All posts tagged mounted games

We Moved to Wales! – Day 5 – 2015

August 18, 2015

Yesterday we moved to Wales. It was mostly a relaxing day. We met two of our loaned ponies, Foxy and Spot! Everyone wants to ride both of them. But since Spot competed yesterday and traveled today we are giving him the day off.

I was very excited to see Chrissy and Emma. The Lockyers are always fun and I feel right at home with them. Yea!

We got the sleeping arrangements sorted out, visited the Lockyer ponies, saw an unwell hedge hog on the road, watched some games videos and goofed around. Alicia was awesome driving the tiny hedge lined back roads. And… well, it was a good day.

Not much to report. Tomorrow we plan to head to the Bristol zoo and get some riding in.

2 Comments

by riderofchaos on August 18, 2015 • Permalink

Posted in International Trips

Tagged horse, mounted games, pony, tour

Posted by riderofchaos on August 18, 2015

https://blueridgepony.com/2015/08/18/we-moved-to-wales-day-5/

Day 3 – The Breakdown. – 2015

August 16, 2015

Guest blogger: Team member, Jaycee

Leaving our hostel was bittersweet but we were ready for our next adventure, one that we were never expecting. We picked up our rental car about 3 sizes too small then what we asked for but was the only one available. We tried to make a game plan on how to pack the car but we ended up shoving bags in any way possible. If we had rope we would have strapped bags to the roof. We were sitting on top of suitcases and had suitcases and bags on our laps and feet. It is not exaggeration when I say that not one more item could have fit in the car. We were all unable to move but singing and laughing the whole way; until we got to a small road block.

We were an hour into our journey when we came to a rolling stop in traffic and the clutch went to the floor. We pulled up the clutch petal and it went stiff so we are unable to push it down. After messing with it for a moment we get it to function. But the smell coming from our car started to strengthen. We were winding up a steep mountain on a densely wooded back road, church lane, when we came to a stop with the engine revving and the clutch to the floor. Smoke began swirling out from the hood. We had smelled the burning from the time we started driving the car but we thought it was the buses around us. We determined that the clutch was blown and no way the car was going anywhere.

Parking as best we could on the side off the road we called the rental company and to make the story short we were on the phone with multiple people more then 12 times and ended up waiting a total of 5 and a half hours. Within that time we brought out a speaker and had a couple dance offs. Snacked on the food krista had smartly packed and waited and waited and waited. Let’s just say we made a lot a memories had plentiful bonding time. The tow truck brought the car to the hotel, we all spilled out of the taxi and stuffed our faces. All in all we got to our hotel at around 10 pm and ate all we could then went to bed.

Note from Krista -I think the team all reached new levels of boredom and silliness while stuck on the road. There was hooting with owls, games of “ninja”, stick fights, stone tossing and unnameable actions of utter craziness. I am really impressed with how well they endured this “adventure”.

Also – Avis/Budget had shameful emergency customer service and wasted 1 1/2 days of our touring in total.

Hello London – Day 1 – 2015

August 13, 2015

We are in London and currently sitting in our hostel’s “chill out” room. The hostel is pretty cool. We have 4 bunk bens stuffed into a little room with a sink. The bathroom is down the hall and shared with the floor.

When we landed late this morning we met up with Jaycee and then took some train/tubes to our hostel. It was a successful adventure. And it was drizzling. We checked in, took s nap and showers and then went for a walk and dinner. After we chill for a while we will hit the hay so we can get an early start tomorrow. Colton worked out a your rout for us tomorrow to economize the amount of things we can see before we go to the Escape Room!!!

Right now we can hear a band playing upstairs in the pub. They are covering a U2 song right now. The crowd is apparently singing along! Too cool.

We will have tons more to blog about tomorrow.

The team is working on a video blog right now. I am not sure if it will be posted daily or as a longer video at the end. Do any readers have a preference?

The chill out room

Eating out!

The burger joint

**update on Daisy aka- the smelly dog. I though she was smelling good until we were in the car for a few minutes. Yikes. I called a Petsmart in my route and got an appointment. It took 1 1/2 hours but she came out smelling so much better. Total shout out to the Winchester, Va Petsmart by the mall.

I raced to my parents house, dropped her off and raced off to meet the McBains and head to the airport! Sadly my hands still stink a little :0( **

1 Comment

by riderofchaos on August 13, 2015 • Permalink

Posted in International Trips

Tagged equestrian, horse, london, mounted games, pony, travel

Posted by riderofchaos on August 13, 2015

https://blueridgepony.com/2015/08/13/hello-london-day-1/

MGAA U17 Team Training Camp – 2015

August 11, 2015

This past weekend we had a training camp to prepare for the trip to Wales. We all met up at the Royer’s home for two days of training and team bonding.

I left Friday at lunch time, picking Coltin and Bella up on the way. They certainly made the drive a lot of fun. We arrived in the evening in time to met up with the rest of the team and join in an amazing taco dinner put on by Cherie.

Now before I get into all the riding and team time, let me gush a bit about the Royer’s and company. Cherie and Howard are amazing hosts. They let us have full run of their awesome older (I call it antique) family home and made us feel like we were part of the family. They were gracious enough to let me bring Daisy, who also felt right at home and absolutely loved every moment of the weekend. We got to play with Alicia’s puppy Cricket, and who doesn’t love a little puppy time?

We woke each both morning to a massive home cooked breakfast, and let me just say, yum. We rode their ponies and used their games equipment and just had an amazing time feeling part of the family. Thank you so much for hosting us. It was perfect!

OK so, the riding. The kids were lucky enough to be lent a good pool of challenging and differing ponies. Tyler lent his massive pony Halo, Alicia her little rock pony Sky, Krista lent her sweet Mud Pie and her challenging Cuddi and Heather lent us her wild Breeze. All pony owners were at the arena during the three riding sessions to help set equipment and give any riding advice needed for their varying mounts. MGAA people are such amazing people.

The first riding session we focused mainly on riding the different ponies. Each rider spent a few races on each pony, giving me a chance to see how they fit the different types. I learned a lot about each of them in this session and was also impressed that each rider, hopped from pony to pony and race to race with no complaints.

The second session we settled more onto specific ponies with limited switching, and worked on some skills. We focused on using the voice to supplement the legs, hands, seat and body. “Whoa”, “Stand”, etc were encouraged and improved on throughout the session. I was impressed with everyone’s end turns and vaulting skills. Each rider’s specific fit on the team became more apparent as well. Who should fit as an anchor, or a starter? Who is the steady rider that can be counted on? Who needs a little encouragement, or a little leveling, and who might need which reminder and when?

We also talked about a few simple skills, like handing off a plastic flag, S turns and hard S turns, checks and hard checks, setting up barrel turns with different types of ponies, and if each rider is a picker or a scooper in litter. We talked about stacking flags in flag fliers and the difference in mug size. We worked on end turn vaults and drilled drilled drilled!

Sunday morning we had our final session of riding. We redid a few races and took a few runs through some we had not gotten to the day before. We threw in a few more pony swaps and I think we ended on a good note. Everyone looked fantastic.

I have a pretty good feel for which rider will fit what type of pony best, and which rider needs what out of me as trainer. I can’t wait to work with them on the ponies that are lent to us. They all took coaching very well, and I think this is going to be a big growing and learning experience for all of them. Having watched them over the years as they have grown up and advanced in their skill, I am excited to see how much they advance over this trip. A couple of them are really at that special point where they are about to really make a big step up in skill and ability, and I am excited to be a part of that. Nothing helps a rider really make a big leap in their game like going international on a borrowed pony.

The non riding time was also a great chance to get to know this team better, for me and for them. Three of them are non stop talkers and have so much enthusiasm and energy bubbling out of them that I cannot imagine if there were more of them in the group. One is very quiet and reserved, which is a relief with the other three. She is the one you know you can count on in all situations. I sort of see her as the quiet flower with the three busy bees flying haphazardly around her. Coltin, being a little bit older, the only boy, and having some international experience under his belt, I think will make a nice team leader. He is a strong rider and very level headed for his age.

We spent some time swimming in the pool during the day, and it was nice to see the team interacting in a fun non-horse setting. I also really enjoyed the water. We went for ice cream, had pizza, and an excellent cook out Saturday evening. All of these opportunities were excellent for the team to interact and for me and Alicia to see how they work together. Saturday night, after the cookout the team piled into the hot tub and we talked about packing, our itinerary, what the trip will be like, and they got to ask lots of excellent questions.

Tomorrow is the big day. Wish us luck!

Mid-Atlantic #3 2015

August 10, 2015

Last weekend was the third competition in the 2015 Mid-Atlantic Series held in Mullica Hills, NJ. For this competition (as mentioned in a previous post) we were riding as a four man/pony team which means we all rode in every race. It was also the first competition of the year teammate Val could join us for. It was good to have her and her pony Sprite back!

The first session we were in went fairly well and we left the arena feeling pretty good. Our second session was admittedly an easier heat compared to the other heat. We won all but two of the races, which we got second in. Not bad. We went into the final as the first place team. Wowza!

It was a good competition and by Saturday afternoon we had our positions sorted and really got on a good roll. We jelled perfectly and we all rode clean and smooth.

The final was heavy hitter. Time Flies who slipped in as the 5^th team in the final, riding as four man for the two preliminary sessions were joined by their 5^th rider, Ann for the final. This addition really made a difference for Time Flies and they came out with the win. Full Tilt came to this competition with a teammate/pony swap, which seemed to work well, helping them finish in second place. Border Patrol, the four man team that blew the division out of the water at Nationals last month, must have been having an off weekend, finishing in third. My team, Gone Rogue, played hard, but had a few rough races that just killed us. Two races before the final we were in second place, but both of those races were pretty nasty, and combined with a few rough races earlier in the heat, we just couldn’t hold the position and finished in fourth followed by Chaos.

The B final had some four man teams as well. Antiques Roadshow, who is ever improving and Groppits, the positive and laid back team. One of Groppits four ponies came up lame in the warm up right before the first session. So Simon joined them just before the first race. Quick Silver joined our division for the first time this year. They have been having difficulties pulling in a 5th rider and have been picking up a younger rider all season, forcing them to ride in intermediate. It was nice to have them back in the ring with all adults!

I feel like I rode really well and Poe was a super star. He was really moving out when asked and still had his killer breaks to pull quick stops for me. for my part I rode relatively quick and clean, pushing more for handoffs and playing smart as anchor for some of the races.

The social aspect was also lovely. Our team had a nice set up under a pavilion with our ponies and dogs. We had a potluck and spent our off time hamming it up together.

I am really looking forward to pairs at the end of the month. Val and I are riding together as Scoundrels and Averi and Matt are riding together as Heads or Tails. It should be an excellent time. I can’t wait to get back on the field with Poe. I love being a rider/pony pair with him. And Val is so much fun to ride with. Exciting things just around the corner!

Photo credits to Brown unless otherwise noted

Photo below: Dungee

Simon and JD. a Well matched pair. PC: Dungee

Iphone photo of Daisy with a dirty nose.

This is the view of my trailer just before heading out. Simon gets the small space up front, and Poe has to share his big space behind the divider with supplies.