June 20, 2018

Hello Wednesday.

We woke up to a slew of messages from people trying to help us sort out a 5th pony. What a great community. We feel very embraced and supported and are extremely grateful for all the help and well wishes. Seriously, thank you guys.

And feeling loved by the games community, we were off to ride two ponies this morning (in the lovely Welsh rain). We got in a nice little practice, sorting out who fits which pony best and who fits them second best. Since we won’t be trying two of the ponies until Friday night at the competition we want to have options. From what I know of the ponies I think I have the two most suited riders in mind for them, but you never know who is going to match up with which pony the best. So options.

It was a good wet practice and by the end the 5th pony was sorted back out. Again, what a wonderful community we have in this sport. That’s a happy team right there.

And now we are about to head out to Pritchard’s Tack Shop. This is always an exciting part of the trip.

There are two tack shops we frequent on these trips and it seems one is always a hit and one is a miss and I can never tell which team will like which one. They are a good compliment to each other, one is big and fancy with newer stuff. The other is more of a maze where you have to dig around to find that diamond.

This year the big hit for Sadie and Caroline was the (free) mechanical horse.

Another quick Tesco run to prep for the weekend. Afterwards I took a mini break on WiFi to sort out why my phone was acting up. As soon as I connected it updated. Now it seems to be working fine. This was the actual reason for yesterday’s delayed blog posing (I think).

Back at Mel’s and the girls decided to wash the camper.

and then play with Tilly and Gunnar.

A little more pony riding and playing.

Grace let Eliza ride her show pony Scotty! Look at this little pony go. And only 5!

Video of Scotty

Then dinner time. Emma and I found these neat soups in Tesco. We are trying them out tonight with some Naan (they were great) And of course chicken fingers (by request) for the meat eating kids. Fenya passed on the soup and picked pizza.

The girls want their family and friends to know that Emma and I are feeding them well. They are only now resorting to eating styrofoam.

It is 10pm now, still light out and there is a screaming-running-around-craziness going on. Maybe they need to do laps up and down the driveway tomorrow?

Side note – amazing sunset.

The oven is tiny so it takes a lot of rounds to make dinner. Emma is cooking tonight.

And now for some card play. This involves slapping the table – and like most things, a lot of screaming.

Fun fact – Emma’s home town is the place Velvetta was invented. And the town was originally named Cheesecock, NY, now known as Monroe, NY. They do have a cheese festival every year.

June 19, 2018

After yesterday’s driving and adventures I slept great last night. So did everyone else (which also made it possible for my good night’s sleep). We were up and ready to roll out of our camp this morning. We headed just a short ways to Harlech Castle.

It was in a really cool cliffside town and was a really neat castle. I caught some education while exploring and learned that the ocean did come up to the castle when it was built. The boat landing and Trebuchets are visible and reconstructed down the bottom (but I did not hike down. Now I wish I had). This is where the Irish brought supplies in. Back in the 1400s (or 14th century maybe) a storm formed the dunes along the coast and it pushed the ocean out. The fields in front were marsh lands until they drained them sometime ago to make more farm land.

It’s a pretty cool castle and a very neat town.

Video of castle.

Then we hit up some ice cream at The Castle Creamer. And not just any ice cream but award winning ice cream. I got a half scoop of honey and a 1/2 scoop of elderflower. It was so good. Sadie was the most adventurist and got Seabuck Thorn and Elderflower (she did not like the Elderflower). The proprietor was also so welcoming and explained the flavors. When he scooped up the honey flavor, actual honey leaked out. Yum.

Video of ice cream.

Next was driving. And more driving. And, more driving. Oh and it was almost all super narrow hedge lined roads. Up and down mountains. Through rain and clouds. Curves, more curves, hit the breaks, hedges, hit the breaks, swerve, gas up, break down, hedges. The 3 1/2 hour drive took 5 1/2 hours. We got a little video but it in no way shows how narrow the roads were. The drive exhausted me.

Video clips of the drive

But we made it back to Mel’s. Woo! I fell asleep for 10 minutes and then it was time to go ride at the Pony Club grounds! Woo!

Unfortunately we found out tonight that one of the ponies we were going to be using this weekend not longer has a ride. So we are scrambling to find a ride for it or a replacement pony. We have quite a few leads out so we are sure something will shake out.

Eliza and Sadie made us all pasta for dinner and now we are relaxing and getting ready to call it a night. The cell reception is too weak to load the photos and videos on this post so I’ll put it up in the morning when we head out to ride again! Woo!

Not at all a surprise – Caroline and Sadie are the loud, squeaky ones. Caroline in particular has the squeals and screams down. Those two could use a hamster wheel. They also do a lot of gag noises at gross sounds, smells and words. Caroline and Sadie both are a constant chatter. If they have no words they just make odd noises.

Also not a surprise – Fenya and Steph are the quiet ones. They can both get loud too, but they are no contest for Sadie and Caroline. I hear both Fenya and Steph right now while excitedly chattering while they are playing a round of cards.

Eliza falls in the middle. She doesn’t have the high pitch of the squeakers, but she is louder than sweet Fenya.

Words from Sadie:

Hi Blog! This is really Mrs Kristal Wilson Moistdoon. I would like everyone to know that Sadie is my favorite person on this plant. Amen. She is my queen 👑.

June 18, 2018

This morning we left the race track camp ground, hit up Tesco and headed for Snowdonia in Wales. We made a quick stop along the way to stretch our legs and take in some scenery (and skip rocks).

We arrived at our new camp ground only to check in and then rush back off to hit up Zip World Velocity 2. Not going to lie, I was a bit nervous about this. This zip line boasts it is the fastest in the world and the longest in Europe. 118mph, 222 height drop, 1555 meters long. Sounds cool, but once we got sight of it, the starting point way way way up there in the cloudy distance, the lines going all the long long way down and past the reception point, my nerve was a little weak.

The girls were so excited. Crazy excited. There was no way we could back out.

And they needed two persons over 18 to accompany them, as in, actually go down at the same time as them. Not just watch. So we weighted in (I *might* have been slightly hopeful I wouldn’t make weight) and suited up.

This kid here was about doing back flips in excitement. She cracks me up.

Then we were loaded onto a bus type of vehicle and were driven to the first line.

This one was easy. Emma was tribute and volunteered to take the first group of Fenya, Sadie, and Caroline. I went second with Eliza and Steph. You can see their whole run from being strapped in until they landed in the video in this post.

Then Steph, Eliza, and I went. It was amazingly awesome. Outstanding view, fast, high up, wow!

Once we caught our breath we loaded back onto the bus for the next line. The drive took about ten minutes and we just kept going higher and higher, switching back and forth on the dirt track. We drove into the cloud and finally reached the top. At this point I wondered if I put some rocks in my pockets and insisted they reweigh me if I could get out of it. I mean, we were really really high up! We were in a freaking cloud! They had a wood stove going up there it was so cold and wet and just, ahhh!

But nah, it was going to be amazing.

Video of the zip line adventure:

This time Steph, Eliza, and I went first. It was awesome. I imagine it is what flying would feel like. Totally worth it. It was a super cool experience at a really neat place. Well designed and set up, they did a fantastic job of checking and rechecking all the gear and straps, and seemed to have a well established process.

Ok so you see the blue lake down there? We flew all the way down there, over it and to the other side. From up where this photo was taken.

This statue is where you walk back to the reception area. Pretty fitting.

Now we are driving back to the camp ground and we have stopped at a lake in Snowdonia for some sight seeing and rock climbing. We saw this area last year but didn’t have time to stop and it’s so gorgeous. You can’t really see them in the video but there are old old stone walls going up and across all over the mountains. I can’t imagine what it took to build them initially.

Can you spot the pink and purple? That’s Fenya and Caroline.

Emma. Those stone walls are all over the mountain behind her.

while I am typing this the team decided to climb to the top of the mountain behind the camper. Initially it was to check out these bags we could see a ways up. Which turned out to be full of rocks, we assume to be helicoptered away. But that turned into a mountain topping hike.

video of some views.

After this adventure wore the girls out we drove a little farther and stopped for dinner. With the adrenaline crash hitting, food in the belly, and the exhaustion from all the climbing on rocks (and intense narrow twisty road driving for me) we are ready to crash hard now that we are at camp. Oh and it’s raining and chilly. I of course am loving that.

I should also add that Emma and I are getting pretty handy with the camper. Gray water and pee dumped, clean water filled, lights and electric working properly, we have the gas/oven situation figured out. Go us!

June 16, 2018

Back to the ring side, starting the morning off with Musketeers. Holly cantered her whole session like a pro. Grace and Lilli were amazing, flying back and forth. Their team was awesome.

Our team got a compliment from Ref Vicky for their work ethic.

They were up late last night. I think the time change is getting us. We are all dead this morning.

I hit up a tea and bacon bap to help get me going.

Back to Musketeers, which is essentially a combination of our Leadline and Novice divisions. They have both LL and Novice players mixed together. In general the LL children here do a much more intense LL routine than the typical US child, in MGA, Pony Club and elsewhere. And we are not just talking the child’s bravery, but also the parent’s athletic ability and the appropriately sized ponies. The LL riders over here are often equipped with closely sized matches ponies, LL English saddles (essentially well seated saddles with handles across the pommel) and are moving out at a trot and solid canter, and jumping small jumps. Yep the parents are full out running and jumping. So the LL riders are somewhat matched with those riding off line.

This competition had 8 full teams of Musketeers competing.

Video of the Musketeers doing the Caterpillar race. I wish I had gotten video of them doing some normal races too but it went by more quickly then I realized and they were already on the last one!

Grace, Lilli, and Mel

The Derbyshire team.

The team did equipment and Eliza was a “runner” handling a pony on the Derbyshire team. She got her sprinting in for the day. Emma reffed and coached. And I reffed as well.

The team also got in some naps. Caroline is a pro snorer.

We headed out of Future Stars with as much haste as possible but it soon became clear we were not going to make it to our camp grounds for the night before the late check in deadline and apparently you had to arrive by this deadline or no admittance. So we called to let them know and they helped us find another place in our route to stop for the night.

It is at a race track which would be very cool if there was racing going on but sadly there are not. It’s still lovely and nice and quiet with clean restrooms.

I really want to go check out the timber fences, they are huge. But no one is allowed on the track.

So we are relaxing in for the night. Well more specifically, we have eaten, I have showered and crawled into my bunk for the night to try and fall asleep early. It’s only 730. But I am exhausted and sustaining myself on just a few hours of sleep a night is not going to work for much longer. And I want to be fun and not grumpy tomorrow. Mean while the girls are literally running around screaming as I type this. Literally. Must have been all the napping. 🤔

Well they all needed to get their bags out from the litter compartment which is under the bunk which opens on either end.

My view at the moment. 😆

I have discovered Sadie is the keeper of the house. She is constantly picking up, organizing, and if Emma or I mention something needing to be done she is on it. She is also excellent at taking charge of some of the more important stuff when it comes to packing up the camper like unhooking and stowing the electric cord. I am not surprised to discover this about her but I wasn’t expecting it either.

Here is hoping for good weather tomorrow. Snowdonia here we come!

June 16, 2018

Today has been a busy day.

The team has been leading and ring crewing for Musketeers. Emma has been coaching and reffing. And I have been reffing and announcing. Note – announcing is not my strong point. Especially when you do not know the teams or riders. I called poor Grace and Lilli our about a hundred times and several others by “that cute roan”, and “that naughty gray pony”. Although I did explain that I only knew their names. They made me a cheat sheet, which did help but I think I still mixed the teams up a little bit.

Video of walking through camp this morning.

Its very different how they do their set up at competitions over here. I always marvel at it and it’s really hard to explain. Most people camp out and put their ponies in portable paddocks. So some venues become a maze of paddocks, vehicles, and tents. The stables were basically empty. Actually I didn’t see any ponies in any of them.

Chillin.

Emma reffing the Musketeers.

Emma being awesome.

View from the commentator box looking back over the camping.

Check out the schedule for today. They still played ten races a heat. The change over time between races took about the same amount of time as ours, maybe a bit longer. Riders went to the other end of the ring after the whistle, although generally at a trot, without being prompted for the most part. In the whole day they only got 30 minutes behind. This was attributed to the musketeers taking so long and the wind blowing equipment over and having to be restarted a few times.

The big time saver here is they do not have to repaint lines on grass. On all-weather footing we have to redo lines every heat.

The other big time saver is no briefing. They come in and the heat rolls on. The riders know the rules and don’t expect the ref to go over the race list with them. Although I like a briefing for our Novice division, I feel like our Open and O25 should know the rules and be responsible enough to look at the race list before going in the ring. Maybe this is something for our Rulebook Committee to discuss.

They do not do a warm up race, which does eat up a few minutes, but not that much all said and done. And they do get to ride on nearly the exact same footing right next to the ring in the warm up area. So it’s not surprising. And if the footing is different they are usually permitted to run up and back to feel it out. Which is essentially a warm up race. I do get frustrated as a rider and as a ref when we have riders taking advantage and going out twice or taking yet another hand off and going half way up the lane. The warm up race is not intended to be your actual warm up. It’s intended to feel the footing and your referees starts. It’s a carry over from pony club that’s gotten a bit sloppy and perhaps it also needs some clean up discussion by the RBC?

Anyway. Some play and practice thoughts. I am always looking at ways for us to improve and look into other processes and practices and how or if they would work for us.

Goof balls being goof balls.

Emma coaching Jane on Lacey.

This is our little home for the trip. It’s actually rather comfy. And really convenient. We will have to give you a tour of it in a different post. It’s a bit of a mess at the moment. Like 7 people’s belongings exploded in it. Which is almost exactly what happened.

We are having dinner in the venue. It’s a nice meal. Of course the “pudding” (aka dessert) is my favorite part.

Check this master piece out. Triffle with, I believe, a ground cherry on top. Amazing.

And this one Sadie got. Fenya tried the cheese cake. It also looked fantastic.

I talked a little about the venue last night. It’s a western facility. Really nice. It has a little shop, which is closed, very nice bathrooms with outstanding water pressure in the showers (kills my home’s water pressure). And a lovely indoor. It has an interesting smell that I think comes from the footing and wood the indoor is built out of (at least that’s my guess). It’s sort of a sweet peppery smell. It’s rather strong, but not at all offensive.

Some hang out time with Mel and Andrew and friends (who forced me to eat wonderful wonderful British bacon. How evil of them).

The team played with the kids. I think they all wore each other out.

video of all the riders playing.

After this photos I got a pile of hugs. Grace and Lilli have really come out of their shells this year. Grace stopped me two times today just walking along to say hello and told me how she did riding. And tonight she told me she made the A final. Last year she would have been too shy. They both even waved when I called their names over the PA from the commentator box. I hope I didn’t embarrass them, but Grace has really come so far since last year. I think growing taller helped, because she was good skill wise last year, and had a good seat already, but she was flying out there today! And Lilli too. That little peanut is more confident and just, more, grown up! I suppose a year does that. And Holly told me she cantered for the first time on her own today. How awesome! I’ll have to pay more attention tomorrow so I can check her out. They are all such cool kids.