Well, I am almost rested up from my Robbers Route weekend. I can't remember when I have been so tired. Of course, allergies aren't helping any.
Here it goes:
I had been packing all week before the ride. Getting everything ready. I am very weird that way. That Girl Scout coming out in me, "Be Prepared". Course I forgot my picket line, thank goodness Gina loaned me hers. Anyway:
Summer and I pulled out Friday morning about 6ish. I was going to do 7am, but realized that I did not want to be in that morning traffic on I-35W at 7 in the morning. What was I thinking?
I took my time getting there. The drive went real smooth. I stopped every so often and topped off my fuel. About 3 hours out, I stopped at a fruit stand because I had forgotten to get me and Summer some fruit for the weekend. The lady had a big grassy spot next to her stand and I asked if I could unload Summer so she could pee. The lady looked at me funny and I told her that Summer doesn't pee in a trailer. She said okay. I unloaded Summer, she looked around for a minute, parked out and releaved herself. I figured after being in the trailer for 3 hours, she would have to go. It's nice knowing your horse that well.
We loaded back up and took off again. I tell you what, I know some folks that have had problems following Mapquest, but it hasn't done me wrong yet. We got there in 5 hours. Mapquest said 4 and a 1/2, but they didn't figure in getting gas three times, buying fruit and letting your horse go pee. (smile)
We got in and I recognized Kalinda. I wasn't sure if she would remember me. We had only met a couple of times. But she and her hubby Shane invited me to camp next to them. I was so glad I did, they were real fun to be next too. The bad part about the area I parked in though was, I was going to stationary tie to my trailer, but you couldn't do that in this camping area. So Kalinda asked Gina if I could borrow her picket line. What a life saver Gina was! Kalinda put it up for me and Gina said she was leaving Sunday morning and would take it down after I left for the trail ride.
So once I got my camp set up, I finally got to rest a bit. I had only brought sandwich makings and easy stuff like that. I went to my truck that evening, made me a sandwich, and Kalinda snuck up behind me and told me to put it away, I was eating with her, Shane, Gina and Sherrie. Shane made me a piece of chicken that Gina had marinated in something and OMG, is was great. Gina also made this pea salad that I could have eaten the whole thing, and I don't like pea salad. So that was, once again, so sweet of them.
Saturday morning arrived and I got Summer all ready to go. We were going to ride out a little late, but riders showed up at the very last minute into camp. So we were told that we would start another 30 minutes later. Thank goodness it wasn't going to be 100 degrees today. Once we got on trail, Summer thought that Becky's Thief was her bestest buddy, so we had to leave. We hooked up with Ginger and Lady & Kathlyn and Echo. Both of these mares are gaited so Summer hung with them real well. It's weird that she does seem to gait better when she is with other gaited horses. Anyway, later in the day, Nicky and Admiral hooked up with us. Unfortunately, several of us missed a turn, got WAY off course and had to haul butt back to the turn we missed. Thank goodness for hold times, or we would have been very late coming back into camp. Ginger and I hauled it into camp. We were right on max time. Whew!
Saturday night was the best! Brenda hired a DJ and we all danced and just had a rye old time. And I am thinking, that Paula's daughter Terry, had one of the best nights of her life. She danced with every cowboy there.
Sunday morning just seemed like it came too early. (smile) We rode out on time. Nicky, Royce and I rode out together. After awhile, Royce separated and Kathlyn hooked up with us. After the second P & R, I separated and eventually found myself riding with Ginger for a bit. Then found myself riding with Val and Jane, then found myself riding lead with no one. (smile). Summer just couldn't get her head on straight. Course it didn't help when her navigator (me) thought our minimum time was 4:26 when it was actually 4:56! D'oh!!!! So here I am, hauling it, cause for some reason we got behind time! I am such a twit!!!! By the time I realized I was a twit, we were about 1 mile from the 2 mile marker. So Summer and I just slowed down and poked on in. We came in at mid time.
Saturday, Summer lost 3 P&R points. She also lost 6 points for girth soreness. She really gave to Dr. Pat when he touched her girth area. What had happened was, I was to do a judged mount, so I tighted her girth tighter than I would normally, but not so tight she couldn't breathe. However, I forgot to loosen it on down the trail. Once we walked away from Dr. Pat, I checked the girth area myself, she never flinched. I had Linda Courts check it, nothing. I had Carla Jo check, she found a little ouchie spot, but nothing like what Dr. Pat got. I was told to go back and have Dr. Pat check it again. Summer does not like him for some reason and really reacts to him differantly than anyone else that handles her. But I just took my lumps and didn't go back up there for a re-check.
Sunday, she lost another 4 points on P&R's. OUCH! I figured I just wanted to finish on a leg sound horse and her not have a sore back. If I could just finish this ride and not get pulled, I would be happy. By this time, I would be happy to just get my 4 points for completion.
The obstacles included a judged mount and side pass to right by Dr. Pat. Thank goodness Summer is getting her right side pass down. She did pretty good, we only got a minus sign, no points lost. We did a slight down hill with a log cross (Jean, got a good) to Dr. Pat for metabolics check. She was fidgitty, but didn't kill nobody. (another minus sign) We had to take a ribbon with a clothes pin, cross a road, and clip it to a tree. She did good of course. There were several times that Jean hid, so I don't know were she was, just checking for our riding skills while moving down the trail. Oh, and Sunday morning was a trot out, Summer gaited like a champ! She is really coming along with me getting her back into doing a running walk and less pacing. I will let her pace some, because I know she is using different muscles, but pacing all the time is bad for her back.
Anyway, we stayed for awards. I wanted my score cards. You know, this whole time, I only thought about Jean and my own score card a couple of times. I was just so concerned about Summer and her well being, that my judge didn't cross my mind too many times. So I was totally amazed that Jean called me 2nd place in my class. We started with 8 riders and 2 pulled on Sunday, so finished with 6. Summer came in 5th. I cannot say I was disappointed in the least. She gave me her heart and her all. We are just not used to those mountains, that humidity and those horseflys that you could take home for pets they were so big. There were a couple of times we had disagreements, those were caused by her buddy issues. Oh, and let's not forget the "let's slam mom's left knee into a big ol' tree" on Sunday. It is Wednesday right now, and I am still limping and it is a real pretty shade of purple/black. I see now why they want us to be able to off side mount, I had to do that a couple of times Sunday because I couldn't use my left leg to mount anymore.
Well, I will update later if I think of anything else,
TTFN
Here it goes:
I had been packing all week before the ride. Getting everything ready. I am very weird that way. That Girl Scout coming out in me, "Be Prepared". Course I forgot my picket line, thank goodness Gina loaned me hers. Anyway:
Summer and I pulled out Friday morning about 6ish. I was going to do 7am, but realized that I did not want to be in that morning traffic on I-35W at 7 in the morning. What was I thinking?
I took my time getting there. The drive went real smooth. I stopped every so often and topped off my fuel. About 3 hours out, I stopped at a fruit stand because I had forgotten to get me and Summer some fruit for the weekend. The lady had a big grassy spot next to her stand and I asked if I could unload Summer so she could pee. The lady looked at me funny and I told her that Summer doesn't pee in a trailer. She said okay. I unloaded Summer, she looked around for a minute, parked out and releaved herself. I figured after being in the trailer for 3 hours, she would have to go. It's nice knowing your horse that well.
We loaded back up and took off again. I tell you what, I know some folks that have had problems following Mapquest, but it hasn't done me wrong yet. We got there in 5 hours. Mapquest said 4 and a 1/2, but they didn't figure in getting gas three times, buying fruit and letting your horse go pee. (smile)
We got in and I recognized Kalinda. I wasn't sure if she would remember me. We had only met a couple of times. But she and her hubby Shane invited me to camp next to them. I was so glad I did, they were real fun to be next too. The bad part about the area I parked in though was, I was going to stationary tie to my trailer, but you couldn't do that in this camping area. So Kalinda asked Gina if I could borrow her picket line. What a life saver Gina was! Kalinda put it up for me and Gina said she was leaving Sunday morning and would take it down after I left for the trail ride.
So once I got my camp set up, I finally got to rest a bit. I had only brought sandwich makings and easy stuff like that. I went to my truck that evening, made me a sandwich, and Kalinda snuck up behind me and told me to put it away, I was eating with her, Shane, Gina and Sherrie. Shane made me a piece of chicken that Gina had marinated in something and OMG, is was great. Gina also made this pea salad that I could have eaten the whole thing, and I don't like pea salad. So that was, once again, so sweet of them.
Saturday morning arrived and I got Summer all ready to go. We were going to ride out a little late, but riders showed up at the very last minute into camp. So we were told that we would start another 30 minutes later. Thank goodness it wasn't going to be 100 degrees today. Once we got on trail, Summer thought that Becky's Thief was her bestest buddy, so we had to leave. We hooked up with Ginger and Lady & Kathlyn and Echo. Both of these mares are gaited so Summer hung with them real well. It's weird that she does seem to gait better when she is with other gaited horses. Anyway, later in the day, Nicky and Admiral hooked up with us. Unfortunately, several of us missed a turn, got WAY off course and had to haul butt back to the turn we missed. Thank goodness for hold times, or we would have been very late coming back into camp. Ginger and I hauled it into camp. We were right on max time. Whew!
Saturday night was the best! Brenda hired a DJ and we all danced and just had a rye old time. And I am thinking, that Paula's daughter Terry, had one of the best nights of her life. She danced with every cowboy there.
Sunday morning just seemed like it came too early. (smile) We rode out on time. Nicky, Royce and I rode out together. After awhile, Royce separated and Kathlyn hooked up with us. After the second P & R, I separated and eventually found myself riding with Ginger for a bit. Then found myself riding with Val and Jane, then found myself riding lead with no one. (smile). Summer just couldn't get her head on straight. Course it didn't help when her navigator (me) thought our minimum time was 4:26 when it was actually 4:56! D'oh!!!! So here I am, hauling it, cause for some reason we got behind time! I am such a twit!!!! By the time I realized I was a twit, we were about 1 mile from the 2 mile marker. So Summer and I just slowed down and poked on in. We came in at mid time.
Saturday, Summer lost 3 P&R points. She also lost 6 points for girth soreness. She really gave to Dr. Pat when he touched her girth area. What had happened was, I was to do a judged mount, so I tighted her girth tighter than I would normally, but not so tight she couldn't breathe. However, I forgot to loosen it on down the trail. Once we walked away from Dr. Pat, I checked the girth area myself, she never flinched. I had Linda Courts check it, nothing. I had Carla Jo check, she found a little ouchie spot, but nothing like what Dr. Pat got. I was told to go back and have Dr. Pat check it again. Summer does not like him for some reason and really reacts to him differantly than anyone else that handles her. But I just took my lumps and didn't go back up there for a re-check.
Sunday, she lost another 4 points on P&R's. OUCH! I figured I just wanted to finish on a leg sound horse and her not have a sore back. If I could just finish this ride and not get pulled, I would be happy. By this time, I would be happy to just get my 4 points for completion.
The obstacles included a judged mount and side pass to right by Dr. Pat. Thank goodness Summer is getting her right side pass down. She did pretty good, we only got a minus sign, no points lost. We did a slight down hill with a log cross (Jean, got a good) to Dr. Pat for metabolics check. She was fidgitty, but didn't kill nobody. (another minus sign) We had to take a ribbon with a clothes pin, cross a road, and clip it to a tree. She did good of course. There were several times that Jean hid, so I don't know were she was, just checking for our riding skills while moving down the trail. Oh, and Sunday morning was a trot out, Summer gaited like a champ! She is really coming along with me getting her back into doing a running walk and less pacing. I will let her pace some, because I know she is using different muscles, but pacing all the time is bad for her back.
Anyway, we stayed for awards. I wanted my score cards. You know, this whole time, I only thought about Jean and my own score card a couple of times. I was just so concerned about Summer and her well being, that my judge didn't cross my mind too many times. So I was totally amazed that Jean called me 2nd place in my class. We started with 8 riders and 2 pulled on Sunday, so finished with 6. Summer came in 5th. I cannot say I was disappointed in the least. She gave me her heart and her all. We are just not used to those mountains, that humidity and those horseflys that you could take home for pets they were so big. There were a couple of times we had disagreements, those were caused by her buddy issues. Oh, and let's not forget the "let's slam mom's left knee into a big ol' tree" on Sunday. It is Wednesday right now, and I am still limping and it is a real pretty shade of purple/black. I see now why they want us to be able to off side mount, I had to do that a couple of times Sunday because I couldn't use my left leg to mount anymore.
Well, I will update later if I think of anything else,
TTFN
P.S. The picture above is me, Terri and Jenny. Terri is a fellow Gaited Horse Sense board member who came out to volunteer at this ride. It is so neat getting to meet other folks from this forum: http://gaitedhorsesenseonline.com/category-view.asp
P.S.S. - Forgot to add: I had to get Adriane's hubby Tom to trot Summer out for me on Sunday check out. They both did great. Then lucky Summer won the lottery for the drug test! I told her to quit smoking that stuff, but would she listen to me?!?! LOL We will be fine. It just kinda creeps you out for some reason.
1 comment:
Well Tammy you make me blush braggingon my chicken like that!
I just wanted to say that I enjoyed reading yor blog, and now I know what a blog is : - )
Gina
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