EQUINE FINESSE

YeeHaw!  We sure had a long day horseback attendinding the first WSC Gymkhana of the year.  But it was worth it, we all had a great time!

Kerry, Matison, Sydney, Vanessa, and myself with our wonderful equine pal's Scotch, Sarah, Sugar, and Char all did very well at the event.  This being Vanessa's first competition with horses she entered the novice division and ended up placing in 2 of 3 events.  She and Sugar did very well, as did the rest of us.  Kerry volunteered at the event and took my place as photographer when I was riding.  She is a great job!

Here are everyone's times/placings...

Sydney & Sarah -

• Barrels: 20.7sec. (4th place and Sydney's personal best!)
• Tunnel Vision:
• Cat's Cradle:
• Poles: 28.44sec. (3rd place)

Vanessa & Sugar -

• Barrels: 43.85sec. (3rd place)
• Tunnel Vision:
• Poles: 60.86sec. (5th place)

Matti & Scotch -

• Barrels: 24sec.
• Tunnel Vision:
• Fun Event(musical stalls): 2nd place
• Cat's Cradle:
• Poles:

Marilyn & Char -

• Barrels: 22.26sec. (3rd place)
• Tunnel Vision: 18.88sec. (2nd place)
• Cat's Cradle: 19.58 (2nd place)
• Poles: 31.44sec. (3rd place)
• Reserve High Point

We had a great event as well as a great end to the 2011 year...

Sydney, Vanessa, and I attended the December make-up WSC Gymkhana on January 7th.  Sydney had some of her best runs ever on Sarah, Vanessa hung-out and rode around enjoying the atmosphere with her horse Sugar, and Char and I played around with the events as well. 

After the Gymkhana they had the 2011 Year-End Awards Ceramony, Sydney was awarded 5th place over all for the year in her age group and recieved a Hay Bag and Emergency Veterinary Kit.  I was awarded 1st place over all for the year in my age group and recieved a belt buckle.  We had a great year!

Sydney & Sarah's times/placings -

• Barrels: 21 sec.
• Turn N Burn: 12 sec.
• Plug Race: 10 sec.
• Poles: 26 sec.

Marilyn & Char's times/placings -

• Barrels: 21.63 sec. (1st place)
• Turn N Burn: 13.27 sec. (1st place)
• Plug Race: 11.3 sec. (2nd place)
• Poles: 37.05 sec. (1st place)
• High Point of the Day 18-35

Saturday, November 12th, Sydney/Sarah, Vanessa/Sugar, Jenn/Char, and Marilyn/Honey trailered out to the White Tanks Park in Waddell, AZ to join the Arizona Appaloosa Association on a trail ride.  The weather was incredible, partly cloudy and rays of sunshine coming through.  For Vanessa, this was her first trail ride and did great on her first horse, Sugar.  Some of the highlights of our trail ride include seeing a group of deer, approximately 6 of them including a buck with a nice set of antlers.  They stayed around for a while about 50 yards away before bounding away.  The only other "eventful" occurance took place when my horse, Honey backed into a cholla cactus and set off thrying to elliminate the barbs stuck in her hyde.  It got a little exciting at first but she soon settled down and allowed a nice gentleman to remove them while I comforted her.  Oops, but I don't think she will make that mistake ever again. 

Here are a couple of pictures from our trail ride at the white tanks...

We had a good crew to attend the WSC Gymkhana this month consisting of Marilyn, Boo, Kerry, and Sydney accompanied with our horses Sarah, Char, Dude, and Badger.  It was a long event but was a lot of fun, we started it off by volunteering for the flag ceramony.  This was Sydney's first time presenting a flag horseback and did a wonderful job on Sarah presenting the american flag.    The competition was pretty tough with many seasoned, fast, and experienced horses and riders in each age group but we did well.

Marilyn & Char...

• Barrels: 21.45 sec. (4th place)
• Streaking Poles: 8.41 sec. (2nd place)
• 4 Leaf Clover: 32.07 sec. (3rd place)
• Poles: 32.33 sec. (5th place)

Sydney & Sarah...

• Barrels: 25 sec. (6th place)
• Streaking Poles: 8.64 sec. (6th place)
• 4 Leaf Clover: 34 sec. (6th place)
• Poles: 32 sec. (5th place)

A few of us made it out to the WSC Gymkhana this past Saturday and had a fun time.  Sydney on Sarah, Matti on Sadie, and Marilyn on Char temaed up to compete in the different events...

Marilyn & Char:

• Barrels - 22.07 sec. (2nd place)
• Big M - 24.71 sec. (3rd place)
• 2 Barrel Cowhorse - 13.01 sec. (1st place)
• Poles - 31.81 sec. (3rd place)
• Char and I tied for Reserve High Point

Sydney & Sarah:

• Barrels - 23 sec. (5th place)
• Big M - 24 sec. (5th place)
• 2 Barrel Cowhorse - broken pattern/no time
• Poles - 41 sec. (5th place)

Matti & Sadie:

• Barrels -
• Big M -

Several of us went out to P&M Arena in Apache Junction last Friday to play with some cows in Team Sorting.  For most it was their first time and everyone did well and had a lot of fun. 

Sydney and Sarah, Lisa and Peppy, Marcy and Bo, Marilyn and Char were great teams.  We also had fun playing tag horseback while the other competitors worked the cattle.

Here are some pictures from our eventful evening...

Sydney & Bo, Beth Ann & Sarah, Berkeley & Peppy, and Marilyn & Char all went out to the Salt River on a trail ride to celebrate Sydney's 11th Birthday.  The weather was incredible, sunny with a slight breeze.  We all enjoyed the scenic views of the Mountains, Salt River, Saquaro Lake, The Dam, and the Desert.  The horses(and people of course) enjoyed playing in the water after the 2 hour trail ride, Char swam for her first time ever after watching Sydney and Sarah take several laps through a deep pool of water in the river.

We hope to do this ride again soon with more horses and riders.  Here are some videos and pictures from our fun ride...

pictures:

http://s283.photobucket.com/albums/kk306/equinefinesse/

videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIZIg03OVmM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwRGIc3w6-E

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXGkYllstjQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29gbCPtDOoM

Kerry, Sydney & Sarah, Marcy & Bo and Acorn & I went to the WSC Gymkhana in April.  We all did very well and had a fun time despite the heat and over-watered arena.    Here are our placings and times...

Syndey & Sarah:

Barrels - 25.54sec. (3rd place)

Poles - 38.21sec. (3rd place)

London Bridge - 17.2sec. (2nd place)

Flag Race - NT

Marcy & Bo's times/placings:

Barrels - 24.5sec. (3rd place)

Poles - 31.46sec. (3rd place)

Marilyn & Acorn's times/placings:

Barrels - 20.44sec. (2nd place)

Poles - 30.79sec. (2nd place)

London Bridge - 12.94sec. (1st place)

Flag Race - NT

RESERVE HIGH POINT CHAMPION 18-25

Kerry, Sydney & Sarah, and Acorn & I went to the WSC Gymkhana in March, we all had a great time!  The weather was great and the events were a lot of fun...

Syndey & Sarah:

• Barrels - 21.94sec. (2nd place)

• Poles - 36.23sec.

• Tunnel Vision - 11.39sec. (1st place)

• Bend & Jump - 11.69sec. (3rd place)

• RESERVE HIGH POINT CHAMPION 7-12

Marilyn & Acorn's times/placings:

• Barrels - 26.08sec. (1st place)

• Poles - 26.71sec. (1st place)

• Tunnel Vision - 10.12sec. (1st place)

• Bend & Jump - 12.41sec. (1st place)

• HIGH POINT CHAMPION 18-25

pictures and videos coming soon...

Kerry, Sydney & Sarah, and Sarah & Reno, and I went to the WSC Gymkhana again in February. Kerry volunteered at the event while Sydney and I both competed on Sarah and Sarah competed on Reno.  Half the arena was flooded due to rain so they had to change and shrink the event patterns to fit in half the arena, it was interesting but very fun!

Sydney and Sarah placed in all of their events.

I took High Point of the day with Sarah in my age group.

Sarah and Reno placed 5th in one of their events (this was her first event ever!)  Congratulations Sarah!

pictures coming soon...