ACTHA Ride - Not a Snowballs Chance! (Dec 4th, we were volunteers)

The ride was held at Holden Lake, Mo., and it was a lot colder and more windy than it was supposed to be.  There were 20 riders that braved the month of December!  Woo hoo!  Brian and I volunteered for the ride, and since I am an ACTHA member, I was eligible to be a judge.  Brian was my assistant, and also helper for anything else that needed to be done.

We stayed the night with a couple of friends who lived closer to the ride than we do, and April and I left early to help get things set up.  I rode her mustang, Nevada, and she rode her husbands mustang, Zip, to the 2nd obstacle to get things set up.  Dang it was cold, but it was a fun ride! 

Here is the group of die hards.  There were 4 youth riders in the group.

Waiting for things to begin.  Some of the team putting on the ride brought a coleman stove to heat up lunch, there was coffee, hot chocolate, and I don't remember what else.  The big brown tarp was brought by Aprils (one of the team members) husband Bryan to help block the wind at the pavilion.  My Brian was with him and got to help.  It was one big tarp!

Ride brief....

Kendra (brown cowgirl hat in the center) was the contact person for the ride.  She and her group did a great job with their ride.  They mentioned doing another one when it is a little warmer.  We all laughed as she was reading the rules....no shorts or flip flops.  HA!  No worries this day!

Some of the judges headed out to their obstacle.

The youngest youth rider of the group.  She did great! 

This was one of the prizes - and my favorite - that was made by April's Dad.  Isn't it awesome?

This is Smokey who is being ridden by one of the youth riders.  Brian and I talked to her Dad at the end of the ride and learned quite a bit about this horse.  When they got the horse she was very out of control.  His daughter got some help and they worked and worked and now they show and are doing rides like this.  Is she perfect yet?  Nope.  Her Dad is so proud of his daughter.....she had made the comment to him that it would not have been as much fun to work with her if she was already perfect.  I see it as they saved another horse from a fate unknown.  :-)

Getting ready for the ride...

Diana, who was a trainer at the Extreme Mustang Makeover, and her first mustang Cody.  She has had Cody for approx 20 years. 

Two of the youth riders waiting for obstacle #1.
The first obstacle was the bridge and mailbox.  The grass was wet so not only shod horses, but booted and barefoot horses were slipping on it.  In spite of this, they all did great, picked themselves up and tried again.  A couple of horses went to their knees but got right back up.

The riders were split into 2 groups.  This is the first group coming in to obstacle #1.  We were on #6 so had time to watch the 1st and 2nd obstacle.

April and her mustang Nevada got to lead group #1.  Another safety rider was following behind the group.

This horse won the best dressed.  :-)

This is group #2 arriving to the 2nd obstacle.  The dam to the lake is beside them.

The judges horses are to be tied away from the obstacle/judging area.  They hung out watching everyone go by.

Obstacle #2 was the pinwheel.  The board is on the middle barrel and the outside barrel.  You pick up the rope on the outside barrel and walk around the whole thing keeping the end of the board on the middle barrel.  I can't wait to try this one at home.  This is Diana and her mustang Cody.

This part really impressed me.  Diana is being timed, but her board was getting close to the edge of the barrel.  She had to strategically tweak the board back to the center, move her end back to the barrel she started on, then cross between the cones within the time they were given.  SHE DID!  She was in the Open division.  The Pleasure division had to go 1/2 way around.

Oops, this one is out of order.  Dad is fixing the boot on Smokey before obstacle #1.

Riders leaving obstacle 2.

Riders waiting their turn for obstacle...

This is our obstacle - #6.  It is the Mount & Dismount with a flair.  Hee hee!  The riders are to either canter (Open division) or walk (Pleasure division) up to the mirror, sit on their horse a few seconds, dismount, then mount, then make it thru the cones in a certain amount of time.  This one was tough.  Most of the riders timed out....I think part of it was the cold.  They had already been out there for almost 3 hrs so bodies were not moving as quickly and smoothly as they would have if the wind had died down. Not to mention wearing coveralls does not make it easy to move.
This is where I realized judging was hard.  Other than the timing out, everyone's horses did so good with the mirror!  A few snorts and quick stops, but they all did GREAT!  I did not like writing down zeros.  :-(   The riders were so much fun and I admire every single one of them for being out there.

Brian and I with the lake behind us while waiting for the riders.

April added something after the ride, and almost every rider signed up for it!  She set up an in-hand obstacle course kind of like the EMM.  They had to see who could get thru the fastest.  We missed most of it because I had to turn in score sheets and share a few notes, but we did get to see some of it.  Some of the riders waiting their turn....

April's husband Bryan brought his deer target and put it by the mailbox.  Most of the horses we saw could care less. 

Oops, another out of order....this is a horse I have seen at a few rides.  His rider won her division (Open) and she always does very well.  When people mention to her how great she did, she always smiles and says "I have a great horse."

This is Jack and his young green horse...she was a friendly little thing! 

We had to head back to April and Bryan's place because I had lost my glasses.  Seeing as I lost my other pair of glasses a few months ago, Brian said we needed to go look one more time.  I was very glad I had my contacts with me....would have missed a lot.  Yes, we did find my glasses, whew!  I also got to meet April's yearling mustang, Juliette.  Juliette was one of 9 orphans from a round up, and she is a little sweetie!!  Juliette did have a partner, Romeo, but he passed away from complications with the anesthesia when he was at the vet to be gelded.  Everyone was so sad to hear about that.  We all love April and Bryan for adopting the two babies. 

On our way out of town we forgot to stop by the big blown up Santa on a Chopper....and we were already by the big rock frog.......then we went by the Tribal Dudes and Dudettes!  Brian just had to turn around for pictures! 

When we used the flash, their eyes lit up like this! 

This is how they looked without the flash.  It looks like a cute little farm and would be fun to visit in the summer.

Hanging out at the ride was fun, and there was something awesome about being out there with the die hards.  Judging was a learning experience....I had to focus on being consistent and as much as I wanted to ignore the clock, I couldn't.  :-)  We are so glad we went and on the way home Brian mentioned how much fun he had. 

Until later....Karen and Tripp who was sooooooo glad he got to stay home because the trailer is too drafty for weather this cold!