Last minute is how we roll...
It’s that time of year again, when the sister in-law calls and says, "Hey, let’s do Hopperween!".
Hopperween is an annual horse costume contest held at the Hopper Ranch in Aubrey, TX. Every year, Merry Hopper puts on quite the shindig to celebrate Halloween and encourage fun with horses.
Praise god we have really great minded horses that take whatever is thrown at them.
When your two horses that you were going to use come up lame, you pull from the reserve of broodmares. Amy is our first choice because she is a pro at getting dressed up in all the crazy costumes. She first started her costume modeling career at the young age of four. She was looking very fly as the "Fish in the Fish Bowl" from the Cat In The Hat. Although her counterparts "The Fox In Sox" kept losing his socks, the elephant "Horton Hears a Who" kept hearing who’s, and Things One, Two, and Three kept whipping their blue hair, Amy managed to stay professional and kept it all together.
Inspired by the "Things", Amy put her modeling career on hold to start a family. After a couple years of eating 24/7 and letting the kids run circles around her, she woke up one day, lifted her tail and said, "That’s it!! I’m starting my modeling career once again!". It took a week of preparation but she rocked the baby bump and sported her rider, Vickie Corbett, as she paid a sweet (and funny) tribute to her Mom, Nancy Pearson. Vickie dressed up as her Mom when she won 1964 Harney County Rodeo Queen. She also served as a dress up doll while Vickie tried to make the costume for "Tea Party" worn by her fellow equine model, Whip (aka Whipping Cream to the Rescue).
Amy decided she was truly ready to retire from her modeling career, and she let herself go again. It wasn’t until the wonderfully wonky year of 2020 that she stepped up to the plate once again. When the main model and her reserve came up lame, she answered the casting call to be painted as "Día de los Muertos" (Day Of The Dead) with Vickie’s niece Mykayla. Amy gamely stood shivering while being painted from head to toe as her entourage blew her dry/warm with a hair dryer and heater. Her mane was put in 20+ rubber bands and her tail was French-braided, but it was a small price to pay so that she could once again walk the runway. Mykayla and Amy won first place and a cash prize of $50! Mykayla was over-the-moon excited, and Amy was once again reminded that the pasture beats the runway (until the next time).
P.S. Vickie's sister-law Lainie wants it to be known that for the first time ever, we were ON TIME!!