ACTHA Ride at the Hatley Ranch

I rode down to Deary, Idaho with a friend and had a fun filled weekend on George Hatley's ranch. We got there Friday evening in time to go for a trail ride. Saturday morning, we went on the ACTHA Competitive Trail Challenge ride, which was sponsored by the Appaloosa Museum. It was a six mile loop with six judged areas. We got out in front so were able to flush a couple nice whitetail bucks, among other deer, birds, etc. I rode Cayenne in the Open Division. The course was as follows:

Log/Trail: Ride across a log, stop, turn 180 degrees, cross log again. Then ride back over log and negotiate a little trail through the sticks, bushes, and trees. Cayenne did fine, pivoting on a hind foot for both turns at the log.

Gate: Open gate, go through, and close. Cay did this with ease although I bumped her hind foot with the gate while closing it.

Water: Go to center of a shallow pool of water, stop, back 3 steps, continue straight out of water. Cayenne hesitated at the edge of the water, sniffed the water briefly, went in and completed the rest of the obstacle fine.

Hill: Ride up a hill, stopping in the middle for about 5 seconds. Cayenne did this perfectly.

Ground Tie: Dismount, lead horse through round corral gate, closing gate behind you, ground tie in center of round pen, walk a complete circle around horse, lead horse back out of round pen, and mount on off side. We did this well except Cayenne ate grass while ground tied! I also failed to check my cinch and headstall before remounting but am not sure if the judge was looking for that or not. I forgot about that little trail competition detail!

Back Up: Back a figure eight around a tree and a stump. Cayenne did great, backing and steering easily on a fairly loose rein.

The Pleasure Division, which my friend rode in, was slightly easier. We rode together but each of us stayed well away from the obstacle while the other was completing it. The differences in pleasure included: They did not have to do the turns at the log crossing, they simply crossed and rode out the little trail. They did not have to close the gate behind them. They crossed straight through the water without stopping or backing. They rode up the hill without stopping. They had to do the entire ground tie exercise but remounted on the near side of the horse instead of the off side. They backed a circle around the tree instead of the figure eight.

I think the ACTHA rides are a great way to get riders interested and experienced in the trail competitions. I like the ACTHA rides but I prefer more of a challenge. The other thing I noticed is that because of the small number of obstacles, if a rider doesn't do well on one obstacle, it pretty much takes them out of the running. Some competitions I go to have 20 or more obstacles so if a rider's horse doesn't do one obstacle or does poorly on a few, they can still be competitive. I think the ACTHA rides appeal to many people because they do get to go out and ride the trails. They are also low key and fun so are not intimidating to people who don't show horses. Overall, I have to say that the ACTHA rides are a great idea!

Cayenne and I ended up winning the Open Division! I was really happy! There were only three of us in that division but my competitors were seasoned riders on good mounts. I was also happy that instead of "ACTHA Bucks," the prizes were tangible items. I got to pick out a really nice hay bag for my Open win and also won "Best Dressed Female Rider!" I picked out a bottle of wine with Appaloosas on it for that. My wedding anniversary is coming up so maybe I can have a drink of wine to celebrate!

The second ride of the day was a fundraiser for the Appaloosa Museum. I hadn't planned on doing it but it was for a good cause and part of the money was jackpotted back. We rode the same course but went as a group with the judge riding with us. I wish I knew his last name but "George" was our judge and a very experienced eye. He critiqued each rider after each obstacle so it was a great learning experience! I think we would have had more riders if everyone had known it was going to be a lesson! I rode worse and Cayenne didn't behave as well on the jackpot ride! I would have thought we'd have done better the second time around. I think her youth came into play more as she didn't feel as comfortable leaving the large group of horses to go complete each obstacle by herself. She didn't do badly but it took a few obstacles to get back in the game. I was really happy that she did not eat while ground tied though! I corrected her with a voice command as she started lowering her head and she stopped and stood quietly while I walked the circle around her. We ended up winning the jackpot for our group.

On Sunday, I think there were 39 of us that went on a guided pleasure ride. It was a nice "thank you" from the Appaloosa Museum to all of the participants. We cruised around over various terrain on the Hatley Ranch as well as Forest Service ground. Since we were walking head to tail, and often two abreast, we got to b.s. the entire ride. It was a relaxing way to end the weekend.

The Hatley Pony Club grounds were perfect for the trail event. I look forward to another one next year! The cook shack was a nice gathering place for everyone to talk horse and eat. The volunteers were friendly and helpful all weekend. A big thanks to everyone who made it happen!

Last 2010 Cowboy Race in Sandpoint

The course for the last Craig Cameron sanctioned Extreme Cowboy Race in Sandpoint, Idaho was awesome! It was packed with challenges, which made it lots of fun! I rode Smart Little Cayenne, my 4yr old filly. I will list the obstacles in order and how I did on them:

Tunnel: The front of the tunnel was obscured by hanging tarp strips and pool noodles. You had to duck upon entering the tunnel as it was pretty short. It was constructed of wire cattle panels curved over the top and covered in black plastic. Cayenne hesitated at the front and then went on through.

Ground Tie: On paper, this didn't sound too difficult. In application, it was a bit harder! You had to ride towards a baby goat tied to the fence, ground tie in a pole 360 box, dismount and go about 15 feet to the goat, untie it, move it to the next fence post, retie it, and go remount on the off side. Cayenne stared at the goat from the starting line and I was worried she'd leave as soon as I left her "ground tied." I even left my reins up on her neck so she wouldn't step on them! She did great and didn't move at all! The goat refused to lead and pulled back as you tried to tie it so it was a challenge in itself!

Pony: You had to pony an actual pony in a figure eight around a couple obstacles. Cayenne had no problem sidepassing up to him, letting me take the rope off of the fencepost, and leading him on the figure eight. He had hung back on the person who rode ahead of me so I just led him at a walk and kept him in position.

Jump: Two 55 gallon barrels laying on their sides. We took it at a trot and I was able to push Cayenne over them fairly easily.

Tennis Ball: Pick up a tennis racket off the fence, stand in the saddle and hit a tennis ball hanging from a tree branch. Cayenne did well on this one and stood still while I hit the ball. I, on the other hand, didn't have very good balance so I sat back in the saddle immediately after hitting the ball so I wouldn't fall off!

Circle: Pick up a length of rope off of a spool and lope a circle around the spool while holding the rope. We did pretty well on this one although the rope wasn't tight all the time, which meant our circle was an oval!

Log Drag: Actually, a jump standard drag. Pick up the rope off the fence and drag the standard down the fence a ways before putting the rope on the fence again. Cay did fine. I trotted her while doing the drag.

Ball Carry: Pick up a big rubber ball sitting on a feed tub, carry it about 30 feet, set it on top of a 5 gallon bucket. Cayenne did fine but I was unable to make the ball stay on the bucket. I don't think anyone else did either.

Bridge: The loudest, scariest metal bridge that teetered on a ROUND pole! Everyone had issues with the bridge. Cay put a foot on it, pulled back and moved her hip right, out of line with the bridge. I got her straight again and pushed her straight over the bridge. I was really happy with this as I didn't think she'd go over it. She doesn't like questionable footing and that bridge was definitely in that category! She may have done the best on the bridge out of everyone.

Sprinkler: Ride through an oscillating sprinkler on the ground. No problem.

Ring Pick-Up: Three plastic rings were lightly attached to the fence. We had to go down the fenceline and grab them by hand. I trotted down and missed the center ring. That was no fault of Cayenne's, just my lack of coordination!

Spin Box: Spin twice left and twice right. Cay thought we were doing a rollback initially and attempted to leave the box. I stopped her and she did the rest of the spins pretty well.

Unsaddle: Dismount, unsaddle, remount bareback, go out of the arena out into the back part of the fairgrounds, pick a stuffed snowman/santa off of a treebranch, return to the arena, go all the way to the other end of the arena and through the finish line. I was excited to get to use my new cue to get Cayenne to move up next to the mounting block. I learned it from Bob, a fellow rider at the Pat Wyse clinic, just for trail competitions. I hopped on the mounting block, cued her, she stepped right over to me, and I jumped on with no problem. I trotted her out to get santa and loped her back through the arena.

It was a tough course to remember what came next! I really liked the difficulty presented. It was timed but time only counted for tiebreakers and in the horsemanship score. I trotted or loped Cayenne between most of the obstacles and she rated back down easily and quickly. I think everyone liked the course. There were five entries in the Open Division and I took 2nd place. I'm pretty happy about that! I don't expect Cayenne to be "trained" for at least another full year and more likely two. I'm happy with how she's working for me so far but have to remember that she's young and inexperienced!

The Cowboy Race was on Thursday. Friday I left for Deary, Idaho for the American Competitive Trail Horse Association competition on Saturday. That will be featured in the next post.

Thank you to Janene Grende for taking these and allowing me to share them! Janene is a talented artist and owned a relative of my Smart Little Cayenne. Her horse, "Grandma's Redsky," is featured in a silk painting by Janene that also graces some Montana license plates. Isn't that awesome?! Her site is www.janenegrende.com

Pat Wyse Clinic

I took Cayenne and Blaze to the two-week summer seminar at Pat Wyse's ranch near Townsend, Montana the last week of July and fist week of August. I have ridden in Pat's clinics for years. My riding always improves under him and I have a lot of fun!

Cayenne did well. Her stops are coming along and we made good progress on her turn-a-rounds. She changes leads too easily so I have to ride to the outside quite a bit, especially through the center where we "might" change leads. I really like to ride her and felt good about our progress.

Blaze did fine, too. I will have to count but I think I had less than 30 rides on him when we went. We kept it pretty simple for him. He is a very easy lead changer so we did some flying lead changes. He also did some stops, rollbacks, drop to trot lead changes, flexing exercises, etc. He was nice and calm throughout and I'm happy with how he's coming along.

It was nice to see everyone at the clinic and I also got to meet some new people there. Camp food is always delicious! I took my kitty, Abigail, so had company at night in the trailer.