I took Monty first in the Novice division (jumps up to 2'11"). Up here in Wellington there aren't as many trees as in Larkspur, so this was Monty's first opportunity to go galloping through changes in lighting, as we went from sun to shade and back over forty jumps on course. He took a good look at a few changes in lighting and jumps he hadn't seen before, but once he got the idea that this was just a fast trail ride over jumps he was all in! He booked it around the course, carefully and quickly picking his footing in the tricky spots with roots, downhill jigs, and then he soared over every single one of the fences on course. He loves this kind of thing, we have a good time doing just fast trail riding closer to home. This was merely a slightly more complicated version of a run at Soapstone. Monty did great and came away with a cool third place ribbon.
Cosmo and Jasi rode the course at the Beginner Novice level with Carol and Shambhu, and even got ribbons themselves! Jasi was the team captain and they went under the team name The Bit of Honey Bees. This was the first pair pace for both of them and they all did great.
Next I rode Rain, the athletic paint mare, in the elementary division. We were planning to go much more slowly so that she could have a good experience and come out of it confident. I got her tacked up and we headed out on the nearly three mile walk to the warmup area and start box. There was a turn in the sandy service road, with a rotting log which surprised her. Unfortunately, I hadn't taken enough time to re-calibrate my own body and riding settings, and I was still in Riding a Thoroughbred mode. Thoroughbreds tend to bolt or jump in the air when they spook. Not so with a compact Quarter Horse type. They tend to do more of a "duck and spin" maneuver. I anticipated incorrectly, which resulted in an unplanned dismount as Rain threw her head down and spun away from the log. It felt somewhat comical. I was calmly sitting aboard the horse, then without any notice I was suddenly standing, both feet on the ground. She just simply spun right out from underneath me!
However, this random gravity check did cause my air vest to deploy, but AFTER I'd landed squarely on my own feet. Rain was fine until the pin on my vest pulled and I instantly puffed up with a bang and a striking resemblance to the stay-puff marshmallow man. She darted away from me, I lost my grip on her reins, and she then took off at top speed.
I saw which way she was headed (into the fields afar), and I began my trek to relocate my mount. Some friends had been riding behind me and saw the whole thing, and did comment on how I should have gotten a ten for being able to stick the landing! They offered to go try to catch Rain, but I figured once Rain calmed down I'd be able to grab her so I sent them on their way to the starting gate.
I hoofed it along a sandy road, then into a vast field with grass that came up to my waist. It crossed my mind that I was well dressed for this hike. If there were rattlesnakes in the tall grass I had my high leather boots on so I should have been good even if I encountered an ill-tempered reptile. At one point I found myself in what appeared to be the driveway of an abandoned house. There were some rough looking windows and a cock-eyed ladder up against the side of the house, but no one appeared to have been around for some time. I continued on.
Finally I made it to a marsh and I squelched my way over to the fence line where Rain had finally stopped and decided to have a snack on the lush green grass growing there. I called her, and as soon as she saw me she hurried over, looking relieved that someone had come to fetch her from this barbaric wilderness. I led her back to the original service road that should have taken us to the start of the ride, and I placed my air vest on a t-post to give it time to deflate. Then I climbed aboard Rain a second time, and we continued on to the start box.
After our foray into uncharted territory Rain didn't need much warm up before we headed out on course. A quick ten second countdown to go, then we were off at a cautious trot. I rode Rain conservatively because I wanted her to feel confident, especially after our pre-course detour. We trotted and walked, and by the end of the ride she had figured out what she was supposed to be doing. That's half the challenge with the horses, just teaching them how to play the game. She trotted over some of the lower fences (all were optional). She was startled by the photographer on course, who was lurking ominously in the shade, but once Rain realized it was just a human she was fine and we continued on our way. She even gave me a nice little balanced canter over the last three fences at the finish.
Once we were done riding the two mile course, we joined back up again to the service road and headed back to the scene of our earlier indiscretion. We passed the log successfully without even a second glance, I picked up my vest where I'd left it in the field, and we made our way back to the horse trailers. Rain's owner was anxious today, and so I initially just expressed how well Rain did on course, especially once she understood the task. Later in the day, once everyone had settled down in chairs near the shade to eat some lunch I divulged the fact that I had indeed experienced a perfect ten landing when I had my unscheduled dismount. I figured Rain's owner was going to hear about it from our mutual friends, and I wanted to be the one to explain how it had all gone down. Rain's owner reacted well to the news, and expressed gratitude that SHE hadn't been aboard!
As we drove home from the show the whole group of us laughed and generally enjoyed the tales of the day. I usually say "I didn't fall off, so it was a good day", but this afternoon I'm claiming, "I stuck the landing, so it was a good day!"
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