First place!

Twister got a first place blue at the 4H State Horse Show in the two year old Pinto gelding class.  He was great!

4H Fair

Our 4H club participated in the county fair again this year.  The fair was open Thursday, Friday and Saturday (August 8, 9, 10) - our club provided pony rides Friday afternoon, organized a gaming demo for Friday night, a Parade of Breeds for Saturday and pony rides on Saturday as well.  It was a busy weekend but very successful!

Walking thru the fair to announce the gaming demo

I was announcing and setting up equipement

T and Jazzy

Heading into a class - it rained really hard earlier in the day

Parade of Breeds - 20 horses representing 17 breeds

Meeting the public

4H Regionals

This month has been very busy with 4H.  The Production Regionals show was held on August 2nd.  T showed our 2 year old Gypsy Cob gelding, Twister.  

In the holding area waiting for their class

Waiting for the Judge

A blue ribbon and Master Showman

Off to States we go with Twister!

Yesterday was the Performance Show.  T qualified for Barrels, Poles & Keyhole with Moose for Horse, Senior Rider.  Lots of competition and really good riders.

Poles

Barrels

Keyhold

She got second in Poles and second in Keyhole which qualified her in both classes for States.  So that's two for us for States this year.

Congrats to this great team!!!  Zip will probably be retired after this year.  He's definitely earned it.

Grand Champ

T had a 4H show yesterday. Despite the 90 degree heat, she and Zip rocked. 3 blues and Grand Champion for the division. Proud of my girl!!

In Action

We had a 4H horse show on Saturday and I took lots of pics.  T tied for Grand Champion in her division with one of her friends.  This is one of my favorite shots from the day.  I love the way the sunlight hits Zip as T sets him up to start the class.

Sunday Trail Ride

The 4H group scheduled a trail ride for this past Sunday in Green Lane Park.  It ended up being me, T, the club leader and his 2 daughters.  The weather was perfect and it was a good ride.  7.6 miles in 2 hours with all of the horses behaving and the riders having a good time.  Craig followed up the ride with pizza at the trail head.  We definitely need to do more of these rides - it was fun!  There were a lot of riders out enjoying the autumn colors.
I didn't take too many pics - I'm not very coordinated to hold the point and shoot camera while leading the ride and trotting along.

Rooster  & Zip

One of the many fields

In the cedar trees

She Gives Me Gray Hairs....

Saturday was the County Roundup show for 4H.  This show qualifies for Regionals which then qualifies for States in Harrisburg in October.  It's a big deal and the one show that T has been working for all year. I was supposed to take pics for the day.  The day started off with the alternator going on the truck so I spent about an hour on the phone and texting trying to find a ride plus trying to get a hold of someone on the club grounds to let them know I wasn't able to take pics.  Luckily my friend Jeanine, who keeps her horse at the same farm, was willing to change her plans and haul us.  So we managed to get to the show grounds with plenty of time for her 3 classes - Pole Bending, Clover Leaf Barrels and Keyhole.  She knocked down 2 poles and had time penalties in Poles so she placed 3rd.  She won barrels but at the end of the run, Zip caught a toe and went down.  He tried really hard to stay up but had too much momemtum so down on his knees he went and he rolled onto his side and onto T.  She completely disappeared under him but the horn stopped him from going completely over and he got back to his feet.  Somehow he managed to avoid stepping on her.  Luckily she has a high horn on her saddle, she was in the sand ring which gave her some cushion and she's pretty tiny.  Craig and I ran into the ring and she popped right up and announced that she was just fine and was going to ride the next class.  Just about gave me and most of the people watching a heart attack.  She skinned her elbows and Zip skinned his knees a little bit but that was all.  PHEW!  She gives me gray hairs....She knocked down a rail in Keyhole so she was disqualified for that class.  She moves onto to Regionals on August 27th for Pole Bending and Barrels.

Poles

Coming home from poles

Barrels

Barrels

Coming home from barrels, about 2 seconds before he fell

Keyhole

Wordless Wednesday - Lathered

July 9th 4H Show

Saturday was the last pointed 4H show for this year.  T and Zip did awesome - Reserve Champion in the Gaming Division.  And she had the fastest time in the Fastest Lap class they did for fun.  It was very sunny and hot and Zip was fired up.  I am so proud of T for all of the hard work she has done with Zip!!

Poles - 2nd Place

Keyhole - 3rd place

Barrels - 1st Place

Hoop the Barrel - 1st Place

Flag Race - *fail* Zip knocked the 2nd barrel down

Fastest Lap

BLAH

Today is the fifth straight day of temperatures above 90 degrees F, for the umpteenth time since spring. The horses spend most of the day huddled in the shed under the fans nose to tail, only venturing out for water breaks and to graze at night. That being said they are still inhaling the yummy hay. The humans are not enjoying the high temps and high humidity. We move a lot slower in the heat.

We have the last 4H pointed show on Saturday. T is riding Zip and we are hauling a friend's pony for English classes. I planned a low key trail ride for Sunday AM before it gets too hot. Other than that, not much going on.

Saturday's 4H Show

T and Zip did really great at Saturday's show.  She got 1st in barrels, 2nd in Poles (even though he knocked down 2 poles), and 3rd in Keyhole.  Plus she has some points for year end and her requirement of showing at one pointed show is now complete.  She needs to finish her project book and barn inspection and then she has met all of the requirements for Roundup.

Warming up

Barrels

Barrels

Poles

Poles

Keyhole

After the pointed classes were finished, the 4H leader decided to do a Fastest Lap class, just for fun.  T and Z finished at just over 18 seconds which was the best time.

Fastest Lap

Fastest Lap

One more 4H show this season and then it's county Roundup!

Riding

Things have been so busy that I haven't had many opportunities to ride and it's been very hot and humid so the motivation factor is out the window.  I did get the opportunity to ride Rocky with just a bareback pad on Thursday.  We are working on turning and staying in a consistent gait and I think that whoa is his favorite thing to do.  What a great little horse!  

Today is the pointed Bits and Pieces 4H Show.  T has to show at least one pointed 4H show as a requirement for Round Up so this will be one more thing to cross off the list.  She will be riding Zip in Barrels, Poles and Keyhole.  I hope the thunderstorms hold off and she has fun!

Riding in the 4H ring after Grooming & Showmanship

Tomorrow we are planning a morning trail ride in the woods.  Should only bean easy one and then maybe some more work with Rocky but I'm looking forward to it.

Grooming & Showmanship...done!!

T fulfilled her Grooming & Showmanship requirement for 4H.  It's definitely not her thing but she got through it and she got to ride when she was finished.

A couple of requirements left and she's eligible to show for county Roundup which qualifies for Regionals and ultimately States.

Grooming and Showmanship

Tonight T will be fulfilling her Grooming and Showmanship requirement for 4H. It's not a class she normally shows but it's good for her to know and part of the requirements for her 4H project. One more thing to cross off the list! I'll try to get pics.

4H Show

T's 4H club, Timbertalk Trotters, asked me to take pics at their pointed show on May 21st.  This was a challenge since they run over 70 classes in two rings at the same time.  Craig manned a second camera for me and T assisted (she didn't show since she had another local gymkhana the next day).  We took over 600 pics and I was really happy with the results.  This is a slideshow for the club's website:

"Timbertalk Trotters 4H Show 5/21/2011"

Create a free slideshow with Picnik!

The weather was beautiful and the kids did a great job.  It was fun to take pics but exhausting at the same time.  You can see the entire gallery of 500+ photos here.  Any opinions are appreciated!

Skywatch Friday, Season 4, Episode 40

My girl and Zip doing their thing at the 4H show last weekend (this is the Clover Leaf Barrels class)

4H Gymkhana

Saturday was the first 4H show of the season, hosted by the Bits & Pieces Club.  It was a fun show with all gymkhana classes and T was definitely looking forward to getting back into the showing groove.  Zip has been doing well and she's been working with him a lot to get him ready.  T did 12 classes and placed in 11 - 8 first place, 1 second place, and 2 fourth place.  She had a good time and the weather cooperated.  I've got a whole bunch of pics to go through and some videos to splice together but will post more later.

Pole Bending

PhotoReflect Gallery

Holy cow, where did the weekend go???  It's back to work for me today.

Still Busy

I'll get blog posts up this week, I promise.  There just doesn't seem to be enough days in the week or hours in the day.  We are scrambling to get holiday packages mailed out.

Monday night, the company I work for, Teva Pharmaceuticals, hosted a holiday party at Lincoln Financial Field, the home of the Philadelphia Eagles.  I'm not a huge football fan but it was pretty cool to do a tour of the locker room, press box and walk onto the field.  I'll post pics later this week.  I left for work at 6:40 AM and didn't get home until 9:30 PM.

Tonight is the holiday party for 4H.  Pizza, lots of food, a scarf exchange, gingerbread houses, lots going on.  Before you know it Christmas will be here!

Snapping Pics

3 day weekend and busy, as usual!  Off to the hay auction today and Monday.

Every year for the last 7 years, Timbertalk Trotters 4H Horse Club holds a charity trail ride in Green Lane Park with 100% of the proceeds going to Shriner's Hospital for Children.  T is now part of this club and the club is very active in community service.  I have offered to donate my time on Sunday taking photos of the ride and the ride participants.  Photos will be donated for the club's use and for the scrap book that they create and enter for the fair every year.  I will also be creating an online gallery for riders to order prints from.  I'm hoping to have the pics up for viewing by the beginning of next week.

I will not be riding as I am not sure that I can manage my camera and ride Rooster at the same time.  He's very well trained and neck reins really well but I feel like we are still getting to know each other and I'm not sure how he will be in open field (I've ponied Zip from his back and he did just fine, even though Zip is about 6 inches taller).  My Olympus E520 camera is the smallest DSLR made but it's still bigger than a point and shoot and I don't want to run the risk of damaging the camera (or falling off).  The weather forecast is calling for 50 and sunny so hopefully it won't be too chilly for the riders when they start at 10 AM.  I'm hoping to get some good shots of the park as well.  I'll post pics as soon as I can.

Cowgirl Jumping

Jumping crossrails in Novice Pleasure Hack - one handed, on a Mexican Mustang, in a Western barrel racing saddle. COWGIRL UP!