Posted in Real Horses, tagged cross-country, eventing, photos, real horses, riding on August 1, 2014| 4 Comments »
Novice cross-country started shortly after dressage. The best spot to see it was up on spectator hill:
The white tent in the upper left was where the riders started
I ended up walking the path around the hill. It went alongside the course and offered good views of everything.
He *did* make it over this jump, luckily!
All in all it was a fun way to spend a few hours! I’m hoping I’ll get the chance to go back next year, because I’d really like to see some showjumping. 😀
Posted in Real Horses, tagged dressage, eventing, photos, real horses, riding on July 30, 2014| 6 Comments »
Every year there is a big three-day event at Rebecca Farm in Montana. Even though this is only 30 minutes from home (and just across the highway from my school) I have never been able to go, and I’ve lived here for over 7 years!
However, this year I was finally able to check it out. I showed up right after my class, and figured I’d spend an hour or so before heading home to pack for the live show and work on homework.
I ended up staying for over four hours, hahaha.
It was a gorgeous day, but windy and a bit cold. A lot was going on. I mostly wandered around, taking pictures and trying to stay out of the way. I watched some dressage riders in the warm up rings for a while…
This grey was gorgeous:
I also got to watch a few dressage tests in the various arenas. There were several going on all at once.
I liked how several of the riders were smiling the whole time! 😀 According to the schedule these were FEI levels and National Horse Trial levels? I’m not sure, it’s a bit confusing to me.
Novice cross-country was next!
Posted in Real Horses, tagged real horses, riding on June 16, 2014| 2 Comments »
Last Friday a group from my college took a horseback riding trip up in Glacier National Park. I didn’t know anyone, but since the price was incredibly reasonable (and I DO need to get out more) I decided to go along. Besides, I hadn’t been around horses in well over a year… it would’ve been silly for me to skip it. 😀
The horses were mostly Haflingers:
But there were others, including a few draft crosses.
Unfortunately the wranglers specifically asked us NOT to take pictures while riding, which makes sense. I do have a few more I swiped off Facebook though.
My horse was a buckskin gelding named Rue. (Roo? honestly I don’t know…)
The ride was mostly under the cover of the trees, and since it was cloudy we wouldn’t of been able to see the mountains anyway. There were a few points on the trip where I could look back and see the mountains disappearing into the clouds, which in a way was just as beautiful.
The water level is very high right now as well. We crossed a few bridges and walked along steep banks that overlooked the river. It’s fast and violent and dangerous, which made crossing the bridges a bit nerve-wracking. (at least for me… the horses are all, “meh, I do this everyday…”) I wish I had pictures! It’s amazing how powerful the water is.
About halfway through the ride it started to rain. We didn’t get caught in a downpour, but it rained steadily for quite a while. I’m glad I chose to wear a helmet… it kept the water out of my face. XD
You can’t tell much, but I’m soaked in this picture. My shoes are still drying out.
Even with the rain, everyone still had a good time and no one was complaining or anything. I know I had a good time… usually school events conflict with my schedule so it was nice to get out and do something different for a while.
I am so sore though. SO sore. Every joint is protesting movement!
