4th of July Parade

First of all on the 3rd I competed in some Posse events up in Liberty (the city, not the park). Here are some video links if you want to see how poorly I rode. My horse is scary fast and knows how to compete; it was my first time. I was really nervous and made lots of mistakes. Please don't look at this as the way I usually ride.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnQ8ZGLPxAg this is my unimpressive barrel race. I got around 22 seconds. A winning time would be closer to 17. My grandma, and ex-barrel racer, said I did a good job for my first time. So, I'm going to live on that for awhile.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rm2a65iMWhQ this is my keyhole event. I got a little braver and I'm committed that someday I will let him go top speed instead of holding him back. And I won't be afraid. (That took a lot to admit.)

The therapy kids were in the parade in Liberty the next morning. It was lots of fun to get the horses all pretty to be in the parade. Everyone did really great except for Sampson. I pulled him out 1/2 way through the parade and wanted to kill him. He wouldn't walk and my hand hurt from beating him trying to hold him back. Apparently, he can't compete in the arena and then behave the next day. Too much to ask.
He did have some nice stars on his butt, too bad most people didn't see him.

I'm kind of proud of the braids with the red, white and blue. I did them myself and I think Summer looks cute.I did not do a great job with the blue sparkles on the hooves. Someone went around and re-did them. Doing a thorough job is not always my specialty.