Competitive trail pics

[Cedarsgirl]

Good thing that a few friends took some pics during the CT comp. These pics do not do any justice to the scenery there. There were far more breath taking scenes. I'll have to remember my camera next time.

[Cedarsgirl]

...and a few after the ride with Cricket and I (posted on my other thread too). Cricket is quite muddy here. Guess she thought she deserved her roll in the mud.

[3equines]

Beautiful country. Wish I was there!

[Rant]

Competitive, like ACTHA?

[Cedarsgirl]

Competitive, like ACTHA?

Its a little bit different than that. It is a timed event (in my case 3 1/2 hrs to cover 20 miles). You are disqualified if you are too early or too late coming back. All obstacles are natural. In our last event the hills were almost straight up and the sand going up and down the hills was 18 inches deep. Very tough going. You'd never know it from those pics. Some of the trails the bush was almost closing in on you and there were trees laying across at various points. There are river crossings etc. That kind of thing. You are scored by the condition of your horse. There are various vet checks throughout the comp. That might be the same as ACTHA? The horse with the highest end score is the winner. Not sure if this is similar to ACTHA.

3euines, thanks it is beautiful. Funny how the province is so different from one area to another. Where I live its very flat. Spruce Woods is only 3 hrs drive from where I live. Sandilands provincial forest, a 30 minute drive from me, is all pine and just gorgeous too.

[CaddoCinnamon]

Nice pics

[WashingtonBay]

CTRs are a cool thing! Glad to hear you had a good ride! Would love to hear more about the kinds of obstacles and how they were judged... did I miss a thread?

[gaited07]

Oh that looks FUN!!! I can't wait til I can get back into this.

[Cedarsgirl]

CaddoCinnamon, thanks!

WashingtonBay, I have another thread "I'm sore but its a good sore" that talks about my placing in the CT comp. All the obstacles are natural be they hills, rivers, fallen trees etc. Depedning on the ride you get a certain amount of time to complete it and there are initial vet checks, during, and after the finish. My ride was the 20 mile and you get 3 and a half hours. You start with a certain amount of points and are deducted points for any "faults" during and after completion of the ride. The point is to complete the ride with your horse in the best condition possible. Numerous rules too like having to trot the last half miles in prior to vetting and having to keep forward the last two miles (failure to do so gets you disqualified).

gailed07, its a blast. Try it the first chance you get! Your horse will probably love it. Mine does but she also hates arena work. On my last ride I got to ride with a gal that had a gaited horse. Man could he move. My Cricket ended up beating him though! :) I'm so proud of her.

[Petra]

Beautiful place! I love the pictures. Too bad you didn't bring your camera. Would love to see more. :)
Glad you had a good time!

[Cedarsgirl]

Thanks Petra, and I'll be sure to bring my camera next time. ;)