Starting my journey as a horse show mom

I'm so excited to start this blogging adventure.  This is my first year as a horse show mom and wow is there a ton to learn.  My daughter Maddie came to me over the summer and said she really wanted to start riding.  My parent still had an old mare at there house and through some tough negotiating I was able to bring her home with me.  We live in town so she is boarded down the road from our house.  The second day we were at the barn just happened to be a 4-h ride meeting.  Maddie begged to join.  I was totally on board.  At the first meeting I learned real quick you need more than a back yard horse.  This started the search.  We looked and looked and looked.  Facebook forums, craigslist and word of mouth. If it was out there and under $3,500.00 I've looked at it.  We found a horse both Maddie and I fell in love with.  We took the trainer from our barn and to look at her.  She was 6 going on 2.  Laura the trainer said she wouldn't recommend it, but we really wanted to try.  So we brought her to the barn.  Within a few weeks we went from no horse to two horses.  And this was just within the first month. Ugh!  We discovered she was indeed not a good fit and had to send her back.  This was no easy process.  The owners were very kind to let us try her, but they were not in a position to take her back right away.  Remember we now have two horses that won't work.  The search began again.  This time we went on a lease mission.  We found the perfect horse.  Indie was everything we were looking for and more.  So we became owners of three horses.  We were about a month and a half into horse ownership and we have not one, not two, but three horses.  There was some tense moments in my house.  We were super lucky and only had three horses for about a week.  Now we are down to two horses. 
I'm now discovering that show horses need a lot of stuff and show kids need even more.  I spend about 90% of my time online looking for deals on horse stuff.  Tack, horse trailers, clothing, you name it.  This horse show mommy is on a budget so I look for the best deals I can get.
As I've been browsing through everything horse related on the Internet I decided I bet there is a lot of moms out there just like me.  Moms just getting started in the show world and have no idea what they're getting themselves into.  Moms on a budget.  Moms looking for tips to help their children be more successful in the arena.  Moms looking to support moms on our crazy show journey.
Join me as I blog my way through the next nine plus year of being a horse show mom.