While some riders are preparing for Tevis, I'm preparing for The Pink Flamingo Classic in Cascade, ID. This was my very first ride last year, and I'm looking forward to doing it again this year. I'm even more excited to be doing it on my own horse!
The trailer is more or less packed, my saddle pads have been washed and are drying in the sun, I spent all last night cooking vegetables and pasta salad for quick meals, and the trailer water tanks are full. I love this ride because it is in the mountains and over terrain similar to that we train on when we ride on Moscow Mountain. It is also put on by a friend of mine and the proceeds from the fabulous raffles go to proceed breast cancer research. There are prizes for the most pink flamingo-y campsite and rider costume, although we won't be in the running this year since I left all our flamingo stuff in Pullman.
Jasper and I are planning to do both days--a 30 on Saturday and a 25 on Sunday. I'm going to take it day by day and see how he looks and feels. I'm going to do both days completely barefoot, as well. I'll be bringing our boots just in case, but since we have no trouble doing all our conditioning barefoot, I don't see this as being a problem. We're also going to attempt to do it bitless--I will also be bringing his bit just in case. I'm hopeful we'll be able to do bitless, as Jasper seems to really have gotten the hang of his S-Hackamore both in groups of three or more and by himself.
I am very happy with Jasper's current condition. As usual, I think he could stand to gain a few pounds, but he's looking more muscular and has a better-than-usual layer of fat over his ribs and everything else. He's moving out extremely well, and seems to have settled into a niche during our mountain training rides of a comfortable 11 mph trot. He used to really smooth out at 9 mph, so I'm interested to see how he does at the rides. I'm also wondering if it isn't a bit of GPS malfunction, since we are in the mountains among the trees--it doesn't FEEL like we're going that fast. He seems to be getting the hang of that nice, free-swinging ground-covering trot, and is moving out as relaxed as ever.
3 comments:
Good luck! I hope you have lots of fun.
Isn't getting/keeping weight on these horses a pain? LOL. I finally have my mare just shy of the fat butterball stage and that's perfect. Fat butterball is relative of course - fat butterball to me because I've thought she was too skinny for so long, but in reality she's about a 5-5.5.
Mel
Jasper looks really good! Athletic and fit. Best of luck riding your ride this weekend. ~E.G.
Jasper looks great Elly! Best of luck on the Flamingo.
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