Like a bride-to-be who’s just found her perfect dress.
Like a surfer who’s stepping up to catch the summer’s best wave.
That’s how I felt at the Cowboy Competition sponsored by the Eastern Mountain Ranch Horse Association and held at Gelinas Farm in Pembroke, New Hampshire.
[Scroll down to view video!]
I have found it! The perfect sport to suit me, my horses, and my goals.
Hooray!
[To read a narrative describing the course,
click here.]
Ranch Versatility is a horse sport that’s gaining incredible momentum. In just the past few years, associations like the EMRHA have been popping up like daisies.
Most have a mission similar to the EMRHA: “…to promote a safe, sane, all-around versatile ranch type horse with athletic talent, brains, style and beauty…”
At Gelinas Farm on competition day, the mission held true to form. It was nice and informal; the horses, competitors, and participants were all refreshingly sane and well-mannered. Dozens of spectators turned up, set out their camp chairs, and watched as horse and rider teams raced (or struggled!) through obstacles.
I competed in a “cowboy competition” but there are lots of other, more specific
classes like ranch trail, ranch cutting, ranch riding, ranch reining and roping. These are events sponsored and sanctioned by ranch horse associations. In those classes, folks can earn points, status, and cash if they have a registered stock horse.
But Shea and I are amateur and unregistered. So we earned points in the following categories: new acquaintances, experience, and fun. It was worth the entry fee.
Kudos to Dave and Jane Moulton for a great competition and to Joanne Gelinas-Snow and Artie Snow of Gelinas Farm for hosting this super event.
How did we do?
Well, if it were just a matter of time we might have do
ne great! But, of course, each obstacle is judged. So if you mess up [Horse moves when ground-tied; you drop a rope; horse refuses to go into water; you let go of the gate when trying to close it. Etc., etc.], then you’re penalized. Penalties are applied as added time.
So, we were one of the fastest teams before our penalties were added in. At the end of the day, we finished 8th of 16 teams with a time over 11 minutes (after penalties were added).
We got plenty of room for improvement, eh?