Chase & Sis after their win.
Did I hear someone say treats?
I picked the horses up from MIL’s Thursday night. Friday night we were supposed to “practice” but it looked like it was going to down pour so we went out to dinner instead. Saturday we didn’t get out to the barn until later in the afternoon and then I found myself giving Carmella an unplanned workout. Chase took the initiative to catch Sis and jump on bareback.
After I took a short break we saddled both horses and headed out to ride. Lu was super duper lazy. I think I could have taken her in a w/t class an easily won. I grabbed the sled so Chase could try to drag something with Sis. Sis was having NOTHING to do with dragging anything so Lu and I drug the sled around while Chase followed. It didn’t take long before Ty hopped in the sled. Lu and I drug him everywhere. We were trotting and cantering and Ty’s laugh was echoing through the pasture.
Sunday morning we woke up early and headed out to the farm to load up. We got to the ride location around 7:30, unloaded and started to clean up the horses. After a short riders briefing we saddled up and headed to the arena to warm up. Getting Lu out of a snails pace was not an easy task. She has apparently learned how to conserve her energy very well. Chase and I rode out with our group around 9:30.
Getting reedy to head out.
We had 6 people in our group. Chase and I went last so he could watch the others do the obstacles. Chase went before I did and this seemed to work out well. He had Lu on one side so Sis didn’t feel like she was being left and he had the rest of the group on the other side to help encourage her to continue forward if need be.Obstacle #1 – Mailbox
This was pretty easy. We rode up to the mailbox, took out a stuffed animal and showed it to the judge.
Obstacle #2 – Injured animal
We had to ride into an area (marked w/cones), dismount and walk up to a stuffed animal, place it on our saddle and walk back to the judge. This wouldn’t have been so bad for most of the pleasure riders since our stuffed animal wasn’t very large however they left the larger stuffed animal for the open riders lying on the ground and this freaked out a lot of horses. Sis and Lucy weren’t even fazed.
Obstacle #3 – Drag
Oh I was so worried after our drag attempt from the night before but Chase did great! He did let the rope get behind him a bit and Sis did get a little fidgety at the end but he was past the marker so he was fine.
On the way to our next obstacle
Obstacle #4 – Back up
Instead of doing the full “L” we had to walk into the l part and back straight out. Chase couldn’t have had a more perfect backup. My back up on the other hand…………..well let’s just say it was rider error. I didn’t hit the rails but she did get crooked and when I went to correct her she gave me her opinion about my decision to wear spurs by laying her ears on her neck.
Obstacle #5 – Vine Simulator
They took a vinyl shower curtain (reddish orange in color), cut it in strips and hung it up. Sis looked off but I don’t think she was shying from the curtain as much as I think something in the distance caught her attention. It was only for a brief moment and then she went through.
Lucy paused at the curtain, put her head down as if she was going to duck under it and then went through. I got a chuckle out of that.
Obstacle #6 – Log jump
LMAO I knew how this one was going to go before even attempting it. They brought a large log into the middle of the arena. You trotted to the log, jumped the log and then continued to trot afterwards to the barrel.
Sis trotted to the log but then tried to go around it. Chase backed her up and made her go over it but she was very cautious and went over one leg at a time…………..very…………..slowly. The crowd cheered as he finally made is way over the log.
Lucy trotted to the log and to my surprise she stopped and went over it. She was quicker and more agile about it then I expected too but we were still a long ways from a “jump”.
After lunch they had the awards. Chase got first in his division (Junior) and I got 6th in mine (Pleasure). There were 17 people in my division so I have no complaints. I think we could do better if I actually practiced. I know where my weak spots are.
I couldn’t be happier with Chase. For the first time I can actually say he deserved his blue. He rocked! I think he enjoyed himself too. He’s already asking me when we can go again.
Lucy was ready to go home.
3 comments:
I would say you both did very well. Chase did outstanding in stepping up and riding like he know how to. You did outstanding in working with him to get him to that point. More importantly you gave him a memory that can never be taken from him. You might have even done the same for you. Good Job, both of you.
Sounds like you had a great time.Well done. You may have given Chase the taste of blue ribbons.
17 riders is a good sized class. I bet there weren't many points between you and first.
They just posted the points. I'm gonna copy/paste into a new post. Chase beat me!!! lol
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