ACTHA ~Ghost Riders to the Rescue CTC

 

(!!Warning!!: Very long post, packed full of photos. Grab some refreshments and sit a spell. I promise it’ll be worth it)

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Whew! I’m exhausted!

I’m not sure which is more tiring……riding my own horse in back-to-back 7 mile Competitive Trail Challenge Rides OR judging back-to-back 7 mile Competitive Trail Rides.

I know that riding would have been loads of fun, but Apache wasn’t physically up for the task this time, so when I was asked if I would work as a CTC Judge on both Saturday and Sunday, I gladly volunteered, because the next best thing to riding a horse is being surrounded by lots of beautiful horses and friendly riders.

(Yep. That’s me)

Walkin N Circles Ranch Horse Rescue  , the hosts of this past weekend’s Competitive Trail Challenge Fundraising Rides, is located less than 15 minutes from my house, so I didn’t have to get up too early too arrive in time for the Judge’s Briefing at 8:15 am. The Rider’s Briefing began at 9am, and then the Safety Riders, which were a team of 4 from the New Mexico Mounted Search and Rescue, headed out on the trails, followed by a couple trucks filled with Judges and their Assistants. My assistant for Saturday was my twinling son, Jax. His job was to assist me by handling the responsibility of the Stop Watch, which he did really well, I might add. He was a great help and I was glad my terrific son was there with me both days.

(Note for later: Notice the evil Cholla Cactus all around us!) 

On Saturday, we were responsible for judging the Water Obstacle, complete with a working windmill, which was the first trail challenge.

But first let me tell you something I found interesting about the trail course, which was held on former Governor King’s Family Ranch. I found the terrain to be very misleading. From afar the area looks flat, but all over there are deep valleys and steep rolling hills, so that many of the obstacles are not seen until you are right on top of them. Just like our water obstacle. You would think a windmill could be seen from miles away, but because it is in a deep basin surrounded by hills, you can only see the tip of the spinning blades when you come up on the top of a hill.

(Those are the Ortiz Mountains to the West)

And speaking of spinning, when we first arrived at the obstacle the wind was just picking up and making the windmill’s blades squeak and creak, so this obstacle was more than just a water obstacle, as some horses may have never been exposed to a 20-30 foot tall noisy, moving giant…and have to deal with it calmly while also crossing a deep, wet, muddy body of water.

Yeah, it was sure muddy, too. Because of the fact that this pond is used to water cattle, it is not a lovely, rocky, clean pond or creek. Instead it’s been trampled into a thick hoof-sucking mucky mess. But I’m sure the cows love it. The horses…….not so much.

But most of them managed to slog through the mud to reach the water and get to the other side in the allotted time. The Open Riders had just 45 seconds, but they only had to get their horse to step in with all 4 feet and then back up……calmly and straight. Sounds easier than it was, though.

(I took this photo of Jax down by the pond)

And the Pleasure and Junior Riders had 60 seconds to cross the pond, which was pretty easy once the horses got through the thick pudding-like mud surrounding the edges of the pond. I sure felt sorry for the riders who had worked so hard grooming their beautiful sparkling white horses before the ride, though. 

These we’re the only photos we were able to take of our obstacle because it was a very busy morning with 50 riders coming through in groups of 6-7.

(Jax took this photo of me preparing for our first group of riders. Seeing people in the photo gives a better perspective of just how expansive this area truly area was.)

Our volunteer team tried to space the riders 15 minutes apart, but many riders tend to trot or canter in the beginning with their fresh horses amid all the excitement. So we never had more than a minute or two between groups to take photos of the riders and horses or even to sit down and grab a drink of water. It was basically non-stop activity for over an hour.

But the good thing about being at the first obstacle was that, once our last group went through, we were picked up by a truck to take us back to the ranch office, where I turned in my Score Cards to be entered into the ACTHA website, and then I could head back out to the trail course and watch the riders and their horses attempt a different obstacle.

Just before we were picked up by the truck I did manage to capture this one photo of my friends Renee on her newly adopted gelding Kip, with her husband Greg, on his gelding Jesse.

I’m glad I was able to take this picture of them, because just after the second obstacle, Greg was removing his vest in the wind and the flapping fabric caught the eye of Jesse, who spooked and then lost his mind when Greg wasn’t able to shake free of it. Jesse bucked like a wild horse and sent poor Greg face first into a cholla cactus! Good thing Greg was wearing sunglasses, though, because his face was covered in thorns. He also suffered a badly sprained wrist and wasn’t able to participate in Sunday’s ACTHA ride. I felt so bad for my friends.

But maybe my Apache mare’s mysterious lameness kept me out of trouble in some way? I was supposed to ride with Renee and Greg on both days. Renee, especially, wanted me to ride with her to help give her some courage being that she was riding her new horse for the first time in a large organized ride…..on a very windy day. Apache has already been ridden in 3 ACTHA rides now and has been a confidence builder for me and a source of calm for other horses and riders. But this weekend it wasn’t meant to be. I’m just very grateful that neither of my friends were seriously hurt, or worse.

But I tell ya what……I sure gave Jesse the evil eye the rest of the ACTHA event. How did I manage that you ask?

Well, hold your britches on. I’ll tell ya in a minute.

While I was waiting for a ride back out to the trails, Walkin N Circles Ranch-Hand Anna, came out to tell me that a rider radioed in to the office to ask someone to catch her loose horse that was running back to the ranch. Jax and I headed down the dirt road and saw this…….

 

Yep, a horse without a rider.

And do you know who it was? Rosie! The first horse I rode after Baby Doll, who gave me my confidence back!

(The second horse I rode bareback after my first horse Baby Doll, too)

And Rosie was the horse that saved my July 4th weekend up in Carson National Forest when my Apache mare came up lame. Calm, safe, reliable Rosie.

(And good ‘ol Rosie was the first horse I trusted to carry me on a snowy mountain trail, after Baby Doll landed me in the hospital during a snowy Christmas Eve ride almost two years ago)

Well, on Saturday she was Rider-less Rosie! Hah!

Apparently, her owner, my friend Loeta’s daughter, Jackie, was placing safety tape around a bunch of barbed wire out on the trail, and Rosie was ground-tied, like she’s done many times before. But the wind must have blown the tape around and scared Rosie. She bolted back to the ranch, leaving her owner/rider to walk several miles back to the Rescue Ranch. (I was told Jackie had some choice words for that naughty Rosie when she got back, too!)

(Ahhhh, Rosie. Even the good horses can be naughty)

  

I captured Rosie and removed her bridle and then took her back to the barn and tied her to the hitching post, and then Cory showed up in a jeep. So it was pretty good timing after all.

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Cory, my friend Christine’s husband, just so happened to drive to an obstacle that Jesse, that darn bugger horse that bucked Greg into a cholla cactus, had been tied up at this Patience Tree until someone could ride him back to the Rescue Ranch. Hah!

Jesse was tied up to the only tree visible for a mile or more. He was learning a valuable lesson in patience as he waited for over an hour and half for the riders and their horses to complete this obstacle.

Which obstacle was that, you ask?

Well, it was the Slicker and Hat Pick Up, of course! And boy howdy! It had become a very windy day, making it much more challenging to retrieve both the flapping slicker and the tumbling hat in the brief specified time limits.

This pretty horse reminded me of my Apache mare.

The Open, Pleasure and Junior Riders all had 60 seconds to complete the obstacle, but the big difference was that the Open Riders had to PUT ON the slicker while the Pleasure and Junior Riders just had to place the slicker on the front of their saddle.

It was much more challenging with all the fierce winds, but all the riders and their horses(mules and donkeys, too) tried and quite a few of them completed the obstacle successfully, while some………started off well…….

…….and then became a little frustrated.

This horse and rider team are my friends, Theresa and her handsome Lipazzaner/German Warmblood gelding, Zema. I’ve posted about them several times before on my blog: Post One (This post also includes her husband Joe riding his gorgeous PMU Draft Paint Gelding, too!) and Post Two (From last year’s Halloween ACTHA ride) 

Zema may look like he’s rearing, but what he’s really doing is the Levade. He can also perform the Courbette, Mezair, and the Capriole. His Levade can look pretty intimidating to people not familiar with it, and I’ve asked Theresa, who is an excellent, very experienced rider, if his Airs Above Ground (website with videos) are difficult to ride, and she claims that Zema does them in such a controlled manner that she never feels unbalanced or at risk of falling. Good thing, too, because even though he can do his Airs Above Ground on command, he will sometimes do a few of them when he is frustrated or bored. He sure is entertaining, exciting and handsome to watch, too!

Once the slicker was picked up off one pole and the hat was picked up off the ground, the riders had to walk or trot to the opposite pole and place both items on top.

Not always so easy.

 

But some riders and horses made it look easy.

(Check out this horse’s back legs. Wow!)

Some horses made it look easy, too.

Horse: “Ok, just let me know when you’re ready to move on. I’ll just stand here and sniff this post. I think I smell the faint scent of cookies.”

Some riders were challenged trying to convince their horse (mule or donkey, too) to get close to the flapping slicker.

Donkey: “No way, Jose! This is as close as I’m gonna get”

 

Donkey: “I see no point in this exercise. It’s not even raining!”

 

Donkey: “Nah, nah, nah nah! I don’t need to face forward to walk forward.”

 

Donkey: ”Did you see that?! It tried to eat me! Run!”

I must admit that it’s kind of weird to see a donkey being ridden, but I love seeing donkeys with jobs. They are such strong, agile, intelligent creatures that it’s a shame not to give them something important to do to keep their minds active.

 

Donkey: “See isn’t this much better? You just sit and relax while I eat….nom, nom, nom”

(The donkey’s name is Dot and the rider is the famously controversial Carolyn Meinel, author of The Happy Hacker and breeder of Paso Fino horses and Spanish Mustangs.)

Formal introductions were in order.

 

Horse to Slicker: “You better not try to do anything sneaky there, Bub!”

Good thing this guy dropped the slicker when he did.

And some riders struggled with capturing the hat.

Rider: “Hey! How do I get this thing down from up there?”

Rider: “So close, but yet, so far”

Rider: “Maybe I can just throw the hat onto the pole”

Rider: “I see it, but how do I get it?”

Horse: “Oh come on! Let me get it”

How well does your saddle fit? Grab some mane and hope for the best.

This gorgeous Grulla half-Arabian gelding might be thinking, “I’m sure I could pick up that hat with my teeth, if only she’d ask me to”

 

Horse: “No way! That hat looks evil!”

Horse: “Agghhh! That hat is ALIVE!!!”

Horse: “Oh…alright. I’ll stand still for your silly game. sigh.”

This horse, ridden by Danny, seems to be saying, “What hat? I don’t see no stinkin’ hat.”

Jax thought it was very cool that Danny was wearing camo. (You’ll get to see Jax’s camo costume in my next ACTHA post. hehe!)

 

Everyone yells, “Hooray! You got it!”

Horse: “Um, hello? If this were a ring toss game and my head was the target, you’d get a gold star. But it’s not, so let’s go already.”

 

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After all the riders had worked their way through all the obstacles and completed the trail ride, it was time to head back to the Ride Meet-Up location and enjoy a catered BBQ lunch while sharing stories from the trails.

Soon afterwards the ride scores are in and everyone finds out who the winners are in Open, Pleasure and Junior Divisions. There are prizes to hand out, and jackpots, too.

Most everyone knows each other because many have ridden together before, so even though it is a competition there is lots of camaraderie with cheering and laughter.

Just before we were ready to leave, a lady asked Colleen about finding a farrier for her horse that had lost a shoe while on the trail. And it just so happened we had a farrier with us that day who was also willing to help: Randy to the rescue!

Randy had been one of the judges at the Slicker/Hat Obstacle and he is also the main farrier for Walkin N Circles Ranch Horse Rescue. And he may even become Apache’s new farrier, too. (More on that later)

  

 

Well, you’re probably thinking….whew! What a busy day Lisa had. And you’d be right.

But my day wasn’t over yet……………….

After I drove my twinling son, Jax, back home, and fed the kids, Apache, the goats, llamas and chickens I drove back to Walkin N Circles Ranch Horse Rescue to join everyone for a Potluck dinner, which was loads of fun and a great way to end the day.

 (From left to right: Donna, Theresa (Zema’s owner), Mr. Bill (Donna’s hubby), Joe (Theresa’s hubby), and Cory (my friend Christine’s hubby)

I also ‘caught’ my friend Colleen founder of Walkin N Circles Ranch Horse Rescue and her husband John, smooching and just had to take a photo. Aren’t they cute?

 

They sure worked hard, along with all the volunteers, to plan, organize and manage our ACTHA rides. They deserve a little smooching time together, don’t you think?

 

Next Up: ACTHA ~ The Halloween CTC