August 1, 2013
I could not get the photos to attach to the main blog for today so here they are
All posts tagged mounted games
Day 6 photos
Posted by riderofchaos on August 2, 2013
https://blueridgepony.com/2013/08/02/day-6-photos/
Day 6 – Clinic with Collin
August 1 ,2013
*guest commentary at the end by Sammi.
Today we had a clinic with the world famous games clinician, Collin Carson from Ireland. And I am not using that title lightly. This guy knows his games and he is good at working with the riders.
He started off with an individual 10 minute session with each rider to asses their skills and experience. Then he had them mount up as a team.
I was on foot for the clinic trying to absorb every word and I definitely learned a lot as both a rider; heads up to my team, Old School, back at home, and as a trainer for this team.
The session went for about two hours and then we took a break. Lunch was devoured and then everyone went or a swim. The girls tossed each other in, and as you can imagine it was pretty chilly compared to the weather and the water back at home. The girls even managed, with very little arm twisting I am sure to get Rob and Mark to toss me in, towel and all.
The clinic resumed with Collin going over additional races and skills and me jotting notes and drawing diagrams.
To Old School, my team back at home, Collin gives adult games clinics too. and no worries, I already signed us up for a clinic when he comes by our neck of the woods!
Today also included some packing for the weekend, cleaning tack and boots, and Chinese for dinner! Yea!
We leaves bright and early tomorrow for Wales and the Welsh Champs competition. We are slotted for the 5th heat in session one. We are riding as West Hants. I think there are 41 teams in our division. It should be incredible.
I am not sure if we will have any Internet access while we are away so of you do not see a blog until Monday please don’t worry. We will type them up in real time and post them as soon as we can.
So wish us luck, GO USA!
Guest commentary by team member Sammi.
Well readers, it was a mighty fine day in royal England. With a criking (produced crickey but with an -ing) hot temperature of 77, we started the morning earlier than normal because of a 10 o’clock clinic with the one and only Colin. To start the morning, Leah and Julia quite promptly jumped on Megan and Megan was less of a zombie, but I was. At 10 Colin took us one by one to ask us questions and study how we ride. I was the first victim, and I determined Rob still doesn’t know my name, for I am “the short one”. After everyone was interviewed, we rode for 2 hours practicing new ways to do handoffs, turns etc. *they call handoffs “handovers” here* after those two hours we decided to go cool off in the pool. Leah was the first victim of getting pushed in the pool by me. Julia was being pushed in my Leah and Julia was winning so I made Julia my second victim. And then Leah just chucked me in. The water was cold, I don’t know how the little kids do it. I also had to save a piece of Leah’s clothes and literally dived out the window while the held me by my foot. It’s a very good thing they did not drop me… it was a long drop. After that we had another clinic with Colin and we feel we are ready for what happens this weekend.
YEAH ‘MURICA!!!
We then proceeded to clean tack in the back by the garden. They have really nice and soft grass. After that we waited by watching some of Lady and the Tramp for Mom to feed us (SHE WAS A WEE LATE) and the food was quite delicious. Then we chilled on wifi and looked up at stars (Megan and I saw multiple shooting stars-obviously our good luck star from the universe). Now we are heading to bed and taking showers getting ready for this weekend. LET’S GO TEAM USA !!!
Posted by riderofchaos on August 2, 2013
https://blueridgepony.com/2013/08/02/day-6-clinic-with-collin/
Day 5 – The New Forest Show
July 31, 2013
So far the whole trip has been awesome, but today was freaking fantastic. We gave the ponies the day off and spent our day at the New Forest Show.
It is a huge show with two main arenas and several smaller ones, tons of attractions, vendors, exhibits and entertainment.
We split into groups for looking around but met back up to watch some of the performances. The first performance we all caught was a pony club games demo competition. They ran through about 10 races, and we cheered for West Hants because that is the MGAGB we are a part of.
The competition was exciting, and the riders showed a high level of skill. They were all vaulting on and off their ponies and rolling through their races with speed. We were excited to see Grooms Steaks Race, known as Run and Lead in IMGA. We also like their rendition of 3 Leg Race which involves the sack being handed over with both riders mounted. We all agreed this looked safer than the way we do it. The other difference we noticed is that they spelled “pony prep” instead of “pony club” in the Pony Club race.
Later we watched jumping and marveled at the height of the jumps. Then we caught another session of Pony Club games. We were interested to see they finished pyramid race (very similar to association race) with the 4th rider placing a crown on top of the stack instead of a carton.
They finished the session with Big Sack and I think we were all glad we do not do that race.
The final session we all watched was the Devil’s Horsemen, which included a comical chariot race.
The rest of the day was full of tasting food, shopping, checking out exhibits and marveling at everything.
Have I mentioned that just about everywhere we have been is dog friendly? Well it is. And boy am I missing my Daisy Dog. There were tons of vendor booths with neat things for dogs today.
And here is a commentary by Leah:
First we breathed royal air today. Prince Edward was enjoy the show and walked right past us. Too cool.
We also saw the ferret races, which were hysterical. They ran through theses tubes and through obstacles in the tubes. There were even people betting on it.
The terrier races started off with a serious race and then followed that up by allowing anyone in the crowd with a terrier with them to bring their dog to give it a try. It was hilarious. One dog even stopped to poop during the race.
Next we went to the food area and enjoyed trying all of the free samples of English food. And then we explored the animal exhibits which included birds, rabbits and rodents. It was crazy.
And now commentary from Annie:
We were on our way out of the grounds and host Megan pointed out a ride that looked like fun so we all piled onto the ride. It was a tight squeeze and it started off casual, spinning in the air and then it started to jerk up and down and speed up. Everyone was screaming and having a good time. It was wicked awesome.
And now commentary by Sammi:
We were walking around and I saw some neat tents like a blacksmith tent and I was like “ooo” and we checked them out. One of them was old time farming stations that they were making apple juice by hand. They loaded buckets full of apples I o this machine and then apple juice came out. It smelled really good like apples so I bought a bottle. We tried it later and it was really really good.
Back to Krista:
The team has a clinic with Collin Carson in the morning. Which is great.
I am not sure how much, if any, Internet we will have Friday-Sunday while we are at Welsh Champs. So you might have standby for the blogs for those days.
Posted by riderofchaos on July 31, 2013
https://blueridgepony.com/2013/07/31/day-5-the-new-forest-show/
Day 4
July 30, 2013
Day four was another fantastic day in the New Forest. It started off rainy so we slept in a little late and then Leah made us egg sandwiches before we headed out for some sight seeing.
We stopped at Scatts, which is an agriculture store and is sort of like a Southern States. We picked out a tou for me to take home for my dog Daisy, who I am missing incredibly. And then we headed to nifty town who’s name is evading me at the moment. Lym-something.
It was really neat with older buildings and some cobblestone streets that ended at a harbor. There were a lot Of neat shops to check out. And the girls helped pick me out a shirt and a scarf to accessorize it with. They are so good to try and make me more cool and fashionable.
While we were there we hit up the bank and did a little people and duck watching at the boat dock. We also wondered through a cemetery that was behind a church and marveled at the history and age of this country compared to our own.
On the way home we made a stop at the grocery store which was interesting and entertaining to do in a group of six.
When we got back we made some frozen pizza for a late lunch and then mounted up for practice.
It quickly became obvious that the ponies and the riders were tired and it was not the best practice. Although, in general, the vaulting showed a lot of improvement.
While we were slowly muddling through practice the Denmark party arrived. This included our other host, Juliet’s brother Rob, his daughter Emma, Irishmen, Collin and Mark, as well as New Zealander, Jasmine.
Rob came out and met the girls and at the end of practice I introduced them to Collin Carson, who will be giving them a clinic on Thursday. Score!
After the ponies were put up we all headed up to the Rising Sun pub for dinner. I had fish pie, which was amazing. I’ll have to try making it at home.
We enjoyed chatting and eating and then returned to our home and settled down for the night. Which seems to take a lot longer than expected.
Tomorrow the ponies have the day off but we are getting up bright and early for the New Forest Show. It sounds like it is going to be awesome!
Posted by riderofchaos on July 31, 2013
https://blueridgepony.com/2013/07/31/day-4/
Day 3 – Guest Blog – Megan
July 29, 2013
This is a guest blog by team member, Megan.
Greetings blog readers! Here goes my blogging virginity.
I started today a little less zombie like. I had the other Half of Julia’s bagel and some seltzer lemonade.
After getting ready I wasn’t really sure where we were going but we wound up at Bournemouth. We went to Primark, which is like a TJ Max combined with Forever 21. The purpose of this shopping adventure will be revealed at a later time.
Four of us riders made Krista nervous with our gremlin looking faces and lack of speech. She didn’t realize it was past out feeding time.
She revived us with a meal of the infamous British fish and chips which we ate with our toes in the sand along the English Channel.
We continued our journey with a walk through the Bournemouth gardens. And then stopped at an interesting party store on the way home.
Once we got back we tacked up and went on a hack through the forest, attempting to avoid the crab flies (unsuccessfully), and made a pit stop along the way at the local pub. It’s interesting how horse friendly the area is, they even had a hitching post in the back.
When we got back a really awesome mini games practice. Things were going quite smoothly. Krista put us through some drills, one took Leah a few extra minutes to understand.
After practice Annie and I made chicken stir fry for dinner and ended the day with a quick team meeting.
If the first three days have been this exciting I an only imagine how the next two weeks will unfold.
Posted by riderofchaos on July 29, 2013
https://blueridgepony.com/2013/07/29/day-3-guest-blog-megan/
Blue Ridge Pony 