What a weekend! Boy, are Summer and I pooped.
First thing first, we weren't even sure this was going to happen. The weather here in north TX was horrible on Thursday. Wind, rain, sleet, and snow. However, by Friday morning, almost all had melted and the sun was out and doing his job.
I loaded my SUV and headed to the barn, fed Summer and loaded more stuff. Then headed to Liz's barn to unload stuff into her horse trailer. Drove to her office, grabbed her hubby's truck, and proceeded with more loading and unloading. Whew, I was already beat by 9:30am. Liz got off at 10:30, we headed to her barn, hooked up, loaded her horse Jazz, headed to my barn, drop off my SUV and loaded up Summer and off to Cat Springs we went. The weather was gorgeous!!! The only complaint we had was the wind was strong.
(We met Mary at a store near Liz's barn and caravaned to the ride.)
We got there in about 4 1/2 hours. We finally found a place to park, unloaded the girls and set up camp.
This was a beautiful facility. It is called the 7IL ranch. Very nice, with 19.2 miles of marked trails.
I know it was 19.2 miles, cause that is what we rode both days. I am pooped! I have been involved in NATRC for 4 years and this is my second ride. Did I say somewhere in my blog I am a professional volunteer? (smile) Anyway, the first ride Summer and I did was 2 years ago and her metabolics ate her lunch. Course that ride is real hilly, but this ride was real sandy, so no matter which location, there is a lot of strain involved.
Okay, on to the story, I will make this short. The ride was 19.2 miles both days at a pace of 4.5mph. Her metabolics were MUCH better than the other ride we did. (It was the same time of year as this, so heat was not a factor at that ride). There were several obstacles, with two seperate judges, a horsemanship judge for the rider, and a vet judge for the horse. Obstacles included but not limited too were, trot bys, water crossings, backing thru trees, hidden obstacles, metabolics, trot into P&Rs, judge mounts(mount your horse in front of a judge), and a few more things.
I honestly didn't think Summer or I would place. My division was the largest class, 12 competitors (Novice Heavyweight) there and there were some good riders and some good horses. I wanted to stay just to get my score cards to see how we did and what we needed to improve on. So we stayed. I think Mary wanted to stay too and secretly I think Liz did too to see how Jazz did. This was Liz's first CTR on this new mare of her's.
Moving on...they called 6th, 5th and 4th, in horsemanship, Mary got 4th, WOO HOO, I was happy for her (she and I rode the whole weekend together and had a great time also, she and I were in the same class). I figured since Mary placed 4th, I knew I didn't place. Not the case, I got 3rd. I was really surprized and happy.
In the horse class, I was worried about Summer's metabolics. I knew she had lost 1 point at the last P&R of the weekend. (P&R means pulse and respiratory, they have to be a certain criteria or they can loose points). But that was okay, she lost 5pts at the 1st ride we did. Once again, I truly did not expect Summer to place. The vet judge called 6th, 5th, 4th and 3rd. Mary's horse, Cimmy, placed 3rd. He is a real pretty Arabian and they usually have great metabolics. I was real happy for her once again but at the same time figured Summer had not placed since Cimmy was 3rd. Then the vet judge looked at me and called 2nd place for Summer!!! Summer's first red ribbon. I was so happy. I conditioned her real hard to get her ready for the endurance ride that we didn't get to do. So maybe some of that conditioning stayed with her. Now, if I loose some weight, maybe someday, she might win a blue ribbon.
Liz competed in a class called Competitive Pleasure and Jazz placed 5th, her class was the second largest, 9 competitors. So, we all got to take home a ribbon for our ponies.
Needless to say tho, I didn't get to bed till 12:30am. I made it to work this morning, but I can't wait to go home tonight and crawl back into bed.
TTFN
First thing first, we weren't even sure this was going to happen. The weather here in north TX was horrible on Thursday. Wind, rain, sleet, and snow. However, by Friday morning, almost all had melted and the sun was out and doing his job.
I loaded my SUV and headed to the barn, fed Summer and loaded more stuff. Then headed to Liz's barn to unload stuff into her horse trailer. Drove to her office, grabbed her hubby's truck, and proceeded with more loading and unloading. Whew, I was already beat by 9:30am. Liz got off at 10:30, we headed to her barn, hooked up, loaded her horse Jazz, headed to my barn, drop off my SUV and loaded up Summer and off to Cat Springs we went. The weather was gorgeous!!! The only complaint we had was the wind was strong.
(We met Mary at a store near Liz's barn and caravaned to the ride.)
We got there in about 4 1/2 hours. We finally found a place to park, unloaded the girls and set up camp.
This was a beautiful facility. It is called the 7IL ranch. Very nice, with 19.2 miles of marked trails.
I know it was 19.2 miles, cause that is what we rode both days. I am pooped! I have been involved in NATRC for 4 years and this is my second ride. Did I say somewhere in my blog I am a professional volunteer? (smile) Anyway, the first ride Summer and I did was 2 years ago and her metabolics ate her lunch. Course that ride is real hilly, but this ride was real sandy, so no matter which location, there is a lot of strain involved.
Okay, on to the story, I will make this short. The ride was 19.2 miles both days at a pace of 4.5mph. Her metabolics were MUCH better than the other ride we did. (It was the same time of year as this, so heat was not a factor at that ride). There were several obstacles, with two seperate judges, a horsemanship judge for the rider, and a vet judge for the horse. Obstacles included but not limited too were, trot bys, water crossings, backing thru trees, hidden obstacles, metabolics, trot into P&Rs, judge mounts(mount your horse in front of a judge), and a few more things.
I honestly didn't think Summer or I would place. My division was the largest class, 12 competitors (Novice Heavyweight) there and there were some good riders and some good horses. I wanted to stay just to get my score cards to see how we did and what we needed to improve on. So we stayed. I think Mary wanted to stay too and secretly I think Liz did too to see how Jazz did. This was Liz's first CTR on this new mare of her's.
Moving on...they called 6th, 5th and 4th, in horsemanship, Mary got 4th, WOO HOO, I was happy for her (she and I rode the whole weekend together and had a great time also, she and I were in the same class). I figured since Mary placed 4th, I knew I didn't place. Not the case, I got 3rd. I was really surprized and happy.
In the horse class, I was worried about Summer's metabolics. I knew she had lost 1 point at the last P&R of the weekend. (P&R means pulse and respiratory, they have to be a certain criteria or they can loose points). But that was okay, she lost 5pts at the 1st ride we did. Once again, I truly did not expect Summer to place. The vet judge called 6th, 5th, 4th and 3rd. Mary's horse, Cimmy, placed 3rd. He is a real pretty Arabian and they usually have great metabolics. I was real happy for her once again but at the same time figured Summer had not placed since Cimmy was 3rd. Then the vet judge looked at me and called 2nd place for Summer!!! Summer's first red ribbon. I was so happy. I conditioned her real hard to get her ready for the endurance ride that we didn't get to do. So maybe some of that conditioning stayed with her. Now, if I loose some weight, maybe someday, she might win a blue ribbon.
Liz competed in a class called Competitive Pleasure and Jazz placed 5th, her class was the second largest, 9 competitors. So, we all got to take home a ribbon for our ponies.
Needless to say tho, I didn't get to bed till 12:30am. I made it to work this morning, but I can't wait to go home tonight and crawl back into bed.
TTFN
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