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Santa Cruz County Horseman’s Association 6/25/11
On the afternoon of the 24th, Cori Altman and I picked up our horses and took them to Horseman’s for a nice trail ride in Henry Cowell Park on Friday night and to overnight our horses in preparation for THE BATTLE OF THE BARNS the following morning. Trailers came in droves unloading horses for the day’s events. The next morning, each team of four would compete in a series of Gymkana/Ranch Versatility games. This would include many relay competitions and one team soccer game – on horseback.
Ours was THE BARN BRATS – a mix of 3 barns. The Line Up:
Corinna on Zephyr (A Green Thoroughbred Gelding)
Cori on Oliver (Fox Trotter Gelding)
Alixa on Kolo (Off the track Thoroughbred Gelding)
Dorothy on Rascal (Appaloosa Gelding)
PILE OF BOOTS
We got off to a rough start, going up against some ranch versatility stars on their quarter horses, with easy-on, easy-off cowboy boots and short horses – and us in English tack on tall horses. Why does this matter? The first game was to take off our boots, place them at one end of the arena in a pile, and then go back to the starting line. 4 teams went at once, and had to get their horses to the other end of the arena, dismount, find their boots, put them back on, remount, and race back to the start line so their next team member could go – a strange sort of relay that left you with the gift of sand in your boots the rest of the day. We were there for fun, so coming in last wasn’t so bad.
WATER NOODLE RELAY
This game was simple. Grab your water noodle and run to one end of the arena and back (in your gait of preference) and pass the baton to the next rider who does the same until the last rider finishes. Simple enough, but a wavy giant noodle on a hot thoroughbred’s back brings out the spookiness in a 1200 lb TB any day. Zephyr cantered sideways 4 strides until I was able to hide the noodle from him and get him moving forward. After that, it was a breeze. I think I’ll try that one at Moon Valley Ranch with friends and work with a water noodle to desensitize him for future games.
HORSE SOCCER?
Soccer on horeseback with a giant soccer ball? For a horse that has not even seen one, this is one challenging task. Getting our horses to even face the ball without bolting was a challenge at times. We were allowed to take our feet out of the stirrups and kick the ball. Again, the quarter horse riders had the advantage. Shorter horses made it easier for them to kick the ball. At one point, I took my foot out of the stirrup, and kicked at the ball, only to find that my toe couldn’t reach the top of the ball. At that exact moment, Zephyr darted sideways away from the ball, almost unseating me. I think I laughed the entire 2 minutes that the game lasted. The game ended when the opposing team had their first goal. Again we lost – but it was a blast.
RANCH VERSATILITY
Okay, so we aren’t focusing our training efforts on Ranch Versatility (more dressage, jumping, cross country), but we did this one quite well. We start out by trotting up to a cone, side passing to a mail box, opening and closing the mail box, trotting up to a barrel, picking up a water noodle (now we’re practiced at that), trotting to a stall at the end, dropping the noodle, and then backing in to the stall, doing a 360 on the haunches and then cantering back to mid arena, walking over a tarp, and then cantering on to the start line for the next team member to do the same. My horse did quite well overall, and so did the next four. Zephyr balked at the tarp, but crossed it after overcoming his fear and cantered on to the finish. We came in 2nd or 3rd in overall time to complete.
BACK IT AND JUMP IT
Because I was rider #2A, I had to start every single relay – which adds some pressure. Not only do you not get to watch others make mistakes, you don’t have the same time to let your horse relax. This can make a huge difference in overall performance – especially in young, green thoroughbred horses. At the start line, we begin the back-up.
The goal is to back your horse between two angled poles without stepping over a pole (see picture). The first time I attempted this was a disaster. My horse was not backing straight up, and he hit the pole making an audible <taunk>. I asked for more backup and tried to angle him in the correct direction – but instead of backing further, my horse reared on high, going full vertical. I stayed mounted until the moment I realized “if I don’t let go, Zephyr’s coming down on top of me”… and let go. I almost landed on my feet and next came my bum, as his four feet met the ground once more.
There was only one thing to do. Grab my horse, get back on, and do it all over again. In the background of the picture here, you can see me carefully backing and watching the poles as another rider is finishing their round. The next step was to go through a tight turn, around a barrel, and over a jump. Though my fall meant we came in last, our horses did really well overall.
MORE GAMES!
Though there were several more games, from pole bending and jumping to barrel racing, they were less eventful… At the end of the day, I think our team came in last overall, but we may have had the most fun. We laughed a lot, and gave our horses a fun filled day of new experiences. I’ll sign up for the next BATTLE OF THE BARNS for certain.
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