Chat
07-30-2015, 10:37 AM
This is entirely unrelated to goats, but I have to brag a little and it was too much fun to keep to myself. Yesterday I drove over to Salida with my mom and we competed in the "Gambler's Choice Trail Challenge" at the Chaffee County Fair. The arena was set up with 17 different obstacles and each contestant had 2 minutes to complete as many of the obstacles as they could. The various challenges were given different point values depending on difficulty. There were some super-fun and a few crazy challenging obstacles in there. I wasn't sure how my horse, Jet, would do, but it tuned out he was really on his A-game yesterday. We ended up coming in first place with a score of 470 points for 13 obstacles completed!
Most of the obstacles had 20-point weights, but Jet also did all but one of the 30 and 40-point obstacles I asked him to do, and he even did the 50-point obstacle, which was to cross a mattress. We were allowed to do each obstacle twice as long as we did at least one other obstacle between repeats, so we did the mattress twice since that was big points and Jet is apparently not the least afraid of jumping on beds. He galloped across that thing without missing a beat. The only obstacle he didn't like was the giant tractor tire. He was supposed to walk through the middle of it, but I think it puzzled him. It was exactly the awkward size to confuse him as to whether it was a step-through or a jump-over obstacle, so when I felt him pause to study it I decided to move on rather than waste time. I might do two 20-point obstacles in the same time it would take for Jet to figure out how to properly complete one 30-point obstacle, and this is the beauty of a "gambler's choice" competition. You've got to know your horse and figure out in a split second whether he will go ahead with a little more pressure, or if it's best to move on to something you know he'll do without balking.
I was very impressed with Jet's performance. He only refused the one obstacle out of all efforts, and there were a lot of very silly things in that arena. He didn't even bat an eye at the "Cowboy Curtain," which is an archway with lots of milk jugs and swimming pool noodles dangling from the top. He galloped through that thing so fast I'm glad I had my helmet on--one of those milk jugs gave me quite a whack in the head! But he was also a good boy to slow down and properly open and close the rope gate, and to go quietly while we pivoted a rail around a barrel. He even did the back up and side-pass over a rail obstacle for 40 points. It was a jackpot competition, so this is the most money I've ever won at a horse event! It paid for my entry fee, gas, and food for the day so it turned out our play day was free.
Good boy, Jet!
Most of the obstacles had 20-point weights, but Jet also did all but one of the 30 and 40-point obstacles I asked him to do, and he even did the 50-point obstacle, which was to cross a mattress. We were allowed to do each obstacle twice as long as we did at least one other obstacle between repeats, so we did the mattress twice since that was big points and Jet is apparently not the least afraid of jumping on beds. He galloped across that thing without missing a beat. The only obstacle he didn't like was the giant tractor tire. He was supposed to walk through the middle of it, but I think it puzzled him. It was exactly the awkward size to confuse him as to whether it was a step-through or a jump-over obstacle, so when I felt him pause to study it I decided to move on rather than waste time. I might do two 20-point obstacles in the same time it would take for Jet to figure out how to properly complete one 30-point obstacle, and this is the beauty of a "gambler's choice" competition. You've got to know your horse and figure out in a split second whether he will go ahead with a little more pressure, or if it's best to move on to something you know he'll do without balking.
I was very impressed with Jet's performance. He only refused the one obstacle out of all efforts, and there were a lot of very silly things in that arena. He didn't even bat an eye at the "Cowboy Curtain," which is an archway with lots of milk jugs and swimming pool noodles dangling from the top. He galloped through that thing so fast I'm glad I had my helmet on--one of those milk jugs gave me quite a whack in the head! But he was also a good boy to slow down and properly open and close the rope gate, and to go quietly while we pivoted a rail around a barrel. He even did the back up and side-pass over a rail obstacle for 40 points. It was a jackpot competition, so this is the most money I've ever won at a horse event! It paid for my entry fee, gas, and food for the day so it turned out our play day was free.
Good boy, Jet!
