The ACTHA ride at Western Pleasure was wonderful! It was a world record attempt for the biggest nationwide trail competition. The trails at the ranch are just about as good as it gets! They were well worn trails winding through the trees, up and down easy hills and through lots of water from muddy standing water to a belly deep pond to rushing streams. It was one of the first hot days of the season but we rode in dappled sun and light breezes so it was perfect. The course was six miles long. There were six judged areas. Several judged areas consisted of multiple portions. Some judged areas were slightly more difficult for the open riders. This is what I did in the open class:
#1: Ride over a small bridge, into an "L" and back out, walk over a piece of plywood, sidepass over a pole to open a mailbox, and open and close a gate. This obstacle was near the parking area so you could do it first or last. Cayenne was strangely hesitant about the bridge and it took some urging. The rest was fine.
#2: Drag an ex-Christmas tree about 10' and then back up, pulling it back to the starting point. No problem.
#3: Ride into a ravine, cross a narrow section of moving water, and climb a steep hill. Cay was excited about horses she'd glimpsed up ahead of us and when she loped up the steep hill, I let her. I still scored well but should have made her walk. I schooled her at the top once we were out of the judging area.
#4: Wade through a belly deep pond. No problem.
#5: At cattle holding pens, sidepass through one gateway, turn on haunches and set up to sidepass through a second gateway, turn on forehand, back across corral until hind feet between two cones. Cay was sticky sidepassing the first portion, the rest was ok.
#6: Sidehill through trees, come down bank, cross rocky, fast moving creek, and go up moderate bank on other side. No problem.
Cayenne and I took 2nd in the Open. I'm not sure how many were in that class but I will guess 12-15. We also tied for "Best Groomed Horse." I guess the quick hosing at 6am paid off! I got a dog rain jacket from Muddy Creek and a gift certificate for 32oz of eZall for that. I got $100 in ACTHA bucks for the 2nd place. I have not decided what to spend it on but may get a rain jacket for myself from Muddy Creek.
The ride was the best ran I have been to all year. Janice and Roley Schoonover at Western Pleasure Guest Ranch have experience at putting on rides as well as other events. The riders went out smoothly, lunch was ready when we came back, and the scores were tallied in record time! The trails were also well marked and interesting. I'm sure it is difficult trying to decide how hard to make the trails. If they are too easy, they're boring for the experienced riders on experienced horses. If they are too hard, they become a safety risk for novice riders or horses. I would not have wanted to be on a green horse raised in a flat corral. I would have felt comfortable being on one of my own green horses that I trust to handle themselves over logs, up and down steep and muddy banks, etc.
I came across a fairly novice rider on a fairly novice three year old mare at the beginning of the ride. She was not a competitor but a volunteer who was going to hand out completion ribbons at the end of the ride. Her horse didn't want to go out on the trail by itself so I volunteered to be her buddy. Cayenne did great and didn't mind the mare coming right up behind us quite a bit. I normally like to trot or lope out for the first mile or two but I figured it would be a day to take it easy and help someone avoid a wreck. It was a good confidence builder for both the mare and the rider and I was impressed with how they both did overall. They were not judged on the obstacles, and held back while I was, but they did have to complete some just because they were the trail! The last obstacle, the bank and the rushing creek, was the only thing that panicked the mare. That was in part due to some excited paint horses that had came up behind us while we waited for the judge, and the fact that I had disappeared down the hill in the trees to complete the obstacle by myself. I doubled back to the creek bank to wait for the lady to cross but her horse got scared and took off across the hillside. The judge almost got ran over. The mare hit the judge with the point of her shoulder as she bolted past and the judge had to jump down the hill and skid to a stop on her butt to avoid continuing into the creek! The lady was going to go on up to the top of the ridge and hook up with another trail back to the lodge. I figured that was a bad idea so I came back across the creek. She was able to put her horse's nose in Cayenne's tail and she followed us right across. She just needed some reassurance! All's well that ends well!
Although Western Pleasure is just over two hours away from me, I will be inclined to participate in events they have due to the positives at the ACTHA ride. Their lodge is beautiful, they have a warm-up arena, and the shady lawn was nice to relax on while eating lunch and partaking in the awards ceremony. Good job, Western Pleasure!
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Busy, busy!
I brought Blaze home from pasture yesterday. I need to get him going again for the Trainer's Challenge in Sandpoint. I wanted to bring Turbo and start him but I have too many horses to ride as it is. It's good to be busy!
I'm riding in my first ACTHA (American Competitive Trail Horse Association) ride on Sunday. It's six miles, six obstacles, and six judges. It's at Janice and Roley Schoonover's Western Pleasure Guest Ranch in the Sandpoint, Idaho area. Their place is beautiful and I heard there is a lot of water on the trail so it should be fun. Whether the water is normally there or if it's there because of all the rain we've had in the past couple weeks will be determined on Sunday! I'm riding Cayenne.
I'm riding in my first ACTHA (American Competitive Trail Horse Association) ride on Sunday. It's six miles, six obstacles, and six judges. It's at Janice and Roley Schoonover's Western Pleasure Guest Ranch in the Sandpoint, Idaho area. Their place is beautiful and I heard there is a lot of water on the trail so it should be fun. Whether the water is normally there or if it's there because of all the rain we've had in the past couple weeks will be determined on Sunday! I'm riding Cayenne.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
PDIA Extreme Trail Challenge
The 3rd trail challenge at Farragut was put on by yet another group, PDIA. I have to say that this one was well organized with excellent obstacles. Everyone was professional and friendly. A big thanks to PDIA (Play Day in Athol) for a fun event!
The obstacles were definitely challenging. I skipped two and didn't do one as intended due to their difficulty for my horse. We didn't place very well because of that but it was still my favorite trail event so far this year. I'm trying to get experience under Cayenne's belt and that's easy to do when there are 23 obstacles on one course! They can't all be easy or it'd be no fun!
I took Smart Little Cayenne and entered in the Extreme division. I'm not sure why I keep doing that but it doesn't seem right to compete in the Novice division. Even though Cayenne is inexperienced, I have won some pretty competitive trail classes. If I actually won in a Novice class (not that I would), I would feel bad for taking away a true novice's title. I wish there were Junior classes offered at these trail events so that Cayenne could compete against horses in her own age bracket.
It was pouring rain so I was pretty wet before we were even finished with the course walk. I brought rain gear and some dry clothes but didn't count on walking through brush and tall grass. Luckily, I was wearing rubber boots for that but my jeans were soaked up to my knees! It was warm though so really not bad. By the time I headed out on the course, Cayenne was so wet you could see all the spots on her skin.
The course consisted of 23 obstacles, judged 0-10, and was timed for points, too. I will describe the course as I rode it. My obstacle numbers may not be correct and I'm not sure exactly where the judging started and stopped on some of them:
Obstacle 1: A single log to jump. It was only about 18" so I trotted Cay and hopped over it with no problem. Galloped down the trail.
Obstacle 2: Stop at the bottom of a bank, back up the bank, around a barrel, and back down the bank. A little sticky backing the steepest part but not bad.
Obstacle 3: Pick a "candy cane" out of a barrel, wade into a pond, pick floating pool inter tubes/rings out of the water, get on dry ground, drop them and repeat until three "toys" were on the bank. Ride out through two trees. Cay hesitated at the waters edge but not bad. She was leery of the rings floating around but I was able to scoop them up without too much maneuvering. She needed to be more relaxed.
Obstacle 4: Bridge. It was high over the pond. Cayenne was hesitant once she got on it. She was looking off the side (there were no side rails or anything) like she might hop off. I drove her forward and even tapped her on the butt with the candy cane I was still carrying. Put the candy cane back in the original barrel. Lope off up the slope to the next obstacle. I let Cay hand gallop and she shut down great when I asked before some old pavement on the path.
Obstacle 5: Tire grid. I think there were 12 tires, 3 across and 4 long, that were bolted together but not staked down in any fashion. I have never stepped Cay in one tire much less a slew of them. She had new slide plates on and I was afraid that she might catch the trailing heel on a tire. If she got scared and backed up, we'd have had a wreck. I skipped the tire obstacle got those safety reasons.
Obstacle 6: Outhouse. Dismount at outhouse with pink balloons on the door. Go in and shut the door while holding onto your horse, come back out and remount. Cay stood fine for the dismount and wait but probably took a step while I got back on. She didn't care about the balloons.
Obstacle 7: Tunnel. The tunnel was great with masses of balloons hanging inside, pool noodles sticking in from the sides, and all sorts of streamers. Cayenne didn't hesitate at all.
Obstacle 8: Pick a golf ball off a barrel, head down a steep hill, deposit the ball into the top of a tall cone. The only hard part about this obstacle was the photographer crouched at the bottom of the hill next to the cone, complete with rain gear and a plastic bag over his camera! Cay stopped a couple times with her head up and ears hard forward trying to figure out what in the heck was down there! She didn't feel like she was going to take off but I was hoping the guy would stand up or say something to let her know he was a human! She realized it on her own when we got closer and getting up to him and the cone was no problem.
Obstacle 9: Hula hoop slide. A cable was strung overhead with several hula hoops on it. You had to slide two hoops from one side to the other. The gal doing the walk through said we could grab and wing them over but I took them and sidepassed Cay under the cable to get mine to the other side. I figured the level of difficulty was higher that way. Cay was fine for that.
Obstacle 10: Dummy carry. Pick a light dummy off a post and carry him back up the hill, hook him to a zip line, and push him back down. Cay couldn't have cared less. The main thing that made me happy while we were over the hill in the draw was that Cay was focused on me and the tasks at hand. She didn't nicker or carry on like she wanted to get back to all the horses up on the flat.
Obstacle 11: 360 Box. The box was raised about 2' up with ties on three sides. You rode up the sloped side, did a 360, and stepped off the straight side. Cay did great and hopped off with no hesitation.
Obstacle 12: Gate. Work a gate. No problem.
Obstacle 13: Jump. We skipped this one as the jump was really high. There was no stepping over it for partial points! I think it was about 4' high and made of sturdy logs. I headed over the bank again and am not sure if that trip was judged.
Obstacle 14: Ditch. Extreme riders had to go into a ditch, turn and back along the bottom of it before turning and climbing out the other side.
Obstacle 15: More jumps! This obstacle was a series of three log jumps. The highest was first and graduated on down. I walked Cay and stepped her over. The first on was almost as high as her belly so she had a little trouble getting her hind legs high enough to get over. She made it though and didn't mind. I guess that's where bushwhacking in the mountains pays off!
Obstacle 16: Mailbox. Stop, open and shut door, raise flag. No problem.
Obstacle 17: Pick up sack of cans off a barrel, carry them for a ways, drop them. I trotted Cay and shook the cans on the way and she never bobbled.
Obstacle 18: Concrete ditch. A good ditch with a concrete wall on one side and large boulders lining the other side. I trotted through. Cay looked at it but didn't hesitate too much.
Obstacle 19: Fishing. Pick a fishing pole out of a barrel, cast into a deep little pool, pull your magnet "lure" over a mason jar lid, reel the lid in, remove it, toss the lid back in the pool and put the pole back in the barrel. Cay was a little turd about this obstacle. The obstacle wasn't the issue; she thought I was going to make her go in the fishing pool. It was not horse friendly and she knew it! I spent way too much time trying to sidepass her up to the barrel to get the pole while she was resistant and downright refused to sidepass when we got too close to the edge of the pool. Once I got the pole, she stood fine while I used both hands to catch my lid. The pole, lid, etc did not bother her at all.
Obstacle 20: Sidepass logs. Side pass over logs in an "L." Ok but I had to use too much leg and it wasn't nearly as smooth and resistance free as it should have been.
Obstacle 21: Push a little ball (12" or so) with your horse's feet a short distance and between two markers. The wind took the first ball away from us too far so I put her on the second ball. It went in but steering a little ball against the wind, bumps and grass was challenging.
Obstacle 22: Trailer load. The instructions explicitly said you were to ride in and slide off your horse's butt. At many trail challenges, doing that would have been a safety violation. I actually prefer doing it and have practiced it on my horses with no issues. It's faster and you grab the top of the trailer once you kick your feet out of the stirrups. That way, even if your horse stops and sucks back or turns around, you are free of the saddle and hanging high enough to avoid most chances of injury. Cay rode right in and I slid off without incident.
Bonus obstacle: Use a broom to hit three little balls into a bucket. Simple.
We finished in just over 10 minutes. There were only 8 contestants in the Extreme Division. I think I placed 6th. I felt bad at first but then thought about the fact that I'd skipped and revamped obstacles. You can't do that and be competitive. You also can't ask an inexperienced horse to do dangerous obstacles and risk a bad experience or worse. I am happy with what I chose to do and happy with Cayenne's performance. I still have lots of work to do but we're well on our way.
Next weekend I won't be able to do any horsey activities. We're heading to Missoula, MT to a diesel dyno days event. We will run "Big Red," my Ford, on the dyno and see what kind of horsepower and torque she pulls before we do 80 horse injectors and dyno it in Spokane later in the month. The Cummins in it has some changes but it'll be good to know exactly where she stands. I love the power and the fuel economy compared to my old 7.3 liter motor. I'll miss watching the Chris Cox clinic. I wanted to go audit on Friday but I have a trainee going home that day so will miss all of the clinic.
The following weekend, on June 13th, I'm signed up for my first ACTHA (American Competitive Trail Horse Association) ride at Western Pleasure Guest Ranch near Sandpoint, Idaho. It's advertised as 6 miles, 6 obstacles, and 6 judges. It should be fun. I'm taking Cayenne.
The obstacles were definitely challenging. I skipped two and didn't do one as intended due to their difficulty for my horse. We didn't place very well because of that but it was still my favorite trail event so far this year. I'm trying to get experience under Cayenne's belt and that's easy to do when there are 23 obstacles on one course! They can't all be easy or it'd be no fun!
I took Smart Little Cayenne and entered in the Extreme division. I'm not sure why I keep doing that but it doesn't seem right to compete in the Novice division. Even though Cayenne is inexperienced, I have won some pretty competitive trail classes. If I actually won in a Novice class (not that I would), I would feel bad for taking away a true novice's title. I wish there were Junior classes offered at these trail events so that Cayenne could compete against horses in her own age bracket.
It was pouring rain so I was pretty wet before we were even finished with the course walk. I brought rain gear and some dry clothes but didn't count on walking through brush and tall grass. Luckily, I was wearing rubber boots for that but my jeans were soaked up to my knees! It was warm though so really not bad. By the time I headed out on the course, Cayenne was so wet you could see all the spots on her skin.
The course consisted of 23 obstacles, judged 0-10, and was timed for points, too. I will describe the course as I rode it. My obstacle numbers may not be correct and I'm not sure exactly where the judging started and stopped on some of them:
Obstacle 1: A single log to jump. It was only about 18" so I trotted Cay and hopped over it with no problem. Galloped down the trail.
Obstacle 2: Stop at the bottom of a bank, back up the bank, around a barrel, and back down the bank. A little sticky backing the steepest part but not bad.
Obstacle 3: Pick a "candy cane" out of a barrel, wade into a pond, pick floating pool inter tubes/rings out of the water, get on dry ground, drop them and repeat until three "toys" were on the bank. Ride out through two trees. Cay hesitated at the waters edge but not bad. She was leery of the rings floating around but I was able to scoop them up without too much maneuvering. She needed to be more relaxed.
Obstacle 4: Bridge. It was high over the pond. Cayenne was hesitant once she got on it. She was looking off the side (there were no side rails or anything) like she might hop off. I drove her forward and even tapped her on the butt with the candy cane I was still carrying. Put the candy cane back in the original barrel. Lope off up the slope to the next obstacle. I let Cay hand gallop and she shut down great when I asked before some old pavement on the path.
Obstacle 5: Tire grid. I think there were 12 tires, 3 across and 4 long, that were bolted together but not staked down in any fashion. I have never stepped Cay in one tire much less a slew of them. She had new slide plates on and I was afraid that she might catch the trailing heel on a tire. If she got scared and backed up, we'd have had a wreck. I skipped the tire obstacle got those safety reasons.
Obstacle 6: Outhouse. Dismount at outhouse with pink balloons on the door. Go in and shut the door while holding onto your horse, come back out and remount. Cay stood fine for the dismount and wait but probably took a step while I got back on. She didn't care about the balloons.
Obstacle 7: Tunnel. The tunnel was great with masses of balloons hanging inside, pool noodles sticking in from the sides, and all sorts of streamers. Cayenne didn't hesitate at all.
Obstacle 8: Pick a golf ball off a barrel, head down a steep hill, deposit the ball into the top of a tall cone. The only hard part about this obstacle was the photographer crouched at the bottom of the hill next to the cone, complete with rain gear and a plastic bag over his camera! Cay stopped a couple times with her head up and ears hard forward trying to figure out what in the heck was down there! She didn't feel like she was going to take off but I was hoping the guy would stand up or say something to let her know he was a human! She realized it on her own when we got closer and getting up to him and the cone was no problem.
Obstacle 9: Hula hoop slide. A cable was strung overhead with several hula hoops on it. You had to slide two hoops from one side to the other. The gal doing the walk through said we could grab and wing them over but I took them and sidepassed Cay under the cable to get mine to the other side. I figured the level of difficulty was higher that way. Cay was fine for that.
Obstacle 10: Dummy carry. Pick a light dummy off a post and carry him back up the hill, hook him to a zip line, and push him back down. Cay couldn't have cared less. The main thing that made me happy while we were over the hill in the draw was that Cay was focused on me and the tasks at hand. She didn't nicker or carry on like she wanted to get back to all the horses up on the flat.
Obstacle 11: 360 Box. The box was raised about 2' up with ties on three sides. You rode up the sloped side, did a 360, and stepped off the straight side. Cay did great and hopped off with no hesitation.
Obstacle 12: Gate. Work a gate. No problem.
Obstacle 13: Jump. We skipped this one as the jump was really high. There was no stepping over it for partial points! I think it was about 4' high and made of sturdy logs. I headed over the bank again and am not sure if that trip was judged.
Obstacle 14: Ditch. Extreme riders had to go into a ditch, turn and back along the bottom of it before turning and climbing out the other side.
Obstacle 15: More jumps! This obstacle was a series of three log jumps. The highest was first and graduated on down. I walked Cay and stepped her over. The first on was almost as high as her belly so she had a little trouble getting her hind legs high enough to get over. She made it though and didn't mind. I guess that's where bushwhacking in the mountains pays off!
Obstacle 16: Mailbox. Stop, open and shut door, raise flag. No problem.
Obstacle 17: Pick up sack of cans off a barrel, carry them for a ways, drop them. I trotted Cay and shook the cans on the way and she never bobbled.
Obstacle 18: Concrete ditch. A good ditch with a concrete wall on one side and large boulders lining the other side. I trotted through. Cay looked at it but didn't hesitate too much.
Obstacle 19: Fishing. Pick a fishing pole out of a barrel, cast into a deep little pool, pull your magnet "lure" over a mason jar lid, reel the lid in, remove it, toss the lid back in the pool and put the pole back in the barrel. Cay was a little turd about this obstacle. The obstacle wasn't the issue; she thought I was going to make her go in the fishing pool. It was not horse friendly and she knew it! I spent way too much time trying to sidepass her up to the barrel to get the pole while she was resistant and downright refused to sidepass when we got too close to the edge of the pool. Once I got the pole, she stood fine while I used both hands to catch my lid. The pole, lid, etc did not bother her at all.
Obstacle 20: Sidepass logs. Side pass over logs in an "L." Ok but I had to use too much leg and it wasn't nearly as smooth and resistance free as it should have been.
Obstacle 21: Push a little ball (12" or so) with your horse's feet a short distance and between two markers. The wind took the first ball away from us too far so I put her on the second ball. It went in but steering a little ball against the wind, bumps and grass was challenging.
Obstacle 22: Trailer load. The instructions explicitly said you were to ride in and slide off your horse's butt. At many trail challenges, doing that would have been a safety violation. I actually prefer doing it and have practiced it on my horses with no issues. It's faster and you grab the top of the trailer once you kick your feet out of the stirrups. That way, even if your horse stops and sucks back or turns around, you are free of the saddle and hanging high enough to avoid most chances of injury. Cay rode right in and I slid off without incident.
Bonus obstacle: Use a broom to hit three little balls into a bucket. Simple.
We finished in just over 10 minutes. There were only 8 contestants in the Extreme Division. I think I placed 6th. I felt bad at first but then thought about the fact that I'd skipped and revamped obstacles. You can't do that and be competitive. You also can't ask an inexperienced horse to do dangerous obstacles and risk a bad experience or worse. I am happy with what I chose to do and happy with Cayenne's performance. I still have lots of work to do but we're well on our way.
Next weekend I won't be able to do any horsey activities. We're heading to Missoula, MT to a diesel dyno days event. We will run "Big Red," my Ford, on the dyno and see what kind of horsepower and torque she pulls before we do 80 horse injectors and dyno it in Spokane later in the month. The Cummins in it has some changes but it'll be good to know exactly where she stands. I love the power and the fuel economy compared to my old 7.3 liter motor. I'll miss watching the Chris Cox clinic. I wanted to go audit on Friday but I have a trainee going home that day so will miss all of the clinic.
The following weekend, on June 13th, I'm signed up for my first ACTHA (American Competitive Trail Horse Association) ride at Western Pleasure Guest Ranch near Sandpoint, Idaho. It's advertised as 6 miles, 6 obstacles, and 6 judges. It should be fun. I'm taking Cayenne.
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