Trail Ride Success!

Had a small incident this morning. I put three boots on Cotton and went to put the last one on, when suddenly, Cotton decided that she'd never been cross-tied before and pulled back HARD. She broke her halter and went down on the floor. So we were down to just her spare halter. I brought along Trouble's spare, as well as Cotton's broken on. It broke along the throatlatch hole, so you could reuse it on a tighter hole. That might fit better than Trouble's cob sized halter, if we ran into trouble. Even with that small incident, we loaded up and left just slightly behind schedule.

You should first understand this. I've only driven to my instructors and to the FBT (Flat, Boring Trail) on my own. And I knew the road that this ride is at is difficult to see. So, hubby followed me in his car, so that he could leave once we got settled in. We made it there with almost no issue (I thought I might have missed the turn, but I didn't).

And then we waited. Cotton would start pawing, unless you gave her a job. So I started brushing and brushing her. This was a trail competition, but many of the other horses were clean enough for a real horse show. And body clipped! I knew we wouldn't be in the running for the "Best Groomed" Award this time.

They finally held the rider briefing, where they told us what the obstacles would be. The obstacles seemed well enough for us:

1. Mailbox
2. Trot logs, stop at 3rd log for 5 sec, then walk off.
3. Slicker - take off tree, touch horse's four quarters, put back on tree.
4. Downhill
5. Drag - Remove rope from tree, drag plastic bag of cans ~ 50 ft.
6. Back through L

I thought the mailbox and back through would be our hardest. Finessing things was not Cotton's strongpoint.

1. The mailbox went really well. The approach from the left was nicer, but I knew that Cotton sidepasses much better to the right. If I didn't get her lined up right initially, I could sidepass closer to the mailbox if I came from the right. So I did. I came up to it, and said, "Okay, stop Cotton."
Cotton: Sounds good, commencing naptime.
Me: Open mailbox, retrieve flyer, stow flyer away... "Okay, move off Cotton"
Cotton: Really, don't you want to nap?
Me: Nope
Cotton: Well, if you're sure...
Since it was the beginning, the other horses were wired and bouncing off the walls. I know Trouble would have been. But Cotton was so good!

2. Trotting not a problem. But those logs were huge! (Possibly, 18 inches) I trotted a hair too far, or Cotton took a hair too long to stop. We ended up with three legs on the front side and just one in back. You were supposed to straddle the log. So I asked Cotton to back.
Cotton: "Back over this GIANT log?! Are you nuts?!!"
Me: "Yes, pretty please"
Cotton: "Oh, alright"
And then we waited our 5 sec, and moved off. Good Cotton!

3. Cotton walked right up to the slicker, no problems!
Cotton: "Commencing naptime!"
Meanwhile, I could NOT for the life of me get the stupid slicker off the tree! Cotton was right there, it just was snagged on the tree! After trying, I finally managed to get it down. Then I touched it to Cotton's shoulders and hindquarters.
Cotton: "Still sleeping!"
Then I hung it back up.
Me: "Time to move off again, Cotton!"
Cotton: "Sigh, if I must"

4. The downhill was a gimme. There definitely were steeper hills on the last ride here. This one wasn't bad at all! Sit back and let Cotton go!

5. While waiting for our turn, we watched some scary horses at the drag! Their horses would startle, and then take off running. And the riders wouldn't let go! So the bag was still chasing the poor horses! In retrospect, I think this was our hardest obstacle. I dragged the rope and dragged the rattling bag without problem. For bonus points, you were to turn around, backing your horse whilst dragging the bag back to the start. We turned around and started backing. Cotton decided that was too scary! So we dropped the rope and called it good.

6. I thought the back was going to be the hardest one, but Cotton was so good! We walked through the L, and then I asked her to back, and back she did! All done!

My original plan was to head home after the ride, and not wait around for the awards. But Cotton was so good that I decided to wait around. And since we'd gone out in one of the later groups (I picked the smallest group!) we didn't have quite as long to wait. Not too long, just an hour and a half or so....

Finally, they did awards. We got a 5th and $25! Sweet! Should be enough to buy a new leather halter, to replace the one she broke. Yay!

It took longer than I would have liked to load back up. We're up to 60 sec now. Trouble would definitely have gotten yelled at. Cotton just got popped with the end of the leadrope. "Oh, you mean you want me back feet in the trailer, too?!"

Coming home was a bit more exciting than getting there. When we crossed over the highway, I was doing 55 mph. The only time the whole trip I actually go the speed limit! There was a big hill coming up and I wanted some speed to make it over. So, the truck and trailer are zipping along at 55 mph, when so crazy car pulls out right in front of us. Growl! And then comes to a stop. Double growl! Doesn't he know that a loaded truck and trailer do NOT stop quickly? Fortunately, there was a shoulder that we could roll onto. Excuse the rumble strips, Cotton!

We made it almost home. We got to the house and discovered that the stoooopid window contractors were working on a Saturday on our windows, without telling us, and had blocked in the driveway. Umm, dudes, you need to move your trucks and move them NOW! Meanwhile, Cotton starts shaking the trailer, "Let meeee oooooffff! Why are we stoooooped?!" They move, sort of. We clipped a Douglas pear on our way in. I'm not fond of those trees, so I wasn't too sad.

We finally made it home, and reunited Cotton and Trouble.