Seems like a logical solution, right? Our daughter’s western — er, cowboy(girl) — hat has been a thorn in our sides since she decided showing horses is her “favorite sport” (and it is a sport, I will die on that hill).
Mainly, the hat is a problem because I am cheap. Why spend a fortune on a hat she wears only a few times a year? Instead, I keep paying to have the not-so-quality hat reshaped.
With a horse show coming up, I ran to the local hat-shaper. (Is there an actual term for this trade? There should be, because it is genuinely an art.)
“Clean and shape this with a Quarter Horse crease,” I said.
After an extended period of time and quite a bit of effort, the “cap creator” said, “This is as good as it’s going to get. And…there isn’t much life left in this one.”
Fine. Take my money one more time. We will make it work. And we did albeit with a little necessary improvising.
While in the warm-up ring, Cowgirl experienced a new problem: the hat was shaped correctly, but it kept slipping backwards, almost like it didn’t form to her head anymore. Her skull is flat from sleeping on her back as an infant, but don’t tell her that — she might get self-conscious (and I know she won’t read this for another 20 years).
With go-time quickly approaching, a folded paper towel was recommended to tighten up the hat band. Her friend — the designated show assistant — sprinted to the bathroom. We quickly folded the towel and stuffed it under the hat. Cowgirl successfully completed a couple of test bobbles and entered the arena for her pattern.
The duo circled, they ran, they trapsed over obstacles and then they made the turn by the judge. The show photographer clicked the shutter on her camera, and it happened. The paper towel slipped from under the hatband. It looked like a small bird learning to fly, quickly floating to the ground.
Miraculously, the hat stayed on for the rest of her pattern. Cowgirl came out of the arena with her hat on and a case of the giggles.
“It flew right into my face!” she said. “We need more bobby pins.”
And off to the store I went, because why not spend more money on things we will lose rather than a hat that will hold its shape and fit correctly?
“Get the harpoons!” my friend advised. For the next class, Cowgirl had about 27 four-inch harpoons attached to her hat and her hair. That sucker was not coming off.
And when it finally did come off — which took a group effort because finding all the harpoons before they ripped her hair out proved to be a challenge — her hair was mangled.
But the long day was over, and it was time to clean up (as much as is possible at a horse show facility), so she and her friend made their way to the showers. Much like the 4-H and FFA kids do during fair week, they had their shower caddies and change of clothes in tow.
The next morning my friend and co-show mom said, “Hmm, the bath towels are still in the closet.”
She mentioned this discovery to Cowgirl and her friend.
“Yeah, we forgot them,” she said. “But don’t worry, we found paper towels.”
Darci Jordan is a lifelong Clark County resident and contributing writer for the Springfield News-Sun, writing about motherhood and family in her column Motherhood, Part II.
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