2010 Suwanee River Challenge~ACTHA Ride




Live Oak, Florida

 



I LOVE this mural!

 

My friend Brian tells me I am "Brokeback Hilton" camping!



Our horses stalls were about 250 feet from our campsite! :)



Part of the campgrounds....

And what fun is camping without dogs? This is Harley at 10 months..

And Amber (3 months) totally crashed in the bathroom!




Cast of characters from left to right: Kasi on Cash, moi on Jackson, Susie on Dakota, Rick on Monster, Kathy on Elmo. : Not pictured: Babette on Cutter, Suzanne on Kaluha, and Quinn on Tequila

 

Our first American Competitive Trail Horse Association (ACTHA) ride ever! I decided not to compete, just to "ride" and have Jax and I both get some learning in! He was SO great!!!

Rick and The Monster -- a.k.a. 'Mr. Ed!'

We rocked our emergency dismount at a trot, good deal!

Susie having FUN!



Kathy my Barn Owner.... lookin' good on Elmo!





We are BOTH looking and thinking about this one!



The approach...

Reach for it, REAACHH for it...



Got it! Right before Jackson wheeled around into a major 360! I never lost the hat though, and even got some applause!



Suzanne nails it in under a minute!! :)

THE TARP with a sprinkler spraying across it... Some had to walk across...

...And some of us had a steady Eddy like Cash to walk us across! Good BOY Jackson!

Showoff..

Great scenery, eh? The river is RED from the tannic acid in the the trees! It's so beautiful and odd... 

Great pic of Kathy and Elmo!




 

*GRIN*





Awww! Love this pic of Jax!





Kathy my Barn Owner (and schlepper of Jax and I to awesome rides, and shows! THANKS! :)



 

Kasi and Cash
High Point Winners!



Babette and Cutter
2nd Place Winners!
YES, our group rocked it!



Susi & Dakota making the hill look like cake!





Believe it or not, I'm deep in thought about something here, Lord knows just WHAT! Yes, I promise I'm not about to cry! :)




Rick (Kathy the barn owner's hubby!) and I contemplating cantering the trail-- then all eight of us in our group did! ;)



Cutest pic from the entire weekend!

 



Kasi and Cash took the OVERALL Champion for BOTH days! --Deserved!!!-- The first pic is just a little part of her leg, that is how far down she had to reach off his hugeness!

  

San Felasco Hammock Preserve State Park





Parking lot of trailers...and two had just pulled out

Four hour ride yesterday. Seriously the longest and most strenuous Jackson and I have done in awhile, we were both beat by the end, but WOW this State Park is to die for! Pretty much attached to Sawhorse Farm it is 7,000 acres of well marked horse and bike trails. And the horse trails are JUST for the horses! Nice. People trailer in to ride here, but we have our own personal gate, how awesome is that? When my friend who I came to stay with here in Florida heard that the farm borders this park, her mouth dropped open, and her comment was just, "Wow, that's incredible." Now I know what all the hoopla is about. It really is! We ambled about, trotting alot, and the footing is great on most of the trails. You can pretty much find sand or grass with packed sand beneath it. We did find probably one of the crappiest trails in the park at one point, and it was loaded with tree roots, but MAN, there is NO rock. My barefoot horse says, "YES!" On most of the trails you can ride side by side. It was kind of funny at one point. Jackson was just doing his ground covering trot, and Bugs the Morgan was cantering beside us at the same speed. I have officially decided that I hate my Australian saddle, and will trail ride in my flat jumping saddle from now on. I can't handle the way the Aussie throws me out of position. It may be my particular saddle, or the fact that I just am an English rider and can't handle the loss of contact either. Anyhow, next ride will be back in my Bates Caprilli. Enjoy the pics, not many great ones, I only took a few. I was quite absorbed in the forest!

Off-roadin' it on horseback! :)

                                             Can you spot the bridge?

I am looking forward to getting myself in better shape, and I'm actually very surprised that I am not more sore today! I guess riding four days a week is already working on me. The sand and the hills are excellent conditioning for the horses. There are areas of grass with sand underneath, and areas where its ankle deep and white like at the beach. Yeah. Can you tell I'm super excited about the footing? Sorry. Texas rock was harsh! There are going to be many rides in this park, I can't wait!