Cowfeathers Farm to Foxcroft Farm: Backyard Horse Trials with the "Senior Saddle Club Plus G&K"

Clearly, I have a hard time deciding which photos are interesting to others when it comes to riding the horses. Once again, I have selected only a few dozen to demonstrate the wonder that was our Sunday!
The Barn Party over, Middlest home from her band contest, we snatched a few hours of sleep and arose in the dark to go to Dayton for Rocky Point Farm's Horse Trials.
Our generous friends, the Z's, "trailer-pooled" with us, collecting Middlest's and my horses at the end of the lane as the sun came up. And off we went to Dayton to meet up with the rest of our riding cronies competing that day. There was 6 of us from my "Senior Saddle Club Plus G&K" entered in the competition. (G&K tolerate and ride with us "ol' ladies")

The Players:

Judy on Bella. Bella is an experienced mare, and Judy is an athletic rider. They were the only two in our Club riding the Novice course- the highest division offered at this trials.

Kara on Daisy: Daisy is a young, "green" mare who makes the ground shake when she goes by, but is quite sensible. Kara has raised her from a few days old when she was an orphaned nurse mare foal from Last Chance Corral. And, yes, she is that big!

Des on Patch: Des is my hero. She had always wanted to ride, but it wasn't until last year she made the leap! Now she is competing in her first horse trials, jumping, etc. Amazing! Her mount, Patch, is an experienced mare, a confidence builder, and the mare who took Middlest around this same course in 2012.

Middlest on Chanelle: This was their first three phase horse trials together as well. They went Beginner Novice and I was very proud!

Katie on Joey: Another pair doing some "firsts"! Katie is a young, but very capable rider who is taking this pony places! This was their first horse trials together, but she is training this boy right. He is now jumping beautifully, and even though he is green too, he trusts Katie and tries very hard to please her. I have a pony-crush on Joey. On stadium, they had a mistake typical for green ponies and horses everywhere, and a rail came down, scared Joey, unseated Katie and she had the best save of the day, sticking to him like a barnacle, who knows how; 50% balance and 50% determination!

Lastly, there was

Me on Chaser: He was calm to the point of laziness. I'll take it! Finally, he is getting comfortable with his job. Plus he's a photogenic boy! He got a big gold star in dressage, earning mostly 7's (out of 10- which is pretty darn great) and tying for second after dressage in the largest field (group of competitors) at the trials.

At this time, I need to give credit where credit is due! Most of the photos you will see on this blog are courtesy of Gary Crickmore, photographer to the stars and Rocky Point Farm. He generously allowed me to share them here. There are a few by Youngest, who was filling his capacity again as head photographer of Middlest and me and baby sitter to the adorable and captivating Ava.

Without Gary Crickmore's photos, much of what I'd be showing you would look like this:

or this:

But, Youngest did have some gems too.

So, he's on the forehand, but he is coming for new to the sport.

And, this photographic wonder! A photo of an inside half-halt.

Blown up farther for my horse friends:

And, some of my favorite pictures of the day, of my favorite little gals.....

Cross Country was the next phase. Judy and Bella were first out on course for the day, and rocketed through like the champion blue-ribbon winners they would eventually become for the day!

Middlest and Nelle were ready! They had an extra half hour of walking warm up while the squad came for one unfortunate who didn't make it past this fence.

They had only one mishap on course. The landed after their first fence and attempted to turn; but there was a patch of clay that Nelle slipped on and they nearly went to the ground. Nelle saved herself, and somehow Middlest stayed on. The gallery of spectators right there at fence #1 had a collective "OOOOOH!" With the near-fall and then a cheer for the save. The knowledge that all was closely observed disorganized Middlest, but in a "when the going gets tough the tough get going" moment she pulled it together and went on to get a clear round. (ish- the clear was a gift- somehow the jump judges missed two faults she had on course! We only found out about their mistake when she was awarded a second place ribbon after stadium, and Kara and Daisy were awarded third...which we knew was incorrect. An inquiry to the ground jury yielded the information too late for protest)

Daisy and Kara came out of the start box, and the gallery of people coupled with a fence right away scared poor little Daisy, and a stride away from the fence she went backward. Kara patiently coaxed her through, and after that went on to have a fault-free ride.

Des and Patch went next- and were excellent! They had a bit of a glitch and missed a fence which put them out of the ribbons, but in all should be really proud.

And then it was our turn. First to go in our division, Chaser and I headed out- me in my titanium helmet and puncture-proof vest, him with his stamina and his trust in me.

" We're Number ONE! We're Number ONE!" I got him psyched up (Just kidding, I was trying to keep him very relaxed.)

It went wonderfully well. Our only glitch was after fence nine, when he shot out of the ditch like a rocket and delivered two massive bucks- evidently he found his energy. I was fortunate that it doesn't bother me much, and because of my right ankle still being frozen from last spring's tendon tragedy, my stirrups are rather long- giving me a lot of leg for holding on! Here, I am asking him to organize and relax a bit. When we get to the point where I let him go between fences on course we won't have any time faults!
A moment for reflection on this year with Chaser- I've had him not quite one year. If you had asked me this spring if we would've been here riding I would've said " NO WAY." Not just because I couldn't walk either. And if you had told me he would be second in dressage with two clear rounds in cross country and stadium I would've said "You're dreaming." We still have our obstacles to overcome- I still can't get shoes on him, but I can brush his legs and pick his feet without getting kicked. And we have a long way to go- but that is the great part- we are going. Life is amazing.

Katie and Joey went out on course directly after Chaser and me- so I didn't get to see them jump, but after some uncertainty early on, they went on to be successful all around. WHOOP!
Only thing left is the stadium round!

Judy and Bella rode away with the blue ribbon for the Novice division.

Middlest and Nelle pulled out that miracle second place in the Beginner Novice!

Love this kid!!

Daisy and Kara came in third in Beginner Novice (though really second...)

Des and Patch successfully completed their first Horse Trials!

And, remember that amazing "stick to-it-ness" I mentioned earlier with Katie on Joey? Well, here it is!!

Yep, she managed to save this one. And then went on to jump the jump properly, and with style.

As for me and the Can Chaser? As the sun began to get mighty low, we went off on our Stadium Round and managed it just fine. I was super proud of the boy.

And now for a gallery of photos I couldn't resist (see sentence # 1 of this blog). ...

Middlest and Nelle sneak a peak at Mommarazzi on the side.

The indomitable Patty Miller- the owner of Rocky Point Farm in it's 20+ year of this horse trials, and the 45th year of having some sort of event at her farm.