MGAA Mid-Atlantic #2 Mounted games Competition 2013

June 18, 2013

Two weekends ago, June 8/9, was the MGAA, Mounted Games Across America, Mid-Atlantic #2 Series Competition in Centre Hall, PA at Grange Equestrian Center. It was a 2 day competitions with three sessions for a total of 39 races.

My team, Old School, competed in the adult “fossil” division. I was joined by my usual teammates, Linda, Kim, Carol Ann and guest teammate, Genevieve. Simon was a bit perkier than usual, and even a little hot for his first few races. His energy waned a little during the second session, but he did pick up his hooves a bit during the final. He was certainly not speedy, but he was moving out more than usual. I attribute this in part to the change in his bitting. That combined with the hard work and training we have been putting in made a difference.

Although it was a bit bumpy, we won our first session by a small margin. Linda had an uncharacteristic rough start, but had her game back in shape after the first few races. The second session, was rough for me. I had a terrible Hug-a-Mug race in particular. Time Flies kicked our butts in this session leaving us down a good 10 or more points.

The final session of 15 races started at 8am on Sunday and we went in ready to roll. We played hard, trying to make up the gap that Time Flies had on us after session 2. By the end we came close, only 2 points behind our friends in pink, but ended in second followed by Red Solo Cup, Mischief Managed and Antiques Road Show.

The camping was fantastic as always. Although Carol Ann and I switched things up a bit and joined our friends Val and Jon and their lovely son Dexter for the weekend. We camped off to the side, away from the security lights, and enjoyed a quiet social time. Val and Jon and I go way back, like early 1990s, way back! woe! And we had some fun reminiscing and hamming it up all weekend. Our dogs all had a fantastic time too, playing together and visiting the neighbor dog, Penny. I am looking forward to reuniting at Nationals next month for another chill camp out with this group plus a few other friends.

Another fantastic MGAA competition, with over 140 ponies hitting the field. The Masters A final was hard fought, ending in the last race with a 1 point separating the first 3 teams, and the other teams meager points behind. Lots of great action was seen in all divisions, with lots of collective OHS and ahhhhhs.