“E-burg Competitive Trail Team”

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Okay.  Not really anything official.  But seven horse and rider teams (six members of KVTR and one sister), plus a ground crew of two, made the trek north to Wenatchee the weekend of the 17th, for the “Dry Gulch Trail Challenge” on the outer reaches of the Appleatchee Riders complex of arenas and barns.  And we made a pretty fair showing.

I know there are KVTR members who are just fine wandering around our beautiful Valley, with good friends, and trusty horses.  But for a few of us, a little bit of competition to show what we and our steeds can do, is fun and rewarding.  And either way, it’s okay.  For myself, I was just as excited when “Kate” tackled the gorgeous Pete Lake trail recently, as when she trundles through a course of man-made challenges.  It definitely a “to each his own” deal.

But, if you’re interested, here’s a sampling of the obstacles:

The country side surrounding the "Dry Gulch Trail Challenge" course, outside of the Appleatchee Riders' main barn/arena complex. Can you spot Michelle E. and Trio on the course?
Debby J. and Wendy Daze swim right through the first obstacle, a muddy ditch.
Laurie H. and Kate negotiate the "wild cow" barrels--at the walk for the "greenhorn" division.
Warren E. takes the barrels at a trot for the "Dude" (intermediate) division.
Joetta M. and Snack Bar moving a little faster.
The greenhorns did the "short, wide" bridge.
"Dudes" and "Wranglers" (advanced) tackled the long skinny bridge.
Barb B. tries to untangle her lasso, while Fannie Mae eats the "cow" they're supposed to rope.
Steppin' through the "Windfall."
Michelle's sis Margaret "Reads the Mail."
Some folks were to trot through the logs.
Others loped. “Yee Haw!”

Everyone did a sidepass at some point in their course.

Wendy gets a bath in the "Car Wash."
Greenhorns got the big gate.
The rest had to do the smaller one. Don't forget to duck!
Wranglers rode over the tires.
Dudes led or drove their horse over, with a dismount and mount before and after.
The advanced division drove over a deep ditch.
We all rode up some part of the hill...
...and then back down again.
Wranglers had to back up a short part of the incline, an awkward task for most horses.
Fannie shows off her "auto-load" feature for the final wrangler obstacle.
Barb and Fannie "wrangled" their way to a first place award in the advanced division!

 The “Team!”

Joetta, Michelle, Debby, Margaret, Laura, Warren, Barb, & Laurie

[plus Snack Bar, Fannie Mae, & Kate]

Oh, and Charlie is behind the camera [and had been most of the day–Thanks, Charlie!”]

All-in-all, it was a great outing!

I do have to apologize that I am about a week late in getting this post up:  between three or four cameras, there were well over 700 photos taken! (We tried to get most obstacles for each horse and rider pair.)  I didn’t even try to post the video!

I have some photos of the ride last Thursday at Kathy M’s.  I will try to get them up soon.  If you have pictures from the Fun Ride at the Horse Park last Saturday, send them along.  And be sure to send me any from this weekend at Silver Ridge–Barb, Deb and I will be at the ACTHA trail challenge at the Horse Park…

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