It’s neat and tidy while I ride… and then really wonky when the helmet comes off. And since this show is in Maryland at the end of June, it will be a little on the warm side, so there will definitely be some sweating.
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What’s a girl to do? I could always stick my head under the hose and just fold it up wet (done that before). I could fall on the old standby of a headband (done that too).
I know that it’s a dinner party at a horse show, and therefore I’ll have a sympathetic audience. But since I’m a DQ, and I don’t do anything half-heartedly, I call upon the wisdom of the COTH collective. Any suggestions, send ’em my way! And if you’re looking for something fun to do on June 22, get in touch with the folks at PVDA. It’s a fantastic event!
(Don’t worry, we dressage trainers do think about more important things, like nuclear proliferation and how to bolster the global economy to stabilize wealth. We’re just better at training horses, usually.)
