WIHS is held every year in the middle of DC (literally...the stalls are on the streets) and I went a bunch as a kid, so getting to work at this show was especially exciting for me. Despite being only a few miles from my parents, I only saw them for about 8 hours total. The show has a day and evening schedule, and with only one ring to run everything in, it goes pretty late!
As tiring as it was, I can't complain too much because I did have a lot of fun. I haven't seen Jen (my boss) or Lauren (my co-worker) since Florida, so it was fun to get to spend some time with them. I also finally met all the people I'd been emailing back and forth with since the spring that work in the WIHS office. Everyone was really nice and welcoming, which was a huge relief.
While I haven't seen Jen and Lauren since April, it's been even longer since I've seen some of my fellow Maryland horse people! I ran into almost everyone I hadn't seen since leaving for Florida, including my old boss and a few people that used to ride or train at PHC with me. Even though I never made it out to the barn, it was almost just as good to see some familiar faces.
I was happy to realize that I'm starting to see familiar horse show faces too! There were a few people from WEF and Vermont at the show and it was so fun to get to work with them again.
When I was in Vermont, all I did was write, but at WIHS, my main responsibilities revolved around managing the press room. I also have been handling all the contracts the show has with media partners, which involves a lot of keeping track of what each side has done to fulfill the agreement. It sounds kind of boring, but I have a (not-so-secret) OCD streak, so I really enjoyed it. The best part was managing the Instagram and other social media accounts for the show. It was really fun getting to show the behind-the-scenes perspective of the horse show and interact with all the WIHS fans! Being a local (and harboring a childhood obsession with the show) made it easy to pick out what to capture.
I also got to escort a lot of media people around the show. There was a ton of TV crews and reporters that wanted to get footage of the show and interview riders. Saturday it was a non-stop stream of people!
One of the things about this job I'm most thankful for is that it has made me REALLY good at talking to strangers. Anyone who knew me as a kid (or teenager, honestly) reading that probably just fell out of their chair, because I was painfully shy as a kid. This job has forced me into approaching people I don't know and being able to effectively communicate with them. I definitely wouldn't have ever made all this progress on my own!
The TV crews would want footage of ANY interaction people had with horses, so I was asking grooms, riders, parents, braiders, the shippers, stable managers, EVERYONE if it was okay if we could film them doing "x" with the horse. The most intimidating moment for me was when I had to go find Olympian and all around equestrian legend Margie Engle. For my boss and pretty much everyone I work with, walking up to people like her is no big deal anymore, so when my boss casually told me I had to go ask Margie for an interview, I tried to act like I was totally cool with that. I ultimately found her sitting with Todd Minikus (another equestrian legend) and managed to not make a fool of myself. Faking confidence gave me enough confidence to make it through (a lesson I learned when I took a job at a foxhunting barn after riding outside of the ring maybe twice in my life).
My mom had time to come out to the show during the week, which was a welcome relief during the day! I had a few hours off in the late afternoon, so I got to show her all around. She is responsible for my horse obsession, so being able to share the show with her was really special, plus I like getting to show her what I do when I'm at work! She came to visit in Florida too, and I love watching how excited she is to just take in everything the horse show has going on. We even got to just relax and watch a few rounds of hunters (boring to any non-horse people) and catch up.
I went back to my parents' house late on Sunday night after the show ended. I enjoyed some snuggles with the dogs before passing out and boarding my plane back to Denver the next day!
The show was another awesome learning experience and I was happy to catch a little bit of time with my parents, but I was equally excited to get back to Denver to see Billy! We're really starting to settle in and are still loving Denver....even as it starts getting cold!!
