Cross Country Camry

My Camry didn't come with the towing package. It didn't come with a sticker on it's side that says "off road" either. But, today, it was the Cross Country Camry. It went all over Waredaca's Cross Country course and it didn't refuse, run out, or eject me! Good Camry!

With Katchi not competing this month, I decided to sign up to volunteer at Waredaca today. Of course, it's a good thing to do for our sport - but I also needed to get my required volunteer hours done for the Area II Year End Awards (have you signed up yet?!). But, aside from that, volunteering is a great opportunity to learn (or remember!) stuff about eventing. Here's 3 things I remembered today while jump judging...

1. Running an event is incredibly hard and complex! All of us riders who LOVE this sport should be seriously thankful for everything done for us by event organizers, officials, volunteer coordinators, jump builders, and everyone I don't even know exists!

2. If you have been eliminated, it sucks. But it's not okay to be walking off the course and give your horse one more smack with the bat - or two. Let me repeat, Not Okay.

3. Your horse can jump from a standstill, so long as the jump is less than 12 inches high (I looked it up in the rulebook tonight, and it actually says 30 centimeters, which according to the internet is 11.8 inches, but anyhow..) - interestingly, apparently the small log into the water for (I think) the Novice course was 11 inches high, making it perfectly legal to stop and step over it from a standstill. Do you carry your 12" ruler in your pocket when you walk your courses?! :)

So, here are some pics of the Cross Country Camry hard at work!

Manning its field.


A careful eye on the Intermediate 1/2 Coffin.


The Training swail.

Oh yea, and it rained too - in August - so much for the tan I was planning to get during my day of jump judging.

Now lets talk Trakehners for a minute. Here are Waredaca's Prelim and Intermediate Trakehners. If we were to play a little game of which one is more like the horrible evil Prelim Trakehner at Loch Moy, which one would win?

Prelim Trakehner -

1. Nice solid ground line (nope, not at Loch Moy!)

2. Ditch underneath (yep, Loch Moy too - oh, but, Loch Moy's is about twice as deep and twice as wide).

3. Pretty minimal space between ditch and rail.

Intermediate Trakehner -

1. No groundline.

2. Huge ditch.

3. Freaking enormous.

4. Shit, this one's even the same color as Loch Moy's!

My conclusion: Loch Moy Prelim Trakehner = Waredaca Intermediate Trakehner.

Well, the good news is, when Katchi runs Intermediate at Waredaca, I can pretty much tell him to suck it up and jump the Trakehner, because he jumped one just as hard at his first Prelim!!!

If the weather holds tomorrow, I've got 4 headed back out to Win Green for another day of XC schooling - I really should buy a time share down there!