Equine Affaire 2013 - Day 2

So glad that I decided to go on Thursday and Friday instead of trying to fight the crowds on the weekends. Had a great day yesterday with Kate and got the things that I went to get... Today I went with Deb and Amy (girl who now rides Kid) and focused on the things that I wanted. Of course there was no way I could buy that saddle I saw, or design my own headstall and breastcollar set (I like the one I got for my birthday more anyway), but I did walk out with a couple pairs of $6 winter riding gloves, a free sample of Finish Line HA, a painting for a friend, and... Those SP split reins I've been eyeing for months.

Also a custom license plate.

Looks like the Rollie Pollie Arab for Sherry!

Wanted it... Didn't get it because of the Jeep's state...

I caught up with a couple of friends and got to watch some clinics. Stacy Westfall's was about the "Woah" and 3 different ways to ask. She focused on the reins, your legs, and then the "Woah". It was really interesting. Something I was questioning about her before was her constant leg movement when the horse is moving forward. Over the years I've learned the "bump" routine where you bump your legs until you have the desired gate and then you let them go. She has a constant leg movement going because as soon as she takes her legs off, the horse starts to think that she's going to cue for a woah and back up. I'll probably stick with what I've been doing because Brantley is not very sensitive to leg cues so I'd rather keep him light. She said it was good for horses who were a bit overreactive and who needs to get a bit desensitized to leg movement. There was more of an introduction to asking a horse to back with leg cues more than the woah but definitely have some stuff to try out with B.

Another clinic I got to watch was an introduction to Western/Cowboy Dressage. I forgot the clinician's name but it was very cool. He talked a lot about what Cowboy Dressage really is and the difference between that and regular dressage. He said the biggest difference was the gait. Cowboy Dressage is a walk, jog, lope while regular is walk, trot, canter. He had two riders who compete professionally in the discipline and they were amazing. One ended on a musical freestyle to the original "Wagon Wheel". I missed it because I was waiting for my stupid license plate (which I love) but I saw glimpses and heard the music. If you're looking for something a little more low-key than your typical dressage, this is growing more and more. I hope to get a little more schooled in that area sometime with B.

The group of us made it to the Coliseum in time to see the Versatility Horse & Rider Finals. I was stoked. This has been something I've been talking about for months. My goal for next year is to compete. The finals were hard... Really hard. I'm not looking to win, I'm looking to just walk in the ring and be able to say that we did it. I explained the last one so here's some tid-bits on the final course.

1. Mount your horse and canter over patterned poles.

2. Walk into an empty kiddy pool, pull a string and dump shipping peanuts on your head (like Flashdance)

3. Move the horse forward so only his front legs are outside the pool and turn on the haunches IN THE POOL!

4. Trot over and move a blanket across 2 jumps, then canter over the jumps... They weren't small.

5. Drag a line of buckets backwards through cones (somewhere in there you had to half pass at any gait).

6. Pick a blanket off a stuffed fox from the ground and walk through pool noodles and knocked over standards. Drop the blanket on a barrel and shoot a fake "pop" gun.

7. Do a pattern around barrels then take a tube from one and place it in the other stretching a line of clothes out over the barrels...

8. Trot into a pole pattern, halt, wait 3 seconds, then back through the pattern.

9. Dismount, run and grab a basket while crawling under chicken wire (horse must stand still away from you).

10. Lead your horse and yourself over a bridge (and balance beam for you)... Remount.

11. Pole bend while sticking flowers in buckets...

12. Pick up a ground pole leaning on a barrel... Go under it... Place it on the jump cup. Pick up a string tied to a pole, place that on the jump cup. Then trot through that.

13. Victory Lap! TIME!

... I feel like there's definitely things I'm missing like this pattern where they had to spin around these cones but you get the point. It was hard... My reply? We've got a lot of work to do.

Every rider and even horse looked like they were having fun. The biggest thing I saw where mistakes were made were while the rider was rushing. SURPRISE! This is when slow & steady wins the race comes in. If you take your time, you don't have to repeat the obstacle. I'm determined now... We'll do it.

I'm happy.

Oh! And I came home to this...

I love my Dad... Best Dad EVER!

Dad made me a grain bin... :)