It begins at 5 in the morning.
Three generations – Hallie Harper, 15; her mother, Elizabeth “Whizzy” Harper; and grandmother, Ellie Jeffers – begin the predawn primping. They curl manes, braid tails, polish hooves, smooth on hair gel and apply finishing spray.
Then they beautify themselves. Nail polish, styling gel, hair spray.
“Everything has to be shiny. First impressions are huge,” said Whizzy Harper, 42, of Longmont. “Now we need to run out to Wal-Mart to find hairnets and bobby pins for ourselves.”
The horse show judges grade the horses as well as the riders.
For the 100th National Western, the three-generation trio decided to compete against each other for the first time. They went up against each other Tuesday in the Hunter Pleasure Open class, a competition that emphasizes the style of riding cross-country in the hunting fields.
“We thought it would be fun for three generations to compete in the same class,” said Ellie Jeffers, 62, of Colorado Springs.
Under shimmering gold banners hanging from the Event Center rafters, a pair of judges walks the arena floor and carefully watches as the three ladies put their horses through the paces of an announcer’s commands – walk, reverse, trot, cantor, gallop, line up, step back, step up.
There would be no ribbons this day but plenty of red roses. When the three finish their five-minute routines, a half-dozen friends present them with a bouquet and a champagne toast in the stable area. It’s 8:50 a.m.
For the three to compete against each other required Ellie to come out of retirement after 20 years. She first competed at the National Western 51 years ago as an 11-year-old. She thought she would never do it again.
“I ripped my breeches and my horse ran away. It was humiliating and I cried. It was awful,” Ellie recalled.
The next year she won the equitation championship and would go on to compete in nine more stock shows.
“This woman can make your spit sparkle and your liver quiver,” said friend Cathy Chambers of Colorado Springs, before proposing a toast. “She can knock a buzzard off a manure wagon.”
She’s also an expert tail braider, as she showed on her granddaughter’s horse, a big red sorrel called Obviously Zippo, or Ozzy for short.
Grooming is half the game at the horse show.
Once their horses are groomed, the ladies turn to themselves. Behind a tiny curtained enclosure in their horse stall they share makeup and tug on breeches. They pull on pinstriped three-button wool hunter coats and polished riding boots with spurs, then gently settle velvet-covered hunt caps.
It’s show time. Ellie goes first.
“Let’s go watch Granny,” Whizzy says to her daughter.
Whizzy and Hallie have been competing at the National Western since both were 10.
“It gets in your blood and you get sucked in,” said Whizzy, who is riding a horse named Hooked on My Zipper, also known as Dennis.
Now it’s in Hallie’s blood, too. She’s riding in a half-dozen youth events this week. But she figures Tuesday’s chance to show against her mother and grandmother is the big one.
“I think it’s fun,” she said.
As photos flash and champagne flows at the end of their performance, Ellie suddenly seems self-conscious.
“I got so busy curling the horse’s mane,” she said, “I didn’t do my own.”
Staff writer Dave Curtin can be reached at 303-820-1276 or dcurtin@denverpost.com.
Back in the saddle again
The horse show continues at 7 a.m. today with 28 classes at the Events Center Arena.
