NTW Games Day 4/17/16

O does it again!!

Did I win?

Sunday was the first Games Day of the year, and O did not disappoint. She is definitely feeling better after her chiro visit - her first pattern she was still a bit resistant and head-tossy, but as she settled in and found she could actually move her body parts normally again, she really settled into her old self again. She is still wanting to be counterbent in one direction, as she always is, but I think with regular chiro visit from a chiro who actually helps for once will keep her in better alignment. 

We had 4.5 inches of rain yesterday alone, which was pretty crappy. It was pouring when I woke up, pouring when I loaded, pouring while we showed, and pouring on the way home. Despite that, quite a lot of people showed up to play!


There were four classes in the morning - double barrels, regular cloverleaf barrels, double keyhole, and a class called Coney Island which is full of weaving cones as well as barrels. These are all patterns we have done before, so I won't put them up again - but if you want to see them, they are all up on my previous Games Day posts.

And O won every single class. Which was completely amazingly awesome.



In the afternoon, we did the cones course and the Derby, which is run over the same cones course but at speed. All the other classes are limited to trot only, but in the Derby, we can canter/gallop/go however fast we like! It's a huge fan favorite - we all love to go speeding around.

And O won both of those classes too!

The day wasn't without drama though. Aside from the lashing rains and howling winds, we had two major mishaps. The first occurred when an aged pony, who apparently hasn't been eating all that well lately, just quit on his driver halfway through a course. He is normally a really speedy competitor, but with everything combined - weather, age, not eating as well lately - he just gave up halfway through a course and plodded home at a walk with muscles trembling. Pony and driver are both now fine but it was a worrying moment.

By far the scarier moment of the two happened in the Derby. My main tough competitor, the one I have been head to head with at most every show, was coming up 2nd place to me in every class this go around. In the Derby, horses are allowed to (and encouraged to) canter, though they of course strongly recommend doing it safely. She shot off into the Derby like a rocket and was flying around the course - I thought for sure she was going to win. Then she came around a tight turn in her 2 wheel vehicle, and may have been sitting or sliding over to the right - and the carriage rolled right over onto its side, tossing the driver and then dragging her as the carriage righted itself and the horse continued on. Thankfully, this is an experienced pair, and somehow the driver kept hold of the reins, which stopped the horse before she got very far. It took quite a long time to get the driver back up, but the horse stood quietly and both were more or less all right. Needless to say, I cantered my turn in the Derby but took all the wider turns - it was a bit sobering to see a wreck right in front of me directly before it was my turn to go. Getting bucked off a horse is scary enough, but getting thrown out of a carriage? Completely terrifying, especially if the horse gets loose. It could have been a lot worse than it was. 

So far this year, I believe O is currently sitting in the #1 spot for Horse of the Year points. If we're lucky, we might just get it this year!!