Ranch Versatility - Part 1

I went to my first Ranch Versatility Show at the end of August. This is the real deal. It separates the doers from the wannabe's.

I am going to go into detail on this because this was one of those events that I found completely exciting and challanging - Mind, body and soul.

Because this is a long, long post I am going to work on part two while you muddle through part one.

Ranch versatility is made up of 5 classes. Herd Work, working cowhorse, ranch riding, trail, halter/conformation class.

This event was part of the National Versatility Ranch Horse Assn. The way this club or group operates is great for beginners. They start out by offering a clinic on the first day. You can go and learn what it is all about. Get coached through each event and in this case - the judge was the clinician for several of the classes. Talk about a learning experience. They also offer several different levels of participation. From Open, amatuer, limited, novice, and youth. The Novice class doesn't have to rope in the working cowhorse and the trail course is a little easier. Other than that everyone is expected to do the same elements.

We started the clinic doing the herd work. Each rider got a chance to work cattle out of the herd. The clinician would walk you through what he was looking for and then critique you as you rode. When you were done he would tell you what was positive and where you needed work. Herd work is challanging if you are not riding a super cowy horse. Think about the big paint horse here. Semper will work a cow, but at 16 hands he isnt't quite as "catty" as the smaller cowhorses. He has a lot of power and can move quickly but he tends to want to get ahead of the cows and that makes me late coming through my turns. After you work your cow you have to take it around a cone, down the fence and put it in a pen. During the show we worked out of the herd well. When I was ready to move the cow down the fence, I asked my herd holders to move and went to drive my cow to the fence. The cow stopped in the middle of the arena, snorted and took off down the center of the arena. In the cows defense... these were used up corriente roping cattle. He was doing what he was supposed to do for roping. Not so much for herd work. I had about 45 seconds left and the audience was yelling at me to take him back down and around the cone. I might have been able to bring him back and put him around the cone but I would have risked letting him get back in the herd. I made the decision to just follow him to the end and pen him. It cost me 5 points for missing the cone. Afterward the judge talked to me and said I did the right thing. If I had lost the cow back to the herd I would have taken a no score.

Next we went to the trail course. This isn't your run of the mill arena trail course. This is a trail course set up in a natural environment. On a hillside with pine needles for footing. The course consisted of a gate, lope over poles, cones to jog through, a dummy to rope, a log to drag, rotten hay bales to walk through, a pole to move around a barrel, a bridge to cross, walk over poles, trot over poles and then stop in a box, ground tie, open a mail box, drop your bridle, pick up all four feet, and remount. It was a lot in a very small area.
The gate was easy. But from the gate the first of the lope overs where about 15 feet, so you were facing to the right, had to turn pick up the left lead and lope over 6 poles set about 5 feet apart as you started to go up a hill. I have mentioned a time or two that Semper is a big horse right? Everything in this course was TIGHT. We got it done but it wasn't real pretty. He ticked the last couple of poles. Then we were supposed to drop to a jog to go up the hill and jog through 3 cones. Again they were tight. During the show I let him drop to a walk because I was pretty sure we had to much forward motion to make the cones at a jog. He was able to get it done in the clinic.
Next was rope the dummy. I have told you all that I can't rope. I have been practicing but I am in no way proficent. You are supposed to untie your rope and rope the dummy. They let me use a loaner rope in the clinic but I had to have my own the day of the show. I didn't have one of my new ropes in the trailer because I have been practicing at home. I dug around and found this ancient rope in the trailer - think of a petrified snake. It was old, had been coiled wrong for decades and had black electrial tape on the end to keep it from splaying apart. I got it done, didn't catch - again not pretty. The thing is that Semper let me work it out. And that is what it is all about. He was patient, he didn't get jiggy or nervous, just stood relaxed and waited till his roping challanged rider made every error known to man.
Next was the log drag. Around a tree on a hillside and you had to dally. First I have never attempted to dally properly. Ever. The nice young man that was working the course during the clinic was very patient with me and did his best to teach me how to dally so that I wouldn't lose a finger. Of course all that went out the window during the show. I was still so befuddled about he roping dummy that dallying was just as foreign to me as flying an airplane. The one thing that I did remember was to leave enough rope so that the log didn't hit my horses legs. Points for me. Semper could care less what I ask him to drag. He is a trooper.

From there you had to jog through 3 bales of hay set in a zig zag. No big deal.

Here is the one that I had never seen before. Two barrels, one 10ft bamboo pole. You pick up the end of the pole that is resting on one barrel and rotate it around the other barrel. Can you say leg yeilds? Thank goodness for the clinic. The clinician walked me through it - once you get it, easy peasy.

Next you had to go down the hill an onto the bridge. I don't know if I have every told you all about the disasterous bridge incident. Let me fill you in. One time at band camp... Oops wrong story. One time during a clinic with a very well know cowboy clinician... We had to do an extreme trail horse course. I had to leave before we got to the bridge so the next morning before the clinic, I decided to take Mr. Semper over the bridge. It was a teeter-totter bridge. Huge mistake. He walked on like a champ and when that thing broke over and came down with a thud... he thought he had died and gone to hell. Every since then... trail course bridges have been a huge challange. Real bridges are no problem. I had worked with a new trainer on getting him over one and he was doing wonderfully the weekend before. The one thing that I did not want to do was have it in MY head that is was going to be a problem. So we came off the hill and I just looked up and sent him. He started to say "no way Jose" but then he went on. He kind of rushed it but he did it. I let the rushing go. But because he rushed it, he had trouble with the walk overs that were directly after the bridge. Small sacrafice.
Then you picked up a lope for about 10 ft, dropped to a trot at a set of logs, and trotted into the box and stopped. Sounds easy enough. Yeah Right! Tough. Took me a couple of tries during the clinic but we finally got it. The day of the show we got it but his toes were touching the board at the end of the box. Now here is where is gets comical. When I first got Semper I was schooled him to open a mail box from his back. I would put cookies in the mail box. After he let me open the box I would give him the cookies and ask him to stand quietly at the box while I closed it. Again - Huge mistake. At the show, I had to get off, ground tie and go open and close the box. He saw that mail box and was sure it was a cookie dispenser. During the clinic he kept trying to follow me to the mail box. At the show, he stayed put but I had to give him an "evil eye" and say "whoa" a lot. The upside... His ears were forward and he was watching me the whole time.

The last thing you had to do was drop the bridle and pick up all four feet. No issues there.

.... stay tuned for part two.

Where does the time go...jez!

So quick update.... Went to my first Ranch Versatility show. Wow. It is my new love. More on that later.

Moved horses AGAIN! and will be moving yet again this weekend!

Prepared Little Bit to go to a sale and she left yesterday. My goal is to get down to 3 saddle horse and the old broodies. Not real sure when that is going to happen but that is what I am working towards.

I have been spending time with a new trainer. She has Ms Lily and they are doing great. She and Lily just seem to click. I think I am going to have a phenomenal horse when it is all said and done. That makes me happy.

I have been riding Scooter a lot and I love him to pieces. He is like a big red sponge. Ride him for 20 minutes and he learns something. Come out the next day and it is still there and he is ready to learn something new. He may be a plain headed, little red horse but pretty is as pretty does. I would rather ride a horse like him seven days a week and twice on Sundays than some fancy looking horse with no heart and a poor mind.

Went to the Snaffle Bit Futurity in Reno for a get-a-way weekend with hubby. Shopped, had fun, and relaxed.

Finished reining season with Semper and won a buckle for Reserve Champion Green Reiner. Next year I have to compete in the Rookie class and things are going to get tough.

I have so many things bumping around my head, just haven't had time to get them written. I have been working on a post for Ranch Versatility and my bucket list. Stay tuned.

My ever, ongoing, growing list of things to do before I can't do anymore.

This is a list of things that I would love to do before my body or mind give out on me. They are in no particular order.

1. Learn to rope (ranch rope and/or out of the box)

2. Show Semper in a Ranch Versatility Class - DONE - (can you tell I started this list some time ago!)

3. Become proficient at shooting skeet. That means actually hitting the clay pigeon.

4. Show in the Bridle horse class at the Snaffle Bit Furturity in Reno.

5. Own a horse that can compete in the Bridle horse class at the Snaffle Bit Furturity. (like I said - random order)

6. Get my concealed weapons permit.

7. Learn to shoot a handgun - safely.

8. Ride one of my own horses on the beach.

9. Retire and ride everyday.

10. Have a horse that I bred and raised be successful.

11. Visit Yellowstone Park camp out with my horses and spend the days riding.

12. Visit the Grand Canyon and see it from an airplane. (I really don't live that far away from either.) Take a mule ride in the canyon. An overnight one!

13. Visit Belize and scuba dive/ snorkle the blue hole.

14. Visit Ireland and find "Mooney's Pub"

15. Train a horse - Start to Finish

16. Help a horse crazy person become a successful and eduated horseman

17. Drive a team of horses - My grandfather drove a six up hitch.. how cool is that?

Its been awhile

and a lot has been going on. Not all good, not all bad. Here are some of the highlights and then I hope to get back to regular posts.

Went to a Sandy Collier clinic. What an awesome lady she is! Straight forward, no bull kind of gal. I really enjoyed her and learned lots. I bought her book and am reading it for the second time. There is so much in it that it is going to take a couple of reads to really get it all. I took Little Bit and she ran out of gas about half way through the second day. Hindsight says I should have taken Lily. She has enough go to last through multiple days of riding and learning.

I took Bob Harley to the trainer to start his education. Here comes some of the bad. The trainer feels that he has no sense of self preservation. Not good. I sent him to the same trainer that started Scooter for me. I really like and respect him. I listened to what he said when I picked him up last week and am mulling it over. I turned Bob out with the broodmares and am going to give him until next spring to kind of soak up what he learned and then give him one more chance at a trainer to see if he matures or changes in his time out. I hate to give up on a horse to easy, but on the other hand I hate to throw money away too.

Haven't been to any horse shows - Most of the ones that I had planned on going to were cancelled due to the EHV virus. Some of them were rescheduled to later this year. I opted to not go to the MacArthur show this year. I had a great time at that show last year and was really looking forward to it. I only had one horse that was really "ready" to go. Entries would have been upwards of $600 plus the expense of a hotel, gas, etc. It just didn't make good financial sense to me to go.

I spent an amazing weekend with friends riding the Pacific Crest Trail. We stayed at a local B & B, rode out one early morning to a Drakesbad, had lunch and then rode back. We rode, ate, drank, laughed and had a great time. I am truly blessed that I have such wonderful friends. I took Lily and my daughter went along and rode Semper. Here are some pictures of our weekend.

Lily and I taking a picture of Warner Valley


My daughter Trista and I


Of course Semper lost a hind shoe on the way and we had to have the Drakesbad wrangler put his shoe back on. As you can see Semp was being very accommodating while being shod. He had is butt braced against the hitching post and his hind leg is at quite an angle! And as a side note... Nicholas the wrangler.... all that and a bag of Doritos! Worth the ride into Drakesbad. :)



Laura and Ruth at Drakesbad


Trista at the end of the ride


You can check out Drakesbad at:
http://drakesbad.com/
Great place to visit if you love nature and like to ride or hike.

We stayed at the St.Bernard Inn - Highly recommend it! http://www.stbernardlodge.com/

odds and ends...

I kind of like to think of myself as a common sense kind of gal. Kind of a middle of the road person. I have been following the EHV-1 virus thing on several blogs, network boards, and state sites. Trying to stay informed. What I have noticed - is that the people with the least risk are the ones that are overly protective and the ones who have a higher risk seem to be a little more relaxed about the whole thing. Not saying they are not concerned. I am sure anyone that has a sick horse or has been in close proximity with an infected horses is hugely concerned. I know I would be. But I am not going to go crazy about it. Middle of the road. Evaluate the FACTS and make a common sense decision. What I do know is this virus isn't new. It has been around for a while. And it will raise it's ugly head again.

Of course with all the virus commotion, all the shows that I was planning on doing have been cancelled. I am a little disappointed but I totally agree with the decision. The Sandy Collier clinic that I had planned on in late May was moved and is now in late June. Gives me something to look forward too.

I moved out of SCR this Memorial Day weekend. The owners decided that they didn't want to be in the boarding business. They needed the room for their horses that are in training. It was such a great SAFE place for my man. I will miss it.

I moved to a private residence for the summer and hopefully I will find a place to call home with a nice indoor arena before winter comes around. That is...if summer ever gets to CA. As I write this, it is about 60 degrees outside and they are predicting thunder storms and rain. Ugh. We had tornadoes last week. I think that I may have been teleported to another state and just don't know it.

My friend and I went on a ride on Saturday and did a lot of long trotting and loping. We were trying to find the end of the trail, instead we found a BEAR! Yes a bear was getting a drink out of the lake and since it wasn't an encounter that I found particularly enticing... we turned around and headed home. Got back to the trailer just before the sky opened up and dumped buckets of rain.

Took Bob Harley (Bob Marleys red neck cousin) to start his education this weekend. Picked up the Scooter man and brought him home for some rest and relaxation. I plan to spend some time working on him in the next few weeks. He sure is a sweet boy. I rode him on Friday and he was willing and very easy going. I worked both the mares on cattle this weekend too. Boy I gotta tell you... they are as opposite as they are a like. Does that even make sense? They both will get down and work a cow, but they do it in completely different styles. One floats around like a butterfly, smooth and fluid and the other one is like riding a bumble bee, hard hitting and fast. It is fun, fun, fun.

My Bubba

Last week was a rough one. I lost my stupid little dog Bubba. Two Labradors tore down our gate into our back yard and mauled my little dog. It was absolutely devastating. I loved that stupid little dog. He had a punctured lung and a huge tear in his abdomen. They tried to do surgery and he almost died on the operating table. They were trying to get him stable and thought that if they could stabilize him, I could take him to UC Davis for surgery. At 5 pm he still wasn't stable enough to move and the thought of him laying there all night, alone and in distress was more than I could bare. I made the decision to put him down. It was without a doubt the hardest thing I have ever had to do. I miss him.

3rd horse show

Where does the time go? I went to the third horse show in the series at SCR two Saturdays ago. I can say that I stayed consistent. Zero-ing the first class and placing 3rd in the second class. In the first class when I asked for the lead change to the right Semper only changed in the front, I pushed his hip, he changed and changed and changed, front, back and side ways. He gets all balled up when things go wrong. Because I get all balled up when things go wrong. So about 2/3 of the way into the first half of our circle to the right, he is finally on the right lead. We were supposed to turn and go down the middle but were not in a position to do that without a hard, quick turn to the right. Instead of trying to finish the pattern correctly I decided to school the rest. I didn't want to get him any more confused and up tight than he already was. I went down the side and did my stops and just reminded him to stay quiet and get back on track. The second class we did pretty well. The lead changes were beautiful and he just floated around. We lost points on the stops again. I know it is me. I get bracey and nervous and it goes right down my reins and legs and into him. We had schooled stops before and he was stopping really nicely. I was relaxed and feeling pretty confident. But then we go into the show pen and it all goes to hell in a hand basket. The last show in the series is about 3 weeks away and I am hoping to get past this nervous crap by then.

I have another show this weekend. It is a cowhorse show and I am taking Semper to do the dry work and the limited boxing class and Little Bit and Ms Lily to do the limited two handed cutting. The girls are going just to school. They have never been out to a show and I am thinking that this is going to be as much of a learning experience for them as it is going to be for me! They are both a little bit of drama queens so it ought to be an interesting day to say the least. My plan is just to get them into the show pen and work on keeping them calm and focused. I don't care if they get anything done with the cattle as long as they don't lose their minds. I have had them on cattle at least once a week for the last 3 or 4 weeks. It isn't as much as they need but it is better than nothing. I took Semper the last couple of times and he is doing a decent job. Still a little bit "shiney" (easily distracted at shiney objects) but he is trying - bless his heart.

April 28th was my birthday. Not just my birthday but my 50th birthday. It was the most amazing birthday that I have ever had. We planned a party and invited friends and family. At about 10am on the morning of the party, my best friend from LA shows up - surprise! I had no idea she was coming. I was so excited! We have been friends forever. Seen each other through the good times and the not so good times - we have history - shoot, we made history! She is the closest thing to a sister that I have - I love her to pieces. We got to take a few hours and go riding. Came home and spent the evening surrounded by some of the most awesome friends and family a person could have. It was definitely in the top ten best days of my life.

Speaking of top tens.... I am compiling a list of sorts... a bucket list - I guess. Things I want to do before I get to old and decrypted. One of the things is to learn to rope. I called my horse shoer - who is an amazing roper - and asked if he would get me started. He agreed to give me a few lessons and told me what kind of rope to buy to get started. Got my rope last week and am going to go take my first lesson in a week or two. More on what is going on the list later.