Our First "Hunter Pace"
Brenda, Doc, Rio and I spent the day yesterday (my birthday!) with the folks from the Miami Valley Hunt Club. They held their annual Memorial Day Chase and Pace in Urbana. The event had different divisions. Some were only open to people that are members of a recognized Hunt group (those that have the guts to fox hunt on a regular basis). Brenda and I joined the open division as you could ride in non-traditional wear (Western in our case) and didn't have to be hunt members.
The course is approximately 6 miles through woods and mowed fields. There is an optimum time determined--you don't find out what it is until the end. The objective is to come as close to the optimum time as possible. We trotted almost the whole time with some short canter stretches. We could not believe that our horses kept up that pace. They must be exhausted today. They just kept wanting to go and go. The trails were very nice--nothing too tough and not any hills to go up or down. We decided to pass on most of the jumps. Where there were low ones, we walked over them.
Doc is learning to overcome his fear of crossing water/mud. He has a tendency to want to jump over any of the water areas or to go really quickly through very muddy spots. Brenda got off to lead him through on the first three crossings. Toward the end he was at least going through them with little hesitation, but still jumping to get over most of the time.
They gave out ribbons to the top 8 teams. We came in FIFTH!
Brenda, Doc, Rio and I spent the day yesterday (my birthday!) with the folks from the Miami Valley Hunt Club. They held their annual Memorial Day Chase and Pace in Urbana. The event had different divisions. Some were only open to people that are members of a recognized Hunt group (those that have the guts to fox hunt on a regular basis). Brenda and I joined the open division as you could ride in non-traditional wear (Western in our case) and didn't have to be hunt members.
The course is approximately 6 miles through woods and mowed fields. There is an optimum time determined--you don't find out what it is until the end. The objective is to come as close to the optimum time as possible. We trotted almost the whole time with some short canter stretches. We could not believe that our horses kept up that pace. They must be exhausted today. They just kept wanting to go and go. The trails were very nice--nothing too tough and not any hills to go up or down. We decided to pass on most of the jumps. Where there were low ones, we walked over them.
Doc is learning to overcome his fear of crossing water/mud. He has a tendency to want to jump over any of the water areas or to go really quickly through very muddy spots. Brenda got off to lead him through on the first three crossings. Toward the end he was at least going through them with little hesitation, but still jumping to get over most of the time.
They gave out ribbons to the top 8 teams. We came in FIFTH!
Horse Behavior
Rio had a very good day yesterday. Normally, she does not like to lead on the trail but she took it in stride and stayed calm throughout. Now that her weight is back on, she has ALOT more energy. I am having to adjust my approach with her and lunge her pretty agressively before we ride. This seems to work somewhat as it makes her respect me more and to focus better under saddle. We had a much better ride yesterday than we did on Saturday at Alum Creek. At Alum Creek she did not listen well and was generally a pain in the rear. I am going to change her feed back to regular sweet feed (and not much of it). She is currently getting Strategy along with lots of pasture and hay. It is very high in calories and in my opinion, more than she needs right now. I am not riding her all that hard or as often as I was when we were in training.
Doc is loading into the trailer very well now. He hestitates only so slightly but gets in with no problems. He and Rio are getting used to each other but that will take some time. Rio has reverted back to her old kicking the trailer behavior. At least the fits are not quite as bad as they were last year.
Doc is being kept separated from most of the herd during turnout. He is turned out with another gelding in a separate field. Turns out Doc wasn't gelded until he was 6. We discovered this after he mounted just about every mare in the field last week. He doesn't exhibit any other real stallion like behavior except for clearly loving the ladies. They don't seem to mind as he is very gentle with them but we decided to keep them separated so that no one would potentially get hurt.
No comments:
Post a Comment