Competitive Trail Ride ~ Day 2

 

 On day 2 of the Competitive Trail Weekend, I was looking forward to a relaxed, easy trail ride. I didn’t have to take photos as my friend Latana had signed up to be the photographer that day, so I was free to just ride, enjoy the 7 mile trail while challenging my horse and I on the 6 obstacles that day.

But those plans changed pretty quickly when Latana decided to ride her mule out to the trail by herself, instead of with a group, and her mule was not happy and gave her some trouble.

Latana got nervous and decided to head back to the starting area and ride out with the last group, the group I was riding in, instead.  

 

 I was riding with my friends Gayle and Cindy, and now with Latana, too.

 

Cindy, me, and Latana, with the Manzano Mountains as our backdrop.

 

This change in plans still would have worked out fine, except Cindy’s half-Arab mare was pretty fired up, high-headed and excited when we first started out.

Apache could care less about the energy of other horses and it doesn’t bother me either. I just stay out of their way and ride my own ride.

But Latana was already tense and nervous from experiencing her mule acting up from asking her to ride out by themselves, so being around Cindy’s excited mare was pushing her to her limits and she said she kept feeling her mule hunch up and it made her very uneasy.

This photo below was the last photo I took of of her that day.  

 

We all made it to the first obstacle, which was a tarp obstacle. Pretty simple, except that tarp was bright and shiny. Gayle and her gelding crossed it first, followed by Apache and I, and then Cindy and her mare crossed it, too. Latana was supposed to be taking photos, so she didn’t sign up to do the obstacles. But she was still too nervous to even think about her camera.

But we all completed the tarp obstacle, even though Cindy really had to work with her mare to keep her focused. Her mare kept wanting to call out and look for the group that was riding ahead of us on the trail. 

 

One momentous thing happened to Apache and I during this ride, and that is that she spooked.

Yes she did…a real live, honest-to-goodness spook!

Everyone will think I’m crazy when I confess that Apache has never truly spooked in the almost 5 years I’ve called her mine. Yeah, she’s done a tiny, little spook-in-place with her feet still rooted to the ground a few times. But she has never jumped, hopped, teleported or bolted…ever.

Until that day.

And what caused her real spook?

A dog!!! lol!

I know. Pretty funny! Zulu is one of the 4 Winds ranch dogs and Apache has been on trail rides where he has tagged along many times. But this time, 4 Winds had lots of ponds and mini-lakes due to the generous monsoon rains New Mexico had this year. And Zulu is a water dog and spends most of his day swimming in the full ponds.

I shot the photo below, about 10 minutes before Apache’s real spook. We rode past the pond and Apache and I both stood there and watched Zulu while I took some photos. Then after we rode past the pond, Zulu came out of the water and followed us. Apache had her head buried up to her ears in grass while I was talking to Gayle, and all of a sudden behind us I heard a “SWISH!, SWISH!, SWISH”, and next thing I knew, I was shooting forward!

Apache bolted! haha!

She didn’t go far, perhaps less than 20 feet before she stopped and turned her head to see what it was that caused her to spook. And she seemed embarrassed when she realized what she had ran away from. And I was laughing for a number of reasons, 1)My horse spooked and I stayed on! 2)Zulu is a big goofy oaf and looked silly shaking all the water off his hairy body, 3)My horse spooked at a big, goofy, hairy, wet dog, 4)My horse looked embarrassed, 5)Nothing bad happened, 6)And I didn’t fall off.

And I have to say, it was actually kind of amazing to see that my mare is a normal horse and that she will spook sometimes. haha!  

 

And of course, Apache wasn’t the only equines to spook. All of our equines were a bit freaked out by Zulu is some capacity. But between the dog, the spook, and Cindy’s high-energy mare, Latana had had enough and she just wanted to bail and head back to the trailer parking and camping area.

She was so unnerved that she even asked Gayle, Cindy and I to stand at the bottom of the hill, and watch her head back, just in case something happened.

We did, of course. But I was sad to see her go.

So, then it was just me, Cindy and Gayle to continue on. And I pulled out my camera once again. 

 

This pond holds some “fond” memories. Some of y’all might remember that this is the pond that I rode my mare through earlier this year on “Good Friday” and my mare decided to lay down and wallow in the pond like a hippo! haha! I refused to bail because my cell phone, GPS and camera were in my saddle bags! And Apache didn’t just lay down once, but she did it a second time before I could kick her out of that pond. haha!

Here’s the blog post from that day, with photos!

Good Friday Hippo Wallow 

 

 So after taking a photo, I kept Apache moving forward, lest she get any crazy ideas!

Soon after we rode past the pond, Cindy had had enough of her mare's high-headed, high-energy focus on searching for the group in front of us. She asked Gayle and I if we would mind if she dismounted and worked her mare by lunging for a few minutes. Gayle and I didn't mind and moved up on a hillside with some green grass to let our horses snack, while Cindy's mare learned that her focus should be on Cindy. And after about 10 minutes, Cindy's mare found her brain again and Cindy remounted and her mare was calm and well-behaved for the rest of the ride.

The second obstacle was a ‘Gait Transition” challenge.

Apache and I went first, so I could take photos of Gayle and Cindy.

Apache did a perfect transition between walk and trot. I was very proud of her.

Gayle and her gelding did a trot/canter transition. 

 

Then we just rode and enjoyed the trail for about a mile. The trail that Colleen and the 4 Winds volunteers marked was wonderfully interesting and fun with varied terrain and not flat and boring at all.

 

The third obstacle was a “Animal Rescue” challenge, where we had to dismount, walk over to a bucket, take out the injured Rocky Raccoon………

 

Place Rocky on the saddle, re-mount, and then ride over to a second bucket………….

 

Where you took Rocky Raccoon off your saddle……..

 

And then placed him into the second bucket.

 

Apache and I went first again, and Apache was perfect and we were a pretty good team. It’s too bad we weren’t actually competing. I had just signed up to ‘try out the obstacles’, but we would not be eligible for awards or ribbons. I was told later by 5 of the judges that they had given us 9’s and 10’s. We didn’t complete one of the obstacles…more on that later.

Have I already mentioned how much I enjoyed the trail that day? It was truly a great trail and I enjoyed riding with Cindy and Gayle, too. 

 

We caught up with the group in front of us at Obstacle #4, which was a “Roping Challenge”.

My friends Linda and Dita, waiting to take their turn on the obstacle.

 

The most challenging aspect of this obstacle, for my friend Karen, seemed to be untangling her lariat rope. Thankfully, her gelding Rio was very patient! And the judge, too! haha!

 

Some of the equines didn’t even know there was an obstacle there. They seemed to think that someone left a snack out for them.

 

Gayle and her gelding Max proved that you don’t need to be a Cowboy or dress the part to rope a calf. They totally nailed the obstacle!

 

Apache and I waited until last to try out the obstacle, but Apache would not let the judge get close enough to us to hand us the lariat. She just didn’t trust the guy walking toward us with the rope in his hand.

But I’m pretty sure that, if the lariat rope had been placed on a post or a tree for us to just walk up to and me take it off, that we would have been able to complete this obstacle with no problems.

 

My dear friend Colleen, owner of 4 Winds Equestrian Center ! She loves her awesome mare Pepper! 

 

Obstacle #5 was a “Slicker Challenge”

A slicker was placed on a post, on a windy day…and all we had to do was walk up, pick up the slicker, lay it on our saddle……

 

And then ride around the tree…..

 And place the slicker back onto the post……

 

And remember to smile for the camera. haha!

Cindy took these photos with her camera, unbeknownst to me, as you can see by my surprised face when she told me to smile. hah!

 

The last obstacle, #6 was a “Campground Chaos” challenge. The wind was whipping the tent around, along with the shiny, silver survival blanket. There were chairs, tables covered with sundry camping and party items, stuffed animals, umbrellas, an ATV, and loud party music blaring from inside the tent.

 

Colleen asked if she could take some photos of Apache and I as we tried out the obstacle.

 

And this time I remembered to smile. hah!

 

Apache, of course, totally aced it!

 

We also rode past a smiling Keith, husband of my friend Denise. They are both employees at 4 Winds and are just terrific people. (Watch out for that ginormous spider, Keith!)

 

All in all it was a wonderful weekend with good friends, great equines, beautiful trails and fun and challenging obstacles.

                                                          The End!

Competitive Trail Weekend ~ Day One

 

A few weeks ago, 4 Winds Equestrian Center hosted an Equine Trail Sports Competitive Trail Weekend.

I was asked to be the photographer one of those days, and was planning to ride all weekend. So, John and I hauled Apache and our camper down to 4 Winds, so I wouldn’t have to drive the 30 minutes back and forth all weekend.

I love camping beside my horse.

 

I also brought along my daughter and our 2 little dogs. Dobbie loves camping, but it was Mustang Sally’s first time, and the first night the winds were buffeting the camper and the temps dropped down to 40 F degrees, so I don’t think Sally much cared for the experience. She stayed under the blankets most of the time.

But thankfully when the sun came up the next day, the wind stopped, and the day got warmer.

And the Base Camp trailer parking area filled up with competitors and their equines.

Notice my van, camper and trailer just to the left of the port-a-pottie.

 

I had to ride Apache down to the Eventing Field, by ourselves, instead of with a group, because I needed to get down to the obstacles before the majority of riders, so I could take photos.

At first Apache wasn’t quite sure that was such a great idea to head the 1/2 mile down the hill by ourselves.

And when the first thing she saw was the obstacle below, she was really doubting my decision.

But once she saw that there were other equines all around, she relaxed and let me take photos.

This was Obstacle #1, The Wind Tunnel

Sadly, one rider never got to compete that day, because just after she made it through the first obstacle, her young, green Arabian mare went to bucking, and dumped her rider twice. The second time, the mare’s hooves made contact with her rider’s ribs, and the rider had to be taken to the hospital via ambulance.

I watched the accident happen, and heard the dull smack and crack…..and felt so bad for the rider. But also was hoping that the rest of the day would be accident-free and a good experience for everyone else.

Unbeknownst to me at the time, there was someone else taking some photos. It was my friend Linda, who was judging one of the obstacles. She shot this photo of me taking photos at Obstacle #2.

This was Obstacle #2, Broom Polo

My friend Karen and her gelding Rio were there competing all weekend.

 

(You can also see my friend Linda, up on Donner's Pass, Obstacle #5, taking photos of me at Obstacle #2)

And my friends Latana and Gayle had driven all the way up from Las Cruces, a 5 hour drive, just to compete and ride at 4 Winds.

Being that the 10 obstacles were all placed within the 90 acre Eventing Field, it made it much easier for me to move from obstacle to obstacle, choosing which obstacles I felt would be the most interesting to capture on camera.

I think Apache thought it was a little weird that we never followed along with any of the other riders, and just rode by ourselves all over the Eventing Field.

Sometimes we would cut across the field to get to an obstacle before any of the competitors showed up, and we would stand around and chat with one of the judges. But between the cookies and letting her munch grass, she was a good girl and very patient.   

This was Obstacle #5. It was called Donner’s Pass. Competitors could choose their level for each obstacle. The easier level required a rider to ride up the hill and stand over the cavaletti at the top for the count of 5, before riding back down the other side.

 

The more difficult level required the rider to ride up the hill……

And then once at the top, side-pass over a cavaletti.

 

Obstacle #6 was a Bridge Obstacle with a twist: A big hairy, scary spider to pet before crossing the bridge.

                                                 Ta Da!!!

 

Apache and I heading over to another obstacle to prepare for the photo shoot, before the riders showed up. 

Obstacle #7 was a Water Obstacle.

But the edge of the pond was very muddy and a couple of the riders were scared to attempt it, so my friend Barb took her mule, Blue through the mud and into the deep pond to show ‘em how it’s done!

And the judge let her lead my friend Karen and her gelding through, because Rio refused to even touch the mud at first.  

Some of the horses didn’t mind the mud or water at all.

 

Obstacle #9 was a Barrel Board Pinwheel. Only one competitor was able to pull it off…and made it look easy, too.

But it is not an easy obstacle at all. As all of the other riders soon realized.

                            Nope! Not easy!

Obstacle #10 was a Labyrinth.

 

Competitors had to ride through it, bending their equine softly around the curves, and at the end of the Labyrinth, riders had to turn their equine around and back out.

 

After the Competition was over, everyone rode back to the Base Camp, put away our equines, ate some lunch while listening to the results of the competition and received awards.

And afterwards everyone was invited to head back out for an afternoon fun ride on the Eventing Field. All of the obstacles were still set up and we were allowed to practice and play on them for as long as we wanted.

I think Apache thought I had lost my mind when I went into her pen and brought her back out to get tacked up for a second time that day. 

I hadn’t really planned on riding a second time that day, but a new friend I’d met that weekend, Amy, invited me to come ride with her and her gelding.

So we headed out together, with both of our equines crawling along as slow as could be, probably waiting for us to change our minds and let them head back to their pens.

But we were insistent, and our dependable mounts finally agreed to go take us out to explore the Eventing Field again.

I didn’t take many photos that afternoon as I wanted to just focus on my horse and trying some of the obstacles, but I did take a couple photos of my friends.

My friend Joanna and her mare.

 

And my friends Linda and Kristi with their geldings.

 

Mostly we just rode around in the Eventing Field, enjoying the beautiful day and our equines, and tried out some of the obstacles.

In this photo, Apache and I were on top of Donner’s Pass, looking down at one of the ponds below.

Next Up: Competitive Trail Ride ~ Day Two