Can She Play Poker???

Yeah, she did.....well, in a sense...

We arrived to what Steven read as a PC crowd: very nice people, nice farm after momentarily becoming lost....Thank You to the Hillsboro Fire Department dude for the directions....and he did it by farm owner name....Ya gotta love small towns.

Here are the entries:



Entries filed, tacked up, Lorin safely atop Dazz...we marched right up to the starting point for an overview of the rules.



Not so hard....I thought, passing the map to Steven, Maps and I are non partners....

We start out on the Poker Run: not timed, with 5 obstacles, Parelli Game style, along the way, that if done successfully, one way or another, will earn you a playing card.

First was a small trail thru the woods...easy stuff...we do this all the time: Bingo! Card for each of us....!

Second: Receive raw egg in spoon, must weave thru cones and back. Sage had no problem, tho Steven did crack the egg on the saddle horn before she even took a step: proceed, with the cracked egg..... One handed he weaves thru the cones and back...See? All that neck reining exercises paid off! Caly: same cracked egg, we got a note from the attendant for trotting! Good boy. Dazzle with Lorin aboard: flawlessly....good! Presto! We each get a card!

Third: Drag something....uh, oh. No tarps in sight....Choices were: a cone, a log!, or a barrel!! Caly, I take the rope for the cone and trot on down to the end marker, pass the rope over his head with a nifty rollback, and then the other side of the horse saw the cone: sidepass all the way back...." oooh, he sidepasses nice!" I hear....if they only knew.... Steven selects the log! to my surprise...totally uneventfully they drag the log down and back! No theatrics, and Steven explained later he thought it would be the quietest....good call! Dazzle and Lorin took the cone, la de dah....No problem! YeeHaw! Cards! ( was working on a straight now.....)



Forth: Hill? I don't understand how a hill can be an issue, except for the fact that near the bottom of it was obstacle #5: water crossing....Caly: charge down, saw the horse eating water and blasted up: card. Sage: no big deal to her, didn't waste any time in either direction: card. Dazzle had some tenderness issues early in the day, so Lorin took a go around which was forgiven due to the explaination that Dazzle has a bone in his leg that is in place with 5 screws: card.

Fifth: The w~a~t~e~r. I was hoping it was merely a stream so I could just jump it...no such luck. Big puddle with 2 barrels: weave the barrels. To my delight, with minimal "I do not want to go in" hesitations , both Caly and Sage did as asked....Dazzle, well we call him the sea horse....cards!

Success! I didn't get my straight, in fact, I got nuthin', ditto for Lorin, but Steven finished with 1 pair, which didn't make him a winner, but Sage sure was!

Like A Girl Scout: Be Prepared

Always ready to try new events with the horses, I tripped across what looked like a good time on Equinesite.com 's bulletin board. A Poker Run and a Trail Race! ( Did someone say RACE????)

Sponsored by Granite State Savvy Club ( Savvy: a word that tells me that the group uses methods of horsemanship and training from Pat Parelli). Years ago I had attended a Parelli clinic in the far, far north regions of New Hampshire with my friend MaryBeth. While I found it very heavy in the marketing end of things, it was very informative and interesting: well worth going....Funny, most trainers techniques overlap, with some sort of twist....I think if you listen to them all, then go with your gut, I think you will get a very well trained horse in the end.....but I digress...

Reading thru the info about the event provided by the club, I scanned for hints, clues: What are these obstacles you must traverse in order to 1) Get a playing card and 2)pass thru during your timed trail ride????

Water: um, we have worked on that...should be ok, during the race, Caly can probably just jump over.....crossing hooves for Sage, lately with water, she is OK....
Dragging something? Carcass? Rider?? (hope not) so we assumed that they mean tarp.....

I have enlisted the help of Lorin ( my friend in New Hampshire who we will converge upon for tonite) Who I will refer to as "10Horses"....yes: 10!! She will ride Dazzle so he will not need to be left home, bellowing and disturbing the entire neighborhood! To keep 10Horses, and the rest of us safe, we decided to give the tarp dragging a shot....It went better than expected. Sage was a bit curious, but not afraid. She only showed a small response when out back in the practice area, we had a long rope attached to the dragging ( really, at some points: Flying! Very windy back there!)tarp as she rounded a barrel, and the tarp appeared alongside her...on the other side. Interesting.....

Incidentally, the fly mask is on to keep the flies from further balding near her eyes, she is in no way some sort of wierd burgler....

Some Pictures!!!







Next up was Caly....Who showed no fear up in the back yard near the house....Minimal ( and very entertaining) squirming and side stepping around the barrels...tho what really appeared to concern him was something lying in wait for him in the woods....





And then Mr. Perfect, Mr. Solid As A Rock, Mr. I Will Be Nice To My Rider: Dazzle...who was once terrified of carrying a flag during an opening ceremony at a show....ran all the way to the end of the ring with little Mollie O.....then stood there....proved my concerns to be wrong this time: he was GOOD. Imagine that? Handsome bugger!





Time will tell how the 3 fare in New Hampshire......Stand by!

Sooooo...Ya Like To Break Stuff, Do Ya ???

Evil little thing, purely by accident she pulled a cross tie screw out of a tree that was not much of a challenge since the tree is pretty punky.....and then just stood there..." Hmmmm, that was interesting, can't wait to try that again" she pondered when returned to her stall......

She got her opportunity the next day....Back in the crossties, a sturdier anchored set, she measures and CALCULATES ( damn, she's better at that than I am!) Twisting her head side to side.....rocks forward.....rocks back. Then she gets a bit antsy....doing the math I suppose. Then she positions herself....and rears. The lead is still attached, Steven is nearby, watching and pulls her down "NO!"....she just looks at him.....She tried, with the same results, and eventually, successfully, snaps a metal clip. What does she do then? She stands there. Looks at us as if to say "ha ha ha, I knew I could do it"....doesn't even try to get away.....The wench!

I called Robin, explained what she'd been doing, having my own idea already, but asking HER opinion...which counts for ALOT here.....after all: she's 'wild' not a domestic.....they could be very different approaches. We thought alike: "shank her".

Next day, I am at work having shown Steven the shank extension and how to use it...He later told me it was employed 3 times, each application a little stronger than the previous, and the third time she went high enuf to nearly pull the lead from his hand, she failed.........and the drama has yet to repeat itself....Crossing hooves.