Posts Tagged ‘mounted games
Weekend Camping Re-cap
I’m back from my mounted games competition in Mullica Hill, NJ. It was a great trip, as I knew it would be, and despite the heat I had a blast camping and hanging out with the ponies all weekend. My team brought home first place in our division with a score of 61 points (second place scored 52 points). I was especially proud of Boomerang, who performed like he had been doing it all of his life. He’s such an easy pony to travel with, infact all of the Chincoteagues are. I look around at some of the wild eyed/crazed ponies that are really upset to be away from home and I’m glad that my boys are so quiet and well behaved. It makes me really appreciate the Chincoteague Pony Breed.
So for today’s post I thought I would share with you some photos from the weekend. And the rest of the week I have videos of the competition, details on how Ammo my dachshund fared on his first camping trip and overnight horse show, and even some training talk as I discuss how I trained while I rode during competition. So be sure to keep checking in the rest of the week!
Chesapeake Boomerang
Ball and Cone Race
Completeing a Flying Dismount
3 Leg Race with my mom and Blitz
Ponies and S’moores
Camping with friends
Today I’m packing up the ponies for a weekend of camping and riding in New Jersey. This is the second thing I look forward to all year with the horses (first being pony penning). Each year in mid-August is held the MGAA Mid-Atlantic #3 mounted games competition in Mullica Hill, NJ. Riders from all over the US (and this year Australia too) travel to NJ with ponies in tow, and tents in the trunk. This is the only competition of the year where pretty much EVERYONE camps. Something about waking up in a tent to the smell of hundreds of ponies is amazing. And to top it off we get to compete!
I’ve always LOVED camping. S’moores around the camp fire, hot dogs on a stick – I love every second of it. This year is doubly special because I get to bring my little Dachshund, Ammo. This will be his first camping experience, and I have to say I’m a little worried his guard dog instincts will kick in while we’re inches away from the outdoors and the sounds that accompany it. He may be relegated to the horse trailer if he can’t control himself.
Minnow and I competing at the Mid-Atlantic in 2004
What also makes this competition special is that I get to ride on a team with my mom and my sister. Usually my younger sister and I play in the masters division, while my mom who prefers a slightly slower speed (despite being an exceptional rider) competes in the fossil division. But this year since my pony is still green (as is my mom’s) and my sister is due for another knee surgery and has to take it easy, we have opted to play with my mom in the fossil division. I think this is the very first time all three of us will have played together. Amazing considering we’ve been playing since 1998 (11 years).
Me after my fall from Blitz at the Mid-Atlantic 2008
Not only that, but this is Boomerang’s first overnight competition. Last year at the Mid-Atlantic #3 I brought Blitz, as it was his first overnight, and as I had just purchased Boomer the week before, he stayed home. (so I guess this also marks a year of me owning Boomer as well). Boomer I’m sure will take to the overnight with ease, nothing seems to ever bother him – I’ve actually never met a pony so unfazed by everything. So I’m basically just thrilled to put our months of training to use and see how he really performs.
So I’ve decided to share with you some videos from last year’s mid-atlantic competition when I competed Blitz – this was actually his very first competition ever.
I look forward to sharing our trip with everyone when we get back! If you find yourself in NJ be sure to stop by!
Never Bite the hand that Feeds
Boomerang
So these past few months, in addition to working with Chincoteague Minnow, I have been intensely training my green pony, Chesapeake Boomerang, how to be an exceptional mounted games pony. Boomer has been learning how to play each race, how to move quickly off of my leg, and how to spin using his hind end. He’s progressed greatly over these past few months, but we still have a long way to go.
Recently my focus has been directed to an issue Boomer has with leading. He’s always been sensitive about stuff on his face and I only use a bitless bridle on him now because he pefers to have no bit in his mouth. So the issue that has come into play is when I go to lead him. Some races require that I jump off of him and lead him through an obsticle and then remount. Boomerang is not at all thrilled at the fact that I use slight rein pressure to ask him to move forward and has a tendancy to either try to bite the reins or me when I ask him to move forward. Definitely not an ok option.
So the past 2 weeks I have been working on getting him to match my speed when I move. First we started with me not holding the reins at all and when I would start to run I’d ask him to follow. Then click, reward. It didn’t take long for Boomer to get that part down. So once he had that figured out I added my hand into the equasion. I’d pick up the rein and if he made a move to bite me I’d gently bump him away with my finger. I’d wait until he kept his head straight before I would click and reward him.
I took a video yesterday of the progress we have made. As you can see for a momment Boomer makes a move towards my hand, you can see the push away correction I give him and then he goes back to keeping his head straight. Since he did not bite me and followed my correction I rewarded him at the end. This is GREATLY improved as to how he used to be, not to mention he keeps trotting through the whole drill, even when I drop back to his shoulder to remount (this can be a difficult concept for a horse to learn).
We still have a lot to do with working with this issue, and Boomer still has what I call “grumpy face”. He may not actually be biting me, but his ears are back and I know the thought is there. For right now, since we are still training, I am going to accept the grumpy face as long as he does not make a move to bite me, but as we further this skill I will eventually ask him to keep his ears forward.
Trick Horse in Chincoteague
Ok, so those of you following this blog have probably been WAITING for me to post an update on how my trip to Chincoteague Island with Minnow went. We had kind of spotty internet – so posting down there wasn’t much of an option, not to mention my days were packed with pony swim excitement and performing! So anyway, this week I’m going to go over how our trip went – complete with videos and pictures from the exciting week.
Today I’m going to share with you some of the videos I took (well had someone else take) of Minnow performing. The first video is of us performing our beach picnic skit. Considering that Minnow learned some of the tricks only a week before our trip I was so proud of him! We had a few little mishaps during the week, like Minnow not wanting to do some of the tricks, but we pressed on and overall I think everyone enjoyed his performance.
This next video is of the Extreme Pony Race. Basically it is one small “act” in the Chincoteague Pony Center Performance in which some of the ponies/riders are asked to go through sort of an obstical course. The whole thing is timed, and if you have to skip a task (or you don’t complete it correctly) then 5 seconds is added onto your time. Minnow was asked to perform the extreme pony race twice during the week – having never seen or tried it before. I had been buting him all week so that he wasn’t in any pain from his arthritis (normally I never ride Minnow), and honestly, he could use the exercise and its good to use his joints sometimes. Anyway, this video is of the first time Minnow tried the extreme pony race, and much to my surprise we won, infact we were undefeated the entire weekend! Go Minnow! If you watch closely you can see me using the bitless bridle with Minnow, I had many comments after the show from people asking about this unique bridle and how I liked it. Of course I think the Bitless Bridle should now sponsor me because I was quite the spokesperson if I do say so myself!
As you can see I didn’t ask Minnow to complete the backup task. He did back up for me at first, but when I asked again he gave me a big head toss. Now I know my pony well, and I decided he was not happy with this request, so I opted to skip the skill. Some people may see this as me being too “soft” and I should of made him do it, but honestly Minnow has done so much for me, and he constantly performs for me when I ask him to, with barely much of a protest. So when I can tell he’s frustrated and not up for it, I opt to let it go and ask for it another day. This is what makes our relationship so special. If you had a bad day and didn’t feel like doing something – and someone forced you to do it anyway, you can bet that the next time that person asked you to do something you’d start to resent them for asking. This is who I like to view horse training. I pick and choose my battles. If I can tell my horse is definitely not in the mood (maybe they are grumpy that day, maybe the flies are bothering them) then I usually decide to save it for another day. 9 times out of 10 if I respect how they are feeling they will perform bigger and better for me the next time I ask.
After the extreme pony race I was actually complimented by several spectators for not making Minnow perform the back up. In the end those compliments were well worth it to me. Minnow was happy, and specators appreciated my decision to make it more enjoyable for my horse.
So there you have it, a little peak into my week on Chincoteague Island. And for those of you wondering, sadly I did not come home with a new foal, but I swear I will someday! I actually had my eye on a georgous colt, you can hear all about it in this weeks posts, so keep reading!
-KD
www.ponypaintings.com
Pony Penning Countdown
Only two more days until Minnow and I leave for Pony Penning! So excited! I’ve been shopping for the finishing touches for Minnow’s performance. We need some new paint brushes and Minnow needs some sunscreen (we don’t want him to get burnt at the beach now do we?).
For all of you that are curious about Pony Penning here is a great article from today’s Daily Times. Pony Penning Countdown.
I hope to be able to post updates from Chincoteague about Minnow and his performances! So I’ll try not to leave you all hanging!
And until then, I’ll leave you with some videos from last year’s pony penning.
This next one shows our little “performance” from last year. Last year was when I first started performing with Minnow, and if you have been following our blog along lately you can see that we have evolved GREATLY from this. This year’s act promises to be much more exciting!! So don’t miss seeing it in person at the Chincoteague Pony Centre!
-KD
