A Clean Sweep

Hi all! We were lucky enough to have a mainly rain-free weekend, which is really lucky because it pretty much hasn’t stopped raining all summer!

Saturday, Lisa and I made plans to go trail riding, which turned into me and her and Betsy and a lady named Kathy. Kathy might be coming to board with Lisa, which would be lucky b/c she is really cool and has a very sweet and cute horse. She competitive trail rides and rides all over the place. So, we’re hoping that she will leave where she is and board with Lisa.

So we met Betsy at her house and wound up going for three hours, which was beautiful – we rode trails and power lines and dirt roads. Sky did pretty good – she had a couple of funny moments, the first of which when we had to maneuver around a broken bridge and over a little creek. Lisa stayed on Shiloh and went hell or high water, leaping back onto the trail. The rest of us feared broken legs and concussions and got off. Kathy and I (picture this) both hopped the creek, holding reins and tried to get out of the way while our horses contemplated how best to get over the two foot ditch with water below. I swear Sky and her horse looked at each other and counted, “ready…. One… two.. three!” They each took a flying leap over the creek and watching it made me think Sky could be one hell of a jumper!

The second feat we accomplished was letting Betsy and Lisa take off on their horses while Sky and Kathy’s horse stayed behind. At first Sky tried to run off and when I held her back she fought me a little (and by little I mean I was sitting on 975 pounds of pent up energy!). But she calmed right down and took it pretty well. I loved it!

We spent the rest of Saturday hanging out and getting Sky ready for the show Sunday. Lisa helped (and by helped I mean pretty much did it – thank you Lisa) pull Sky’s mane, which I’ve been contemplating for a while. I felt like I was chopping off my own hair but it looks really good – photos to follow.

Sunday was Oak Rise 4. Lisa went to LRSS but I was able to catch a ride with Betsy so I decided to try to increase my year-end point run at Oak Rise. So, Betsy was late coming to pick me up, and her truck continued to have trouble, losing power on the highway. I spent most of the ride down there praying we would make it and visioning being broken down on the side of I-93! But we did make it there without much incident.

We had a lot of time to hang around before our classes started, so I made time to chit chat and see some people. I talked to Carolyn, who competes with me in W/T and neither of us spotted my nemesis, Rose. She didn’t come so I was kind of bummed b/c I figured that meant that it would just be me and Carolyn in my classes, and I wouldn’t have an opportunity for PAC points or, really, any meaningful ribbons.

I was proved wrong when W/T Adult Equitation was called and there were a total of 5! I was so excited and as we were riding, tried very hard to think of what John had told me, about knowing that I was good enough to win and being confident. I pushed Sky deep into every corner and she was a marvel – she had a great slow trot and a beautiful headset and we went along perfectly. As they called the ribbons, I expected second or even third b/c I’ve never been super at equitation. Carolyn got second, which I was so excited about b/c she tries really hard and nearly always places last. That meant Sky and I were first and I was so excited!

Along went pleasure adult, (1st of 5) and western pleasure (1st of 6!). By the time that the afternoon came, it started to cloud in and thunder so they stopped the show for a while. It never really rained but we did see lightening. People bailed left and right so when they resumed I was the only one in Discipline Rail and Trail – she did good in both of them – stopping from a trot and picking up the trot from the stop in DR really well. The judge even told me so.
So, we won 5 of 5 and got the day end high point. It was a good day.

I feel a little guilty b/c Karl stayed home all weekend while I was on my adventures. I think he feels a little abandoned right now. I’m going to try and throw him a surprise party soon, so maybe that will cheer him up.

Till next time,
C