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.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Monday, May 17, 2010
"So You Think You Can Ride" Extreme Trail Challenge
I took Cayenne to this challenge at Farragut State Park in Athol, Idaho and it was much different than anticipated! It was supposed to be 10 miles with "natural" judged obstacles. It ended up being a 10 mile trail ride. The Extreme Division started with three obstacles at the camp site: Push a big ball in a circle with your horse, pull a bucket of cards up using a rope pulley and take two cards out, and cross a little stream with pinwheels alongside and floating balls, etc in it. I finally rode out at noon after being on my horse since 9am waiting. The trails were simple and good but not flagged well. Organizers later said that some of the flags were apparently removed by other park users. I trotted and loped 2-3 miles in the beginning with a couple double backs to get on the correct trail. I had completed probably half of the course and still not seen any judges or obstacles so was pretty worried I had gone off course or somehow missed a judge. I met up with another gal on the trail and she hadn't seen any either so at least we were in the same boat! We finally met a lady on an Arab who had already finished the course and was coming back to look for her mother. She told us that there were no obstacles but we had to stay on the flagged trail because we were being timed. We got back to camp somewhere between 2pm and 2:30pm and there were several trailers gone or pulling out because they were upset about paying to go on a trail ride! Rumor had it that the times were being thrown out because of the unmarked trails and that the organizers were going to set up a judged obstacle course near the BBQ area. Rumor also had it that there were no judged obstacles on the trail because the volunteer judges hadn't shown up. It would have been nice if they had reorganized due to that fact and gave us the option to go for a trail ride while they set up a course at camp. There would not have been so many confused riders out in the woods that way!
I tied Cayenne to the trailer, gave her some water and ate my lunch before heading over for the rest of the course. It ended up being several hours until the competition wrapped up. They did tally the scores quickly once the last rider was done. They immediately handed out lots of prizes and I pulled out of the park around 7:30pm. I definitely missed my dinner date with family in Chewelah at 6:30pm! Cayenne and I took 4th place in the Extreme Division. I am quite pleased with that.
Cayenne did pretty well on most of the obstacles although the two she didn't like, she did poorly at! The little "stream" in the beginning with all the miniature soccer balls and stuff in it was very suspicious in her mind. I let her check it out for way too long to be competitive and then I had to urge her over. She jumped it somewhat gently but I would have preferred she put a foot in the 12-18" stream. One of the evening obstacles was a 1/2 barrel full of water with slingshots and little balls in it. She didn't care to stand close enough for me to lean way down and get them so I grabbed a fish net (from another obstacle) and dipped the stuff out. She wiggled around a lot through that process while eyeballing the barrel but did stand still enough for me to drop the reins and use the slingshot to shoot a ball at the target. I'm not sure if the horse or the rider was judged on that one! She did excellent on the rest of the obstacles. She had no problem with pushing the ball or letting me raise the red bucket up next to her in the first obstacles. The evening obstacles included three barrels in a line with a board resting on two. You had to pick up the end of the board and move around forward to rotate your end 180 degrees and set it on the other barrel. In the Extreme, you then had to pick the end back up and back your horse up to place the end back on the original barrel. The next obstacle was picking up a plastic horseshoe and tossing it toward a spike. Again, I'm not sure who was judged on this because I didn't come close to getting a ringer! The slingshot obstacle previously described was next. After that, I used the fish net to scoop a water balloon out of another barrel and then tossed it into a little bucket a short ways off. Amazingly enough, I got the balloon in the bucket! The last obstacle was picking up a blue tarp off the ground (it was "tented" so you could reach it by leaning down) and carrying it through a "cowboy curtain" or "carwash," which is hanging tarp strips you push through. She did very well on the tarp/curtain obstacle as well as the rest.
We placed behind three very good horse/rider combinations. Jinny Dean on her mare, Jewel, was 3rd. Anne-Marie, on her 28yr old Arab stallion, was 2nd. A nice lady whose name I didn't catch won on her black horse. Unfortunately, I didn't see her ride so I must have missed watching a great team! I saw Jinny and Anne-Marie ride and they were very good. I figure it's quite a compliment to place right below a rider I admire such as Jinny!
I am considering returning to Farragut for a competition on the 29th, put on by a different group, but am not sure. I'm a little burnt out on the long days put in at the previous competitions at Farragut! I don't mind long rides by any means but I get geared up to compete and want to be challenged! I like that several groups are putting on trail competitions within a couple hours but would also like to see them ran more efficiently. The Farragut trail challenge that I rode in two weeks ago has many disgruntled riders because many of them, including me, were missing scores. The judges either didn't write them down, they got washed off in the rain, or the person putting them in the computer forgot them. Cayenne and I had excellent scores but two blanks. I don't care about the prize money or awards but I want to know how I did and where my horse and I really stacked up against the competition. One good thing about having so much "hurry up and wait" time is that I get to chat with lots of different people. Most people at trail competitions are friendly and it's nice to get to know them. There were quite a few people from out of state including a group of 20-somethings from Helena, MT. They were quite entertaining as they were drinking beer before we even did the first obstacles in the morning! One guy had a set of big saddle bags on his mare that were actually insulated coolers! By the time evening rolled around the Montana guys were really good for a laugh. One guy's hat ended up on the ground while we were waiting and instead of dismounting, he picked it up from his horse. The trouble was, as he was hanging out of the saddle, he was spurring her in the top of her flank! Needless to say, she was jumping around with him hanging off one side trying to get his hat! There were quite a few wrecks waiting to happen with many of the riders but luckily, nobody that I know of got hurt.
I tied Cayenne to the trailer, gave her some water and ate my lunch before heading over for the rest of the course. It ended up being several hours until the competition wrapped up. They did tally the scores quickly once the last rider was done. They immediately handed out lots of prizes and I pulled out of the park around 7:30pm. I definitely missed my dinner date with family in Chewelah at 6:30pm! Cayenne and I took 4th place in the Extreme Division. I am quite pleased with that.
Cayenne did pretty well on most of the obstacles although the two she didn't like, she did poorly at! The little "stream" in the beginning with all the miniature soccer balls and stuff in it was very suspicious in her mind. I let her check it out for way too long to be competitive and then I had to urge her over. She jumped it somewhat gently but I would have preferred she put a foot in the 12-18" stream. One of the evening obstacles was a 1/2 barrel full of water with slingshots and little balls in it. She didn't care to stand close enough for me to lean way down and get them so I grabbed a fish net (from another obstacle) and dipped the stuff out. She wiggled around a lot through that process while eyeballing the barrel but did stand still enough for me to drop the reins and use the slingshot to shoot a ball at the target. I'm not sure if the horse or the rider was judged on that one! She did excellent on the rest of the obstacles. She had no problem with pushing the ball or letting me raise the red bucket up next to her in the first obstacles. The evening obstacles included three barrels in a line with a board resting on two. You had to pick up the end of the board and move around forward to rotate your end 180 degrees and set it on the other barrel. In the Extreme, you then had to pick the end back up and back your horse up to place the end back on the original barrel. The next obstacle was picking up a plastic horseshoe and tossing it toward a spike. Again, I'm not sure who was judged on this because I didn't come close to getting a ringer! The slingshot obstacle previously described was next. After that, I used the fish net to scoop a water balloon out of another barrel and then tossed it into a little bucket a short ways off. Amazingly enough, I got the balloon in the bucket! The last obstacle was picking up a blue tarp off the ground (it was "tented" so you could reach it by leaning down) and carrying it through a "cowboy curtain" or "carwash," which is hanging tarp strips you push through. She did very well on the tarp/curtain obstacle as well as the rest.
We placed behind three very good horse/rider combinations. Jinny Dean on her mare, Jewel, was 3rd. Anne-Marie, on her 28yr old Arab stallion, was 2nd. A nice lady whose name I didn't catch won on her black horse. Unfortunately, I didn't see her ride so I must have missed watching a great team! I saw Jinny and Anne-Marie ride and they were very good. I figure it's quite a compliment to place right below a rider I admire such as Jinny!
I am considering returning to Farragut for a competition on the 29th, put on by a different group, but am not sure. I'm a little burnt out on the long days put in at the previous competitions at Farragut! I don't mind long rides by any means but I get geared up to compete and want to be challenged! I like that several groups are putting on trail competitions within a couple hours but would also like to see them ran more efficiently. The Farragut trail challenge that I rode in two weeks ago has many disgruntled riders because many of them, including me, were missing scores. The judges either didn't write them down, they got washed off in the rain, or the person putting them in the computer forgot them. Cayenne and I had excellent scores but two blanks. I don't care about the prize money or awards but I want to know how I did and where my horse and I really stacked up against the competition. One good thing about having so much "hurry up and wait" time is that I get to chat with lots of different people. Most people at trail competitions are friendly and it's nice to get to know them. There were quite a few people from out of state including a group of 20-somethings from Helena, MT. They were quite entertaining as they were drinking beer before we even did the first obstacles in the morning! One guy had a set of big saddle bags on his mare that were actually insulated coolers! By the time evening rolled around the Montana guys were really good for a laugh. One guy's hat ended up on the ground while we were waiting and instead of dismounting, he picked it up from his horse. The trouble was, as he was hanging out of the saddle, he was spurring her in the top of her flank! Needless to say, she was jumping around with him hanging off one side trying to get his hat! There were quite a few wrecks waiting to happen with many of the riders but luckily, nobody that I know of got hurt.
Friday, May 7, 2010
Bushwhacking
I re-explored some trails and logging roads up Burnt Valley Road today. I rode Cayenne and did three hours of hill climbing and bushwhacking. I'm glad I wore my chinks as we got into some really heavy brush. My arms are pretty scratched up as I was in short sleeves. Cay was game and we had a good day. I found a big elk wallow and game trail complete with major rubs on the trees. I think I'll try to get the game cam out there in the late summer or fall to see what there are for bull elk going through.
Monday, May 3, 2010
Competitive Trail Challenge at Farragut
Saturday was a fun trail challenge at Farragut State Park near Athol, Idaho. It poured rain pretty much all morning but 58 riders still came to compete! They had a six mile loop flagged with about ten obstacles. Four of those were right by camp so there weren't too many once you hit the trail. I took Cayenne and it turned out to be great experience for her. We competed in the "Extreme" class. She's not extreme but I'm not novice and there was no other option other than youth. I'm certainly not that any more! The trail was the same for everyone but when you were at a judged obstacles, some of them had harder requirements if you were in the extreme class. For example, one obstacle was to walk through a "car wash," hanging tarp strips. If you were in extreme, you also had to back through once you'd went through forwards. Not hard but a little more challenging and fun, which is what it's all about! Cay was a little amped up at first as she was determined that we must go with all the horses ahead. I long trotted her for a couple miles and passed the handful of riders in front when we came upon them in the woods. Once we were out front, she relaxed and we had a great ride by ourselves. The trails were clear and easy to navigate. The rain stopped when we were about halfway through the course. I would have galloped but the organizers had asked that we be safe and keep it to a trot because of all the rain. There were some parts of the trail that were a little slick but much of it was sandy/gravelly so the footing was excellent. I cruised back to camp at 12:15, about two hours after starting. My mistake in that was that I then waited until well after 4pm for the results! Cayenne and I got 6th place in the Extreme Division. I was happy with that because we were up against seasoned horses and riders. It would have been like competing against myself on Smarty or Mr. Definitely not equal! The main thing I need to work on is getting Cayenne to stop and relax so I can do the dismounts, mounts, or other quiet work. She always wants to keep moving. I don't like to stop when I ride alone so I need to practice, too!
The obstacles included: Dismounting, tack inspection, answering questions about what a rider should take on a trail ride, mounting, crossing a weird wooden siding/2x12 board bridge, opening and closing a gate with a tarp on it, going into a ditch, riding along the bottom and then climbing out again, going under a black plastic tunnel-like obstacle, going through and then backing under a "carwash," backing uphill, around a tree and back down to the trail, dragging an orange plastic sack full of stuff, zigzagging down a hill, dismounting and mounting again, and dismounting and leading through trees and then backing through them. None of the obstacles were particularly difficult or scary, which was good so as not to risk intimidation of my youngster. I imagine it was hard to judge the extreme class though as there were so many experienced trail competitors and they all probably did well on the obstacles.
The funniest part of the competition was running into a whole bunch of kids on the trail. Cay and I could hear them shrieking in the woods ahead. I slowed her to a trot when they came into sight. There were probably 25 boys age 5-10 or so all over the trail. There were no adults in sight and the kids all carried some sort of air (mouth) powered gun made out of white pvc pipe. They started hollering, "Intruder," when they saw me and scurrying around to take aim at me and my horse! I dropped my reins on Cay's neck and put my hands in the air like "I surrender" as I rode into the midst of them. Then I decided to pick up my reins in case one of the little buggers decided to fire! I had caught them off guard so they didn't really know what to do except keep their weapons trained on me. Some were only a couple feet off the trail and the turned with me as I rode by to keep me in their sites. I was sure one would shoot Cayenne in the butt but they resisted temptation! I wasn't sure what exactly they had loaded in their guns but in talking to other riders back at camp, they were marshmallow guns. Adults at the nearby tent camping area started calling the boys to come eat as soon as I got by so many of the riders didn't run into the group that I did. Many did see hundreds of marshmallows on the trail though!
There are two more trail challenges at Farragut this month. It's only about an hour and forty five minutes so definitely close compared to most of the other ones. They are being put on by different organizations and therefore, ran differently with different obstacles. I think staying close to home and getting some experience under Cayenne's belt (saddle blanket?) is a good idea. It's fun to travel to far off places but not very economical! Once she's a seasoned campaigner, it will make sense to get her out to challenge the world!
The obstacles included: Dismounting, tack inspection, answering questions about what a rider should take on a trail ride, mounting, crossing a weird wooden siding/2x12 board bridge, opening and closing a gate with a tarp on it, going into a ditch, riding along the bottom and then climbing out again, going under a black plastic tunnel-like obstacle, going through and then backing under a "carwash," backing uphill, around a tree and back down to the trail, dragging an orange plastic sack full of stuff, zigzagging down a hill, dismounting and mounting again, and dismounting and leading through trees and then backing through them. None of the obstacles were particularly difficult or scary, which was good so as not to risk intimidation of my youngster. I imagine it was hard to judge the extreme class though as there were so many experienced trail competitors and they all probably did well on the obstacles.
The funniest part of the competition was running into a whole bunch of kids on the trail. Cay and I could hear them shrieking in the woods ahead. I slowed her to a trot when they came into sight. There were probably 25 boys age 5-10 or so all over the trail. There were no adults in sight and the kids all carried some sort of air (mouth) powered gun made out of white pvc pipe. They started hollering, "Intruder," when they saw me and scurrying around to take aim at me and my horse! I dropped my reins on Cay's neck and put my hands in the air like "I surrender" as I rode into the midst of them. Then I decided to pick up my reins in case one of the little buggers decided to fire! I had caught them off guard so they didn't really know what to do except keep their weapons trained on me. Some were only a couple feet off the trail and the turned with me as I rode by to keep me in their sites. I was sure one would shoot Cayenne in the butt but they resisted temptation! I wasn't sure what exactly they had loaded in their guns but in talking to other riders back at camp, they were marshmallow guns. Adults at the nearby tent camping area started calling the boys to come eat as soon as I got by so many of the riders didn't run into the group that I did. Many did see hundreds of marshmallows on the trail though!
There are two more trail challenges at Farragut this month. It's only about an hour and forty five minutes so definitely close compared to most of the other ones. They are being put on by different organizations and therefore, ran differently with different obstacles. I think staying close to home and getting some experience under Cayenne's belt (saddle blanket?) is a good idea. It's fun to travel to far off places but not very economical! Once she's a seasoned campaigner, it will make sense to get her out to challenge the world!
Friday, April 30, 2010
New Foal!
Well, a lot has happened since the last post. Pepper had her foal April 21st at 1:30am. A solid noncharacteristic bay filly named "Peppy." The registration name I'm requesting for her is Peppy Zach O'lena. She is a cutie. I was not in attendance for her birth as Ransom and I were in Maine. We flew out early Monday morning, the 19th, as good friend, Jeff, was killed in a car accident. Ransom's brother, Zach, survived. Very sad circumstances but I won't blog about the ordeal. I always told Zach I would name a foal after him so I figured now is the time, especially since she won't be for sale.
I did okay at the Supreme Cowboy Race. I had received the bad news late the night before I rode so my mind and heart were not on the course. Smarty was really pushy but Cayenne did very well for her level of experience. She did all the obstacles including a drop into a big pool of water that looked a couple inches deep but was actually a couple feet deep. It was a good course with lots of variety and fun obstacles. I'm not sure how many horses competed but I think there were 18-20 in the open class. Cayenne placed 6th and Smarty 7th. There were a lot of very good horses and riders there so it was a treat to watch what I did catch. The trip was a little over 900 miles round trip and I pushed steady for home, stopping only once in Ritzville for fuel and to let my dog go potty. Wonderful friends already had my horses fed and watered and the barn lights on to welcome me home! I pretty much put my horses away, completed some college homework assignments that were due online, slept for a couple hours and headed for the airport.
There was quite a crew caring for my horses. Twelve in all including customer horses. They didn't just feed and water, they cleaned stalls and paddocks, exercised the dogs, monitored Pepper's progress and then made sure she and the new foal were doing well. It was really nice having so many caring people to watch over everything while we were gone! My dad even slept in Pepper's stall and video taped Peppy's birth so I could see it when I got home! What a crew!
Quincy, my friend Tammy's mare, also foaled while we were gone. She had an exceptional filly by Smarty that is probably the best looking one I've seen by him! The filly is black with some white spots on the top of her hips. She has a deep heart girth, great shoulder and hip, and is just really nicely built all the way around.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Waiting on Mama
My mare, Pepper, waxed yesterday so I'm jumping with excitement waiting for her to have her foal. This is my only foal this year and my first by Smarty since Blaze in 2007! This foal will be a full sibling to my favorite, Smart Little Cayenne, so there's a lot of added excitement here! Pepper is only at 11 months and 1 day now so I wasn't expecting her to foal until after the Pat Wyse clinic, towards the end of the month. So much for planning on my part! She may hold on until then as she has waxed for weeks before without foaling. I'm probably leaving early Saturday to haul down to the Supreme Cowboy Race in Nampa, ID, returning Sunday night/Monday morning, leaving for the clinic on Wednesday, and not coming home until that Sunday night. That's a lot of being gone with a mare ready to foal. I plan to put her in a spot where my husband can see her from the house so it will be easy for him to keep an eye on her. I'm going to tempt her shortly and leave to go ride at the local outdoor arena for a couple hours. Hopefully that will motivate her to sneak a foal in!
I rode Cayenne and Smarty up on the hill across from my Dad's yesterday. It was nice to get out and the horses loved the long runs on the logging roads. Smarty was like the energizer bunny. I rated him back to a medium gallop for some corners, rutted road, big puddles and the like but other than that, he poured on the speed. I should say, "His legs went really fast!" He hardly broke a sweat and we went probably 1 1/2 - 2 miles uphill at a good clip! I haven't hardly ridden him so I don't know how he can be in that good of shape. He wasn't done when we reached the top but I had to get back and go to Spokane so didn't have all day to run. Plus I didn't want to kill him even though it was self-inflicted!
I'm getting the trailer and horses ready to head for the Cowboy Race. It'll be a pretty good haul at about 9-11 hours. I had wanted to leave Friday in case I had any trouble but unless Pepper pops, I'll hang out as long as I can. The weather is beautiful and supposed to hold for the rest of the week. That means I can get Smarty and Cayenne washed without them freezing. The race starts at 10:30 Sunday morning and the results are supposed to be announced at 4:30 that evening. That's a long time to hang out with a drive ahead. Hopefully I will know or find out if I placed in the top 3 and if not, head out as soon as possible. Of course, I want to be in that top 3 though! The Expo looks like it has a good lineup of clinicians, demos, etc. It'll be fun to peruse and watch some of the big boys. I'm excited!
I rode Cayenne and Smarty up on the hill across from my Dad's yesterday. It was nice to get out and the horses loved the long runs on the logging roads. Smarty was like the energizer bunny. I rated him back to a medium gallop for some corners, rutted road, big puddles and the like but other than that, he poured on the speed. I should say, "His legs went really fast!" He hardly broke a sweat and we went probably 1 1/2 - 2 miles uphill at a good clip! I haven't hardly ridden him so I don't know how he can be in that good of shape. He wasn't done when we reached the top but I had to get back and go to Spokane so didn't have all day to run. Plus I didn't want to kill him even though it was self-inflicted!
I'm getting the trailer and horses ready to head for the Cowboy Race. It'll be a pretty good haul at about 9-11 hours. I had wanted to leave Friday in case I had any trouble but unless Pepper pops, I'll hang out as long as I can. The weather is beautiful and supposed to hold for the rest of the week. That means I can get Smarty and Cayenne washed without them freezing. The race starts at 10:30 Sunday morning and the results are supposed to be announced at 4:30 that evening. That's a long time to hang out with a drive ahead. Hopefully I will know or find out if I placed in the top 3 and if not, head out as soon as possible. Of course, I want to be in that top 3 though! The Expo looks like it has a good lineup of clinicians, demos, etc. It'll be fun to peruse and watch some of the big boys. I'm excited!
Friday, April 2, 2010
Opportunity in Disguise
Blaze's wound is healing very well. He quickly learned to let me hot pack it AND continually kick a pinecone for my ball-crazy dog, Ziva. As much as I miss riding Blaze, I now have the opportunity to "save" him for the Trainer's Challenge at the Horsin' Around Expo in July. We can have up to 40 rides so I can just keep him laid off for the spring. I wasn't going to use him because I wanted to have many more rides on him than that by the time summer rolled around. He's a good candidate and will be a good example of Smarty babies.
I've been keeping up on riding Cayenne. I will be sending in my entry forms for the Supreme Cowboy Race in Nampa, Idaho on April 18th. I plan to compete on Smarty and Cayenne. It may be a bit much for her level but I'm confident it'll at least be good experience. She has more riding than Smarty did when I took him to the Craig Cameron Extreme Cowboy Race! He had a scattered 120 days or so and very little arena work and we tied for 11th out of 36. The building blocks I've been working on with Cayenne's spin are starting to pay off. I've not asked her to really spin yet but am speeding up her turnaround. She stays correct, is very soft and supple, and doesn't fall apart when I push her. I really hope that Pat Wyse will be happy with the progress I've made on her when we go to the clinic in Sandpoint in a few weeks! We'll go from the Cowboy Race to the clinic with only three days in between. She'll be tired by the time that whole week is over!
I've been keeping up on riding Cayenne. I will be sending in my entry forms for the Supreme Cowboy Race in Nampa, Idaho on April 18th. I plan to compete on Smarty and Cayenne. It may be a bit much for her level but I'm confident it'll at least be good experience. She has more riding than Smarty did when I took him to the Craig Cameron Extreme Cowboy Race! He had a scattered 120 days or so and very little arena work and we tied for 11th out of 36. The building blocks I've been working on with Cayenne's spin are starting to pay off. I've not asked her to really spin yet but am speeding up her turnaround. She stays correct, is very soft and supple, and doesn't fall apart when I push her. I really hope that Pat Wyse will be happy with the progress I've made on her when we go to the clinic in Sandpoint in a few weeks! We'll go from the Cowboy Race to the clinic with only three days in between. She'll be tired by the time that whole week is over!
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