Getting Ready!!

I never really realized how long it takes to actually get ready for an event with many costume changes until today. I was going to 'really quick' figure out what I was going to wear and put the outfits and tack together this morning. It's now late afternoon and I'm still not done. I just got done wrapping my last set of reins with sequined material and still have two blankets to cover. I guess I never really sat down and figured out how much time I was really putting in on all this. :o)

...and for some reason I can't find my second pink scarf for my 50's outfit. I tie one around my neck and one around my pony tail ...... I have no clue what happened to that second one. It's driving me CrAzY!!! I've looked everywhere! I think this is what's making me realize how long this is all really taking. There is the pink skarf ..... the turquoise mask I had to dig out.... I had to go track down my purple duck tape to wrap my purple sequined reins. I try to be organized but no matter how hard I try to put things where they belong ... there's just too much STUFF!! I try to put all the 'accessories' to each costume in baggies and then I pin them to the costume to keep everything together. I have so many things that it's hard to track everything down when I need them. The girls were looking for a black boa on Sunday. I needed ONE black boa to wrap around with the blue boa to be Gato's breast collar. Krystle said there's no black boas anywhere. I said -- yes there is ... there's a whole bag of them. Nope. All gone. Ok wait .... I think they're in a bag hanging with the black 20's flapper outfit in the trailer. All the black must be with that .... so Krystle went out and dug back to the 20's outfit .... nope. Not there. The BIG ostrich boa is in that bag .... no regular boas. I told her OK ... I know where they all are .. they're still wrapped up in red on the red and black saloon girl outfit from Horse A Rama in the trailer. Yep .... she found them. Undid that outfit and got the black I needed. Later that night, I was putting everything back away and saw more black boas .... in with the turquoise and white boas .... I used them when I was Alice In Wonderland for the Clarksville parade and never undid them. AAAAHHHH!!! I have a huge tote full of feather boas. I learned early on to put each color in individual bags. Purple in one big bag .... blue in another .... red ... yellow .... green .... then all the mixed colors are individually bagged red/white/blue ..... black/orange.......turquose/white.....etc. I have several sizes and styles of each color to accessorize my outfits. I separate these for this reason ..... so everything is easy to find when I need them. Unless I happen to NOT separate something .... then we panic trying to find something.

I can't sew a stitch ..... on a sewing machine......but I can hand stitch but very slowly. People think I make my costumes. Um yeah .... no. I usually use lots of pins and duck tape and take outfits that are already made and I 'embellish' and 'accessorize' :o)

To get ready for an event I figure out first what costume or 'colors' I want. Then I figure out what I can do to Gato's tack to accompany my outfit. I take fabric that matches my outfit and cut it into strips and wrap it around his bridle and reins and sometimes even cover his saddle blanket in it. Then I have a matching set!! I coordinate his leg wraps ...... figure out if I'm going to put anything in his mane or tail .... then I start thinking about my accessories. Today I'm putting together a 50's outfit that will have a poodle skirt ... bobby socks .... saddle shoes .... those 50's pink cat glasses ..... I'll put my hair in a pony tail and tie a skarf around it ..... and I have decorated up Gato's bridle to match my outfit exactly. PERFECT!! ....but it doesn't stop there ...now I write everything down in a tablet .... each outfit and all the things that go with it one by one. I outline how Gato needs to be tacked up -- what bridle ... what reins .... what leg wraps ... what blanket ... and any other plumes or feathers or clips or anything else that goes on him. I give this to the girls who are there helping me so they know exactly how to tack him up for each performance. I usually have one girl on Gato getting him ready and one girl on me helping me get all my crap on. :o)

Are we done? Nope! Now for the perfect music. After I figure out the outfit and have everything recorded, now I have to figure out what song I'm going to dance to. It has to match my outfit or the event or my mood. :o) For the 50's performance I mixed together 3 songs .... At the Hop/Jailhouse Rock/and Keep on Dancin'. Each song is approximately 2 minutes long making the entire performance a little over 6 minutes. I burn a CD so I can give it to the DJ at the event to play on their system. AND I also put it on my ipod and I stick in the bose player in case we have a sound system failure during the event (which has actually happened before .... more than once that Bose radio has pulled us out of a silent jam! Luckily it puts out great sound and always comes through for us when there's no sound. :o) I have the songs that go with each outfit written on the sheet so the girls know what to take to the office or whereever they're playing the music.

So yeah ..... it takes a while to get ready. For everything to go smoothly .... ya gotta be organized. I did this for the haunted barn too .... and the shows. I had lists. Where everybody went and what everybody was supposed to do when, where, and how. ....and then everything goes like clockwork. :o)

SO ..... I am still working on Tama. I'll probably work on loading everything up tomorrow. We'll be leaving early Saturday morning to go unload all the outfits and tack and get ready for our four rides in Gladbrook. If anybody is around there, I'll also be doing a short 'clinic' showing everyone how to teach your horse how to do simple tricks. I didn't teach Gato how to dance or bow or lay down but I did teach him the simple tricks he does and how to sit in a beanbag chair. So I'll show everyone how I did that. I thought I might talk about how I put my costumes together as well and show everyone how to 'bling' up your tack. :o) I'm excited to go!! Come and see us if you're not busy!!