What a hoopla of fun! Not having a partner (nor a clue) I was paired up with a lovely lady camped beside me. She had a heavy duty stock QH type, a gelding, who Ace seemed pleased to camp beside. The evening meeting talked about the route, obstacles, speeds and how to navigate. Okay, seems pretty easy. I was doing level one (easy level for us greenhorns), and it was timed mostly at the walk on a QH, in hopes we would enjoy some of the beautiful scenery such as old growth forest and such. After the meeting an additional member joined our two-some, another first timer on a dressage horse. Bit of contrast here!
The next morning we get ready to head out, pee about 50million times, and off we go! walk nicely out of the farmyard, across a field, through a ditch and along the road. This is lovely (but still trying to find my seat in this new saddle?)! We get onto a single track trail and my fearless leader kicks it into high gear! We move into a long trot, which Ace can barely keep up with and we are losing our leggy addition!? During a quick walk break our new member says, "do we usually travel that fast?" Appearently, yes.
So on and on for 2 hours we fly through narrow trails, logging roads, rivers, subdivisions, airport (?!)..... until we reach our halfway point about 9 miles out. Whew! Ooops, where is that fancy horse that was with us? She came in 5 minutes later.
Let me tell you, 45 minutes goes fast! Vet check (slight lameness, hmmmm), water and food. Back up on the horse and away we go again, back where we came! I thought I was pretty well conditioned for our "mainly walk" but let me tell you.... 4 hours of extended trot with small breaks of walking (jigging) OWCH!
Ace was really forward and geared to go and was happy as close up the tail of his riding buddy as possible, much to my dismay (must work on that!). We got back with a time of 4 hours and 43 minutes, only a few minutes off of our optimal time of 4 hours 45 minutes, thanks to my fearless leader!
Vet check again. (no human doctor checks? lol) Ace's lameness in his front right is slightly worse (big point deduction!) but passes. Saddle sores, nope, guess the new saddle fits?!! Over to our little campsite where we can relax. As I wander back over to the little paddock to check on my boy I see him flat out on his side. Breathing in big, noisy sighs. OMG, I have killed him! I go in and check and he gets up a bit, seems okay, Poor guy, I do the human equivalent and tend to my skin which is many shades of sunburn.
Potluck and awards: we placed 4th and got a big fancy rosette! Nice! I was happy we just survived!
After a fun day with an awesome bunch of very welcoming horse people, I was hooked! (We just need to condition better next time!
And the pony saddle? Well it found a new home on the back of my daughters new Arab pony, Jamaica Rose. Who knows maybe it will see a CTR yet ;)
