At our Emergency Games Practice we got in a lot of different races. One race we wanted to play was the new “Litter Scoop” recently approved by the IMGA Rulebook Committee to be introduced into the rulebook in 2019. We suspected this race would be a fun challenge with the need to scoop a litter straight on, right after a hand off.
Initially we felt it would be similar in skill to the scoop in Twitter, but in practice I felt like it played quite different. I actually quite like it. I think it will be one of those races (which most are, but some more so than others) that just feels wicked when the skills come together to play smoothly. It has the potential to be incredibly fast as well. Of course there is plenty of room for error, especially as riders get used to the new skill and technique.
I actually think it has some potential to be more of a technical race for some of the less speedy teams, at least initially while riders work out perfecting their scoop at speed.
I am very pleased to see IMGA introducing a few new races. I like Bottle Exchange and think it plays well. I think Litter Scoop has the same potential. To the poo-pooers out there, I think you need to give it a chance. Certainly try it out before you smear a negative prospective all over it.
I tried it. I like it. And I am eager to try it in competition!
The video of us playing – it’s a messy little video. We were trying to play and video each other. I think Jon and Sadie did the best but I only caught one of Jon and I never managed to catch Sadie on a video that didn’t make me sea sick to watch.
It’s been raining and raining and raining all week and this has caused crazy record flooding up and down the east coast, trees uprooting, mudslides, power outages, bridge and roadway washouts, and just craziness. In response to mother nature’s outburst our big Mid-Atlantic #2 competition in New Jersey this weekend was canceled pending a reschedule date. This is the first time any of us can remember a major team competition being cancelled in advance.
This is never an easy call. Carl, part of the organizing committee, went to the grounds Thursday to investigate and the ring was already wet and he sighted puddles, with heavy rain pending still before the competition start and more scheduled rain for the entire Saturday of the competition. Not only is riding in the rain and slop not as much fun, but it can pose a safety hazard. We were faced with ponies pulling up lame during monsoon like rains back in 2011 during MGAA Nationals held at the same grounds. The footing in the arenas could not hold up to the amounts of rain we were getting then. Which we are getting again now.
Photo: Poe does love his job. I swear.
All that said, I would certainly still have ridden. I know my pony and I am comfortable bringing back my speed and adding support to my pony in compromised conditions. But, I know not everyone else is. And even so, no mater how much I bring him back, it’s still a risk. And I certainly respect the organizers decision. I wouldn’t want to see anyone or any pony get hurt. And it sure is nice being dry!
Knowing we had some flexibility this weekend we decided to set up a practice at the indoor at Frying Pan Park in Herndon Saturday afternoon. $15 a rider, 2pm till dark. We got a group of nine of us together and two lanes of equipment and we met up for some fun!
We ran through at least a dozen races, riding for about three solid hours before our group really broke up. In the end it was mostly the ponies who were done, not so much the riders. When Poe was done, I switched to Simon, who could have gone all day! But by then most everyone was about done with games so I only got to do a few races on him.
Video of Pony Pairs:
It’s been a while since I have played games on Simon but he felt good. He was responsive and ready.
Video of Simon doing Four Flag – outside and inside turns:
But since everyone else was done, Zoe, Jessie and I decided to hack out and around the cross country course for a bit. This was a really fun time. The course has some massive jumps. Most are not very well kept up but there are quite a lot of them through the woods and fields. We played around at a few, measured a few to our ponies, and gawked at others. We saw a fox, twice, some ducks too. And there was this crazy crow that really was all about attention.
Video of Zoe and Jessie playing on the cross country course:
We finished riding and headed out of the grounds around 7 and decided to stop for Tai for dinner. It looked like just a little place from the outside, nothing special, but inside it was so neat and the food was amazing. This was a really nice cap to the end of an awesome awesome day.
Photo: the bears were wearing costumes!
I love my games family.
Now we have to wait two weeks until Mid-Atlantic #3. Lets hope for dryer conditions. I don’t think it has ever been this wet around here. At least not in my memory.
This post is not about horses, it’s about chickens!
When we moved to our current house four or five years ago we gave our chickens away and I have missed them ever since. We knew we would eventually get chickens again but we needed to get ourselves and our primary animals set up and established first, work out the kink.
By the end of last summer I felt the ponies were well established with all the field rotations and such worked out. And I felt ready for chickens again.
We live in a more rural area, with a lot more predators. Predators that come up to our porch and walk around our house. So we needed to make sure we had our chicken set up figured out before we had any birds so we could protect them.
So I spent the fall and winter researching and comparing coop options; build our own, buy a prefab, Craigslist used, options, options?
I wanted a secure coop. One I could lock the chickens in securely. I wanted it to have a small secure run also attached. I wanted it to be easy to clean. I needed an easy coop, convenient, manageable. I also didn’t want to spend a ton of money and I wanted to see how well the chickens would do with all these predators anyway.
In the end I decided on a Tractor Supply prefab coop. It was on sale for $200 from $250. It is a secure coop with an attached secure run. There are three nesting boxes with a nice little door that opens easily in the back for simple egg removable. The floor is a tray that slides out for super easy cleaning. Two nesting rails inside and one outside, it has ventilation, and several doors to the outside.
To finalize the security we just needed to add some more wire across the bottom which was inexpensive and simple to do.
We could not build a similar coop for that cost.
I ordered the coop and when it arrived Rich and I put it together. It was pretty easy and took about an hour. The instructions were easy to follow and al the parts were included. We did add some extra screws but otherwise followed the directions exactly.
We placed the coop right next to the house in our back porch area. We figured this would help with the predators. We also want the chickens to help with pest control around the house. Chickens love to eat ticks and slugs and little bothersome bugs. They also kill mice and other unwanted household pests.
Then we picked up one laying hen and six pullets in a variety of colors. My goal was for every chicken to look different. Accomplished! The laying hen has yet to lay an egg and the pullets are still too young. But we are hoping to be rolling in the eggs by the end of the summer and even more so next spring.
Rich and I have both been spending time “chicken watching”. It’s a good piece of mind. I love to watch them do their chicken yoga, stretching their wings and legs, taking dust bathes, pecking around, chasing bugs, and just being chickens. If you have not spent any time chicken watching and letting your mind unwind, you should give it a try.
Every morning I open their door and they spend the day going in and out eating bugs and bits of grass. They are rather timid still but are getting more ambitious. Lupin, our cat, loves to hang out with them. So does our cattle dog Ash. And Rich and I both enjoy chicken watching.
I moved the ponies off the dry-lot and onto pasture last night. I got home this afternoon and went to move them back. I didn’t want them to have too much grass.
It’s been raining pretty non stop all week, and the dry-lot is an old dried out pond. It’s had some flooding but nothing too bad and always short lived.
Today it was rough. What I assume is an underground spring popped up and is actively flowing into it. The hay is all ruined. There is about two feet of standing water under the barrels, which are full of hay. I am guessing it is about three feet deep in the center of the pond.
I took a short video I’ll post at the bottom.
My ghetto hay shelter is completely flooded. Trashed hay.
Check out the video. You can hear the water flowing.
Today I teamed up with some mounted games friends, Carol Ann and Natalie and we headed south into Augusta County. I admittedly have not been into this area since I moved to northern Rockingham about four years ago. It used to be my regular trail riding grounds, Bear Trap was my hands down favorite loop ever.
Note to self – go ride Bear Trap soon!
I have not ridden the Gorge in probably ten years. It is one of the most popular rides in the area. Particularly on hot days because the usual loop has eleven or twelve creek crossings. It’s about a 12 mile loop, with some super nice, move along footing down the bottom loop, a nice big climb on a closed fire road, and then some rocky navigation through the mountains with some nice views. The first half of the ride makes it easy to get some good moving pace and speed, and the second half is slower.
It does go through a more populated area than I usually hit up. There are people fishing and camping. We saw two guys hiking out with quite a few trout today. These are stocked waters so good fishing and eating. And we saw quite a few campers.
Parking: There is a pull over on the side of the road, long enough for three long rigs, probably more, just before the entrance we used. We started in from the road, not at the camp grounds, which is also a starting point with a pull over spot.
There is a small pull off the road camp space where we parked right next to the entrance. This is not to be confused with the actual camp grounds. We entered at 538 North River Gorge, closed gate, go over a creek crossing almost immediately.
There are a couple ways to do this ride, the loops can be done in the opposite order, or started from different points, including approached from the other side of the mountain.
I forgot to start the tracker for about .2 so adding that to our total. You can see the blue dot is our supposed start vs the red where we actually started/stopped. This also added about 5 minutes. We were moving out in the start.
This photo is of the entrance. I am sitting on Simon and he is standing on the road for it. So nice smooth, clear, obvious entrance in. You can see the closed gate in the background, which is marked on the map. There is a creek just beyond it.
The first one is shallow but the second one was moving quite quickly and pushed Daisy a bit. Daisy had to swim at that one and a few others. This was also Daisy’s first ride out since her knee surgery back in January. It was probably not the best ride for her to go out on but I could not leave her home again. It’s been breaking my heart to leave her all winter.
Daisy has always gone with me and has maintained an extreme level of fitness due to all her riding with me. She was actually deemed by the vet last fall as being too active when I took her in for a check up worried about her being off her food a little. But four months off and Daisy is not conditioned. Poor girl.
Carol Ann and Natalie were so kind and understanding. We had to wait for her to catch up a few times and let her have a moments rest a few times. The swimming and racing up hill really kicked her butt.
The creeks were refreshing. Back and forth over them. Trot and canter in between. A nice quick first half of the ride.
We eventually popped out by the North River Camp Ground, made a left behind it and then turned left onto the fire road, closed gate, 425 Hankey Mountain.
This is a rather long winding fire road up the mountain. I don’t remember it being so long. It was a nice trot canter up. After a point we pulled up to wait for Daisy. It’s a good move out point so I decided to keep it slower for her and just met Carol Ann and Natalie at the top. Simon was happy to walk and trot on up with Daisy but hilariously whinnied to his horse friends a few times. Silly boy.
So left we go onto 425A Overlook Mountain.
And then left at 716. There are several trails that branch off as you can see on the map.
Around here is where the trail starts to get a bit rockier and narrower and slower.
It’s more of a slower ride at this point. Lots of nice views. The trail mostly wraps along the top and side of the mountain. I attempted to video some of the rockier parts but they never really show it all that well. Nor can the views really be captured all that well either.
Eventually the trail starts to wrap back down. Some more rocks. At some points it makes me feel like someone did a terrible job of trying to put in over sized cobblestones.
Finally at the bottom, the trail literally drops out, onto a flat trail. Make a left.
Back on a nice wide flat trail, well maintained and smooth, zip a little ways till the first right hand turn over the creek and then along to the final crossing and back to parking.
It was a really fun ride. Good company and an excellent pony.
Simon was on a pretty good diet late this winter and lost about 4 girth holes which seems to have made a huge difference in his energy level. He was a ball of energy for the first couple miles and bucked along for the first mile or so. He still had plenty of pep at the end.
Blue Ridge Pony 