Tammy in TX: July 2009

Well, on the weekend of June 27, Tracey and I took Gypsy and Summer to Grapevine lake for a ride. The heat was actually pretty tolerable. Well that is, until about 4pm. Then it was almost unbearable. UGH! It actually started to get to me. So Tracey gave me some of those pills called Succeed(sp?), they contain nothing but potassium and sodium. Electrolytes for humans basically. And they helped tremendously!

Anyway, the girls were really pretty good. And Tracey finally got to see Summer have one of her "moments". I had to take a crop to her butt to make her move. A large rock really had her freaked out and when she did this, she was in front of Gypsy, you know, the one that is supposed to be in training. Summer is supposed to be "Miss Rock Steady"! LOL I told Tracey that it is good she is not riding Gypsy with a "bomb proof" horse. Gypsy needs to see a horse be naughty too. And she did. And what did Ms. Gypster do? Nothing...except look at Summer and say, "What you do that for?" LOL Once Summer got it out of her system, off we went.

Gyp lead most of the way unless she came to something that she wasn't sure about, then Summer got in front. We took them into the water several times. Gyp wasn't sure about those waves at first though. So I grabbed her bridle and lead her in. After that, she wasn't bothered by them anymore.

All in all, we had a very nice ride. Except for the killer rock, Summer was her good girl self.

At about 2pm we left the lake and headed to the Keller Horse Owners Association arena. We got there about 2:30 due to stopping at the store and detours.

I am thinking the horses did not find this amusing at all. We were supposed to be going home after the morning workout!

********Gypsy and Summer, they have no idea what is in store! LOL**********

I had never been to this facility before and Tracey said we should take a canopy. My hubby let us borrow his. But, we were very fortunate. There was one, lone little tree, and no one around it. So of course we nabbed it and didn't have to put up a canopy! Yeah!

This was a trail course day that they are going to start putting on once a month. All but a few are contrived obstacles. Which I don't mind. I figure, if Summer will do a contrived one, maybe I will have a better chance of her doing a natural one. We can only hope! (smile)

There were 21 obstacles. Some of which, Summer has never been exposed to. A cowboy car wash. A teeter toter bridge. Dropping a hoola hoop over a fake cows head. Cowboy polo and actually penning a calf. Course, there was more to the calf than just penning. I will explain later.

From 4pm to 6pm was practice. You could do all you wanted with your horse either in hand or mounted.

The first was a mount from a block. This is about the only way I mount. No problem, so we didn't practice that. The next was the cowboy car wash. She wasn't sure about them things flapping around, so I had to borrow Tracey's crop and tap her belly. She went in. You could see it in her eyes she was nervous, but she trusted me, and just stood there. 3rd was the teeter toter bridge. Now, she has crossed many a wooden bridge, but I didn't tell her it would tip once we were almost over it. When it tipped, she jumped a little, but was very good. 4th was, as soon you came off the bridge, pick up a lope and lope over cavalettie. 5th was pick up a hoola hoop off a pole and drop it over a fake cow's head. 6th was pick up a flag pole bearing the KHOA flag, walk around another flag, then place it back in a bucket of dirt. 7th, place your horses front feet on a raised wooden platform.

Let's talk about number 7 for a minute. 2 years ago at a TTC at Parrie Haynes, there was this same obstacle. Read that blog entry to understand my qualms about obstacle number 7.

Anyway, I was real proud when she tried and succeeded in doing it. Of course, not before she knuckled over trying it the first time. 8th was placing a rain slicker over your horse and then walking in and out of two horse shoots. 9th was front feet over a log, side pass to the right, open a mail box, remove mail, wave it in the air, return mail and close box, then side pass to left to get off of log. 10th back through barrels in a key hole pattern. 11th, drag a bois'd arc log with a lasso. (they said that thing weighed about 100lbs, my hand believed them) 12th was a blue tarp held down at the four corners with planters and the center of the tarp was filled with water. 13 was trot up to three jumps. You could trot them or jump them. They were kinda large to trot, but she gave it her best shot. 14th was 4 decorative lumber poles lying on four tires in a box shape. Enter and do a 360 degree turn. 15 was back up pole bending. 16 was lope over a clover leaf pattern. 17th was lope up to a gate and stop. 18, back up 20 feet. 19 approach gate, open right handed, go through, then close. 20 was working a calf. (that was FUN!) 21 was cowboy polo.

Now, everything above, we tried in hand first. Duh...

After practicing, we went and took a break. This is when the heat started to get to me. I am usually pretty good with the heat, especially if I let myself acclimate to it like I did on this day. This is when Tracey had me try some of those electrolyte tablets. And they really helped.

After break, we tacked up and entered the arena. I was so proud of Summer. She either did, or tried to the best of her ability, to do every obstacle they asked of us. Her only troubles are loping from a stand still and I have never asked her to jump.

At 6pm they were holding a friendly competition. So I entered the novice. I entered novice because of Summer's two issues I stated above. But I tell you what. She gave me her best and I couldn't have asked for more.

After it was over, they called me and this one other gal to the front. We had tied for 3rd out of 13. We were to do three obstacles of the judges choice. And which one do the choose? The first one was the jumps. Oh well. I was tired, she was tired and we didn't make the cut. But you know, I am so proud of her for trying.

The two things I am most proud of was number 7 and number 20. The platform and the calf. She did the platform like a circus horse. And worked that calf like a Quarter Horse. Who says Tennessee Walkers can't do it all?! LOL

The job for the calf was to get it out of its pen, move it between two cones and get it back in its pen. 21 horses worked the calf for competition. Luckily, Summer was number 6 and the calf was still pretty fresh.