December Story Contest

My Day at the Pennsylvania National Horse Show
By: CrazyHorse45
Age: 13

     Once a year there is the Pennsylvania National Horse Show. It takes place in a show complex in Harrisburg, PA. It goes on for a whole week. Every day there are horse events going on. Throughout the arena there are horse shops. My sister, mom, grandma, my best friend, her mom, and I went to watch. My best friend is Chelsea and my sister is Jessie. Chelsea and I have been waiting for the whole year to go to this PA horse show. It is almost a three hour drive from my house but it is so worth it. On the car ride there, talked about bed bugs and how they are spreading everywhere. We went for the last day because it has the grand prix.
      When we arrived at the complex, we went inside and got our tickets. The complex is like a football stadium. It has the ring in the middle and then seating on the outside. Around the stadium is a path that goes under the stands. On the path there are vendors and lots of shops set up. The shops sell a lot of horse items. The whole complex is huge.
      After we looked at the shops, we went to the practice ring to watch the horses warm up and practice. After that we went to the stands to sit down and watch the Adult Jumpers Class. The Adult Jumpers Class is where adults ride. They jump around four feet high. The goal for the rider and horse is to finish their course as fast as they can without knocking poles down or refusing jumps. It was really fun to watch. Chelsea and I sat right next to a jump. Chelsea and I took a lot of pictures. After that there was a break, and we went to shop at the stores.
     When we were done shopping, we went to the basement where they keep the horses. There were a lot of stalls set up for all the horses. When Chelsea and I were walking, I saw my favorite horseback rider, Beezie Madden. She won three gold medals in the equestrian Olympics. She waved to Chelsea and me. I thought she looked really familiar, but I did not know it was her until I got home and looked at a picture of her. I was so mad that I did not know it was her when we were at the show. After we shopped and looked at all the horses, we went back to the ring for carriage racing. Chelsea and I sat in the same place where we had sat last time.
      Carriage racing is where there are one or two horses hooked up to a carriage and two people in the back of the carriage. They race around obstacles in the ring and try to get the fastest time. Each team has two rounds, and at the end, they add up the two times of each team and see who was the fastest. One of the carts had one horse, and they were going so fast that the cart flipped over. The horse did not flip, but the carriage did. Everyone was okay and the cart was not damaged. Following the carriage racing we saw draft horses pulling a big wagon. They had to drive around obstacles in the ring. To see how much trust the horses had in the driver.  The two draft horses were huge. The wagon they pulled was really big and shiny. When they were done, there was a break for setting up the grand prix course.
      Finally the time came for the grand prix and we were so excited. The grand prix is six-foot jumps set up in really hard courses with tight turns and jumps close together. Chelsea and I took so many pictures of the horses jumping. We had to sit really high up because we did not have special tickets for close seats, but we still had a great view. My favorite rider, Beezie Madden, came in second place. The whole night was so fun.
     After the show we went to a hotel about fifteen minutes away. We got all checked in and our room was right by the lobby on the first floor. Jessie, my mom and my grandma were in a separate room. Chelsea’s mom went to bed, but Chelsea and I stayed up for a long time. Before we went to bed, Chelsea’s mom woke up and saw a little bug crawling up the wall. She looked closer and it looked like a bed bug! We saw about ten more crawling on the wall, so we asked for another room. My grandma likes to see bugs and have adventures, so she came into our room because she had to see the bug herself to believe us. She looked at the bug and said it definitely was a bed bug. The manager gave us a new room and closed off the bad room.
      Once Chelsea and her mom and I were in the new room, Chelsea and I had to get water for Chelsea’s mom. Chelsea and I went down to the lobby to get water, and the manager told us that he found many more bugs in the old room. Chelsea’s mom went to bed, and Chelsea and I stayed up outside in the hall upstairs. Chelsea was spying on the manager, and I was just sitting down playing my video games. We ended staying up for a long time. When we finally lay down to try to sleep, Chelsea’s mom woke up. Chelsea told her mom what we were doing, and her mom said,
“Do you know there are security cameras out in the hall?” Chelsea and I forgot that there were security cameras and started laughing so hard for about an hour before we could fall asleep.
       We woke up and went home and washed all of our things so there were no bed bugs coming home with us.  It was one of the best times I had with Chelsea. I hope we can go next year. I love going to the horse show.

The End