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.