America’s Favorite Trail Horse!

 

 

I was asked to be the Official Photographer for ACTHA's America's Favorite Trail Horse Audition in New Mexico.

I designed this logo to match the AFTH logo, so I could create some specially printed cds. Unfortunately you need to buy specially made cds for doing that. oh well.

I was very happy to do the photos for ACTHA and Colleen as many of the ACTHA competitors I now consider friends and I have seen them at quite a few ACTHA CTCs over the past 3 years either with me judging, riding or photographing the events.

                     (All packed up and ready to go)

I was excited to capture some special moments during each rider’s audition, which not only included 4 obstacles/challenges but an exciting and very special Freestyle performance by each rider and their horse partner.

Getting groomed and all tacked up.

(Colleen and John set us up in a nice spot protected from the wind on a conveniently level area directly in front of their ranch storage garage. We had a bathroom around the corner and an electric hook-up, too. Very nice!)

 

We also had some beautiful views of mountains, valleys and lots of horses from our windows. We felt right at home. Even Dobbie enjoyed herself, playing with all the ranch dogs and visiting with everyone. She was so well behaved. I was very proud of her.)

I’m embarrassed to admit that I took over 240 photos on Saturday, so you all can breathe a sigh of relief that I won’t be posting all of them in this blog post. lol! I’ll just share my favorites and some highlights from the auditions instead.

(Like this one of my friend Theresa and her Hungarian Warmblood/Lipizzaner gelding, named Zeema, doing his “Airs Above Ground”)

(It was very challenging taking action shots in the low light of the indoor arena)

And this one, too.

But I did want each rider to have a special photo keepsake from their audition. After the auditions, my twinling Jax and I spent about 45 minutes burning all the photos onto cds, and we were literally selling them as we burned them! There were 19 riders with their horses competing and I managed to sell 10 Photo CDs, with a few more going out this week as some of the riders had to leave early. And there were a a few married couples riding together that bought my photo cds, and of course, they only bought one cd to share. So, I’m pretty pleased with the sales from the event.

We also scored a couple of very nice “America’s Favorite Trail Horse” t-shirts from ACTHA, and some neat promo items from Parelli, too.

(This gal, Ashley drove down from Pagosa Springs, CO with her beautiful paint mare, Bette and pinto/freisian colt, Milli Vanilli (Little Dude). She trains her horses solely using Parelli techniques and even though there are a number of NH/Parelli naysayers, I’d say Parelli is working very well for her and her horses.)

And best of all we got to visit with lots of great friends, spend time in a beautiful location and enjoy beautiful and talented horses, too.

(Not a typical maneuver that would be useful for a trail ride, but still very entertaining. And what a patient mare and a very brave and talented young lady. One of the judges called out "Now that's a mare that can multi-task")

 

The event was held at one of my favorite places, 4 Winds Equestrian Center in Estancia, where I have enjoyed countless enjoyable trail rides on Rosie, Etta Bay and also my Apache mare. I also competed in 3 ACTHA CTCs there and judged one, too.

(I loved listening to the horses nickering throughout the night. And waking up to horses neighing for their breakfast is more wonderful than the sound of a rooster alarm clock.)

 

(And the sight of Colleen riding a cute Fjord horse, meeting and greeting riders and horses as they arrived at the ranch in their trucks and trailers. The Fjord’s name is Tink, and his owner, Kathleen has him in for training for a month with Colleen. More on that very inspiring story later next week)

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There was a not-so-great thing that happened at the end of the day’s events, though. While Jax and I were enjoying some lunch and gearing up to pack up our camper and all our supplies, Colleen, the ACTHA representative, and several friends from Walkin N Circles Horse Rescue, along with Colleen’s teenage granddaughter, T, whom I am very fond of, decided to head out for a trail ride.

(This gal brought many of us to tears with her story of how she saved this beautiful mustang that was almost killed because everyone thought he was too small and too un-trainable. This gal had no experience at all with training and none with mustangs, but she fell in love, and the rest is history)

Jax and I heard a commotion, looked outside and saw a wild bucking bronco, bucking all the way down the gravel road like he was employed by a professional rodeo!!!

(There is a lot of trust going on there)

I got a sick feeling in my stomach and thought that the ACTHA representative had been bucked off. Then I heard moaning and crying, “It’ hurts, It hurts”

Ever have a déjà vu moment? I did at that moment. Just a few minutes earlier I was outside and noticed T on a horse and felt the horse was giving out bad vibes. I had never seen that horse before, but I just had a feeling. The horse looked wild-eyed and worried. Then I noticed Colleen on her horse and thought her horse looked a little too high spirited and very forward. I just figured it was a gaited horse and, even though a bad feeling came over me, I went back inside to eat my lunch. But the bad feeling remained.

(This gal and her gelding ride in quite a few ACTHA CTC’s and is a favorite of mine. She claims that the Competitive Trail Rides have changed her horse’s life for the better. They are having so much fun together.)

 

Later I discovered that the horse that T had been riding was barely green broke and still just a two year old. He’d only been ridden on the trail a time or two and was not prepared for a ride out without more time under saddle in the round pen and arena.

(Her husband was standing nearby videotaping his wife during her audition and I thought he was just so cute, the huge smile on his face. He was just gushing with pride for his best friend!)

But when I saw T laying on the ground in pain, my heart ached for her. Her hip was hurting and she was scraped up. It took a little while, but she was soon able to stand up, albeit stiffly, but it seemed that she wasn’t seriously injured. Thank God! If that had been me I would have been broken in tiny pieces and splattered all over the road.

(She taught her horse this very cute trick where he holds a spinning rope in his mouth.)

 

Anyway, it didn’t help my confidence level seeing her get bucked off a horse. And then we were all standing around sharing horse injury stories. Then Bruno from The Lucky 13 Donkey Rescue just up the road, stopped by and shared how he was recently bucked off his mule and sustained a serious hematoma on his hip that’s kept him very sore and healing for 9 weeks!

(This gal was just dressed up so purty! And she purtied up her horse, too. Love the mane…and the glitter butt!)

Speaking of mules and donkeys, there is going to be very cool riding clinic just for donkeys and mules, including a trail ride, in May. It’s going to be hosted by Colleen and John at the 4 Winds Equestrian Center. (You can click on that link for more info) I’m very excited to be participating in that event, too. I love me some long ears!!

(Here’s Christy and her handsome Arabian gelding, Lamont. She’s the gal who has ridden in 7 ACTHA CTCs, 6 of them side-saddle. My camera loves these two)

   

I think the judges love them, too.

This gal taught her horse how to pick up her hat off the ground. I just noticed in the photo that she either threw her reins over her horse’s head, or she lost them. Either way, her horse was very well behaved and very cute.

Then she slid off his back……(oooh. Darn camera adjustments…..I couldn’t get it right…..frustrating indoor, low light, action shots!)

I tell ya. I’ve never seen more patient horses than I saw on Saturday. This is Kathryn, one of the board members for the horse rescue. She’s riding her favorite mare, Elektra. She stood up but only for a second before she lost her balance. Watching her jump down made my knees ache. ouch!

These two were favorites. You could tell how much she adored her horse. Her story telling how her horse saved her life from the pain of Fibromyalgia and gave her a purpose, touched my heart.

 

 

 

This cowboy doctor and his wife, who is a veterinarian, are often riding in ACTHA CTC’s around the state. His gelding will do just about anything for him, and he’s just so handsome!

 

 

This lady also had a heart touching story about her horse, to share. And you could tell that they were both very fond of each other. Earlier she had shared a can of soda with her horse, and a mentos, too. Hmmmm.

                           This horse could count! Really!

And I just loved the gal’s chaps, hat and hairstyle!

                                              Ok…..Mama’s tired.

(By the way, that’s T and her Mama on the right, before T got bucked off, of course.)

It’s been a long day so I’ll leave with you some cuteness photos to give you some warm fuzzies.

 

 

                     All together now…….say “Awwwwww!”