All posts tagged mounted games

Games Practice 7-26-15

July 27, 2015

Early yesterday morning, teammate Val and I met up to get in a practice before our next big competition this coming weekend. We went through just about every race, covering all of the skills, in a 2 1/2 hour time slot. We flew through races with it just being two of us, setting up three at a time. running through each two or three times, and then reset another set of races. One of would walk the ponies while the other reset.

Val had a baby this spring and missed the first half of the games session. This will be her first competition back. You would never know she had her second child less than two months ago. She was vaulting left and right. She missed a few and had to go at it again, but she never chickened out or used her stirrup. She probably did an easy two dozen vaults through our practice. Her skills were also not lacking a thing. She shuffled, placed, picked, grabbed, and turned without a miss. Her pony Sprite, who is in his early 30s, also looks amazing. She has been riding him daily to get him fit and it shows. He flew through practice with rippling muscles and a flared nose. He was hot as a pony less than half his age.

Val insisted I discuss how on point I was at practice. Several times she said how much speed I have put on since the winter. I have to agree, I feel like I riding more to my ability and adding speed back into my skills. Having a saddle that does not roll when I attempt to mount up, or when I lean over is also making an incredible difference. Being able to climb on is huge. Every time I am expecting my saddle to start sliding around. But its not! And each time I get a little grin on my face. Being able to lean easier is also making a huge difference. This is a little harder for me to keep convince myself of, after two years of sliding all over the place, but I got it! Woo Whoo!

Val and I both rode extremely accurately. We handed off with speed in and out, and didn’t drop a single one. We both left practice feeling really good about ourselves. Having a good practice before a competition always spikes the excitement. I can’t wait to arrive at MA3 this Friday (the drive there SUCKS). Yea!

We practiced too hard for photos but I snapped one of Val and Sprite during a water break.

And I snapped this one of me after we finished riding and loaded up and about to pull out. I am blowing out a sigh of exhaustion.

Leave a comment

by riderofchaos on July 27, 2015 • Permalink

Posted in Mounted Games

Tagged equestrian, horse, mounted games, pony, team

Posted by riderofchaos on July 27, 2015

https://blueridgepony.com/2015/07/27/games-practice-7-26-15/

MGAA Nationals 2015

July 2, 2015

This years MGAA Nationals was at the Meadow Event Park in Doswell, Virginia. They set up a huge 350×600 grass arena for us to play in that was right next to the camp grounds. Not only did this make for excellent spectating, but the riding was awesome on so much grass with so much space.

I rode Poe with my team, Gone Rogue, and we sorted our orders per Val’s suggestion. It worked well. With the added challenge of being the anchor rider for many of the races, and the support of my awesome teammates, I really pushed myself to pick up the pace. Zoe also pulled anchor duty quite a bit, with me handing over to her. Kristin was our main starter, and she really launched her new to games borrowed pony out there to eat up the field. Averi and Matt also took a few turns at the start, Sparkles even did an uncharacteristic excited little rear on one of her starts.

There were quite a few very close races, and I just love those types of runs, even when my team doesn’t come out on top. The top four teams really played around taking turns leading the pack from session to session. In the end Border Patrol, a four rider, four pony team, trumped us all, taking the blue. Full Tilt really got their game on for the last session and pulled one point ahead of Time Flies for second, with my team bringing in fourth, followed by Black and Blue Crew and Antiques Roadshow.

I personally felt really good, and back in the game. I had some stupid, uncommon mistakes that were just pure sloppiness on my part. I also need a bit of brushing up on my handoffs. But all in all, I felt very on. And Poe loved the footing. Go us!

Nationals is always an awesome competition, with bigger prizes, more races and social activities. this year we ran five sessions with a total of 54 races. Interestingly, for Sunday’s 15 race final session, the masters division wanted races cut, but the fossil division almost unanimously did not want to miss a single race. Nearly all of the races in the last two sessions were sponsored. We missed out on the best prizes but we still went home with a bucket full of treats and other goodies. Every rider also got a small tote bag that contained some pony treats, sample supplement, a last-rider-helmet-band, an MGAA logoed Klean Kanteen bottle and a commemorative MGAA Nationals 2015 patch. Really fantastic prizes!

I skipped the Friday evening trip to Kings Dominion. The lazy river was pretty tempting, but I enjoyed some down time in the camp grounds with teammates Matt and Zoe before turning in. The Saturday night party started out awesome. It was catered by Chipotle with a cotton candy machine too. Zoe and I played some of the carnival games, enjoyed the DJ and watched some people ride the mechanical bull. Unfortunately a massive storm rolled in with tornado warnings, rain and wind. This sort of shut the party down just as it was kicking it up, and although it did continue after the storm passed, it still took some of the flame out of it.

The campsites were fun. Jeannie picked up a blow up pool and we sat ringside in the shade with our feet in the nice cool pool. That was probably the best part. Carl put a pool in the back of his truck with chloride and a filter! The ice cream truck swung through a few times a day, and we had more food than we could eat. Oh and did I mention that Wendi kept us stocked up in fresh cold tea?

Nationals is certainly the most exciting competition of the year and this year was no let down. Now I have to wait a month for MA3 to get here!

I love this photo. Its Karl from Northern Ireland riding Mitchell’s pony Cowboy. Photo: S Thornton

Jill and Kimi set up this Snapchat thing that puts the MGAA Nationals 2015 logo on your Snapchat. So we had a little fun with that.

the camp grounds

The storm and party

There was a riot at MGAA Nationals! no no, there was a “country fest” across the road and the cops had their meeting in front of our camp grounds.

and some more riding

PC: Maddie

2 Comments

by riderofchaos on July 2, 2015 • Permalink

Posted in Mounted Games

Tagged equestrian, horse, meadow event, mounted games, pony

Posted by riderofchaos on July 2, 2015

https://blueridgepony.com/2015/07/02/mgaa-nationals-2015-2/

Mid Atlantic #2 ~ 2015

June 18, 2015

Mid-Atlantic #2 was nearly two weeks ago, but life has been extremely busy and I have not had time to blog about it.

Team Gone Rogue was again without member, Val. She was home recouping from having her little girl. Abby stepped up to the plate, borrowing the amazing Captain from Stacey, and rode like a pro. Abby played games many moons ago, and now mostly events. But you would never guess this watching her play. Not only is she accurate, but she vaults and he is an awesome person to ride with. Laid back yet supportive.

Reflecting on my own riding, I was moderately happy with myself. I made a few silly mistakes, although they were quick fixes, they still ate up time. I had to circle in Windsor for my put down of the turret. My balloon stick was way too long and I had to circle for my pop. I did have one horrible race, ball and cone. Poe was a total asshat for that race. Everytime I leaned down to place the ball, he backed up. When I was leaning he did a backup swing (one of my pony moves) and threw me up on his neck. He even pushed off and let out a nasty little buck. Every team finished and I was still going (third rider on my team) and just waiting for the whistle when I finally got it. Lame.

My one happy mistake was in the fossil specialty race, Margarita Race. I went first and had the cup salted and needed to place it on the end bin. Typical me, I over thank it. ‘The glass is light plastic, slow down.’ And in my over thinking I knocked if off the bin. I dismounted, replaced it, remounted, and finished the race. Now this may sound like a typical correction for 99% of the games population. But I in particular have had a lot of issues mounting. Not only do I have back and leg issues but my saddle has been rolling around on my round, narrowed withered pony. I *almost* have these issues worked out, but my confidence is not solid, nor is my saddle. When I turned from my correction to get back on I thought “oh crap”. I actually glanced around to see if there was a rise in the ground to use to my advantage. While I was thinking about this, my body went into auto play, and remounted on its own. Go Me!

As a team we finished fourth. Not bad and I am certainly not complaining. We had a few rough races but all in all we rode pretty decently. I think we mostly got trumped in speed. Which is something we were lacking at this competition. Poe is not the fastest pony out there, but I am still riding rather conservatively. Although I did feel I did better with some of our ride order changes and pushed myself along a bit more.

It was a good competition. Go Team Gone Rogue!

This photo has an image of Averi on her pony Peyote on top, and an image of Averi on my pony Poe on the bottom. the ponies are in nearly the exact same positions. The rider in the background is also the same rider in both photos, also almost in the same position. Averi noticed this and I found it pretty neat. I believe it was Windsor on top and Quoites on the bottom.

Leave a comment

by riderofchaos on June 18, 2015 • Permalink

Posted in Mounted Games

Tagged equestrian, horse, mounted games, pony

Posted by riderofchaos on June 18, 2015

https://blueridgepony.com/2015/06/18/ma2/

Val and Spike

June 16, 2016

Val came over to ride with me on Monday! She rode Spike and they were amazing together. Val whipped him through bending, 3 mug, mug shuffle, two flag and litter. She was particularly flying through 3 mug and knocking my socks off. That tends to be a rather complicated race for a pony new to it, but you would never have thought that watching Val and Spike. Val really wowed me with her mad skills and riding ability. I have only seen her on her normal pony Sprite for so long that I almost forgot how awesome she is. And did I mention she just had a baby four weeks ago?

Val and Spike make one hot pair. And it felt natural seeing her on a white Arab type since that’s what her long time pony Sprite is (I mean really, they almost have the same name).

Paint me impressed.

Here is a quick video of them going through two flag followed by two fun iphone pics.