miscellanea

The game of catch-up

/ Ashley Wingert / Leave a comment

Life jsut gets in the way sometimes, and when that happens, my blogging is the first thing that goes. School is keeping me super-busy right now, with trying to make some semblance of income as a second priority. (Got to be able to afford the horse in order to go to rides…) Major highlights from February – April:

  • Mimi’s now got Renegades all around! Kirt and Gina, after much harassment on my part :) came out with 00 boots, which fit Mimi’s hind feet (actually better than the fronts!). So look for her sparkly-gold feet out on the trail! Although if she’s in pony-power-trot mode, it might just be a goldish blur.
  • We unfortunately had to miss Sonoita in March. The timing was such that Mimi, rather unexpectedly, decided that she needed her hocks injected about a week before the ride, and the fact was, I didn’t have the money to be able to take care of it that soon and still afford the ride, etc.
  • I’m going to Tevis this year!!! Not riding…crewing! Jim and Cindy Brown agreed to put up with me and my overabundance of enthusiasm for all things Tevis :) after I found out Jim decided to ride Tevis this year and promptly offered my crewing services.
  • It’s hot here in AZ…low to mid 90s already. my new mantra is “Good Tevis Training.” I think my father is going to throw something at me next time he hears it. :) Hey, like I said, I’m obsessed. I have a year and three months to be ready for Tevis 2009. As long as I have my 300 qualifying miles and a sound pony, we’re going next year. Anyone up for robbing a bank with me so I can acquire the funds? Thank goodness for kind offers of friends’ properties to stay at ahead of time.
  • Found a lovely new trailhead to ride up in Pine. There’s a trail that goes all the way to the top of the Rim, about 2000′ in 5 miles. Now that is what I call good Tevis training! *ducks*
  • Next ride is in Williams in June. *Please* don’t let it get cancelled. however, entry forms are online this year, which they weren’t last year, so that makes me hopeful. AZ fire season, please hold off until July. Please? Williams promises to be a good ride…and GTT (hey, I warned you I am obsessed). Apparently elevations are from 6500′-10000′!!! Wow!!! That’s a whole stinkin’ lot of climbing…I may regret my enthusiasm. Maybe even I will be getting off to lead. Ack. I need to find someone who has done the Devil Dog ride in the past and find out what the trail is like?!?! Last time this ride was held was back in 1990! And apparently they’re goign to be using the majority of the same trails. Previous rides have been won in about a 6 hour ride time, so maybe it’s not as hard as I’m thinking? Of course, that was 18 years ago…a lot has changed since then in terms of vet criteria and ride speeds. Hmmm.

If I think of anything else critical, I’ll post, but for now, I think those are all the major highlights.

Pony Power!

/ Ashley Wingert / Leave a comment

From the USET:

IT’S GOLD AROUND THE WORLD ONCE AGAIN FOR U.S. ATHLETES

Pony power wins for the USA!

Theodore “Teddy” O’Connor led the U.S. Eventing team to both team and individual Gold at the Pan American Games in Rio this past weekend. In addition, Miranda Caldwell drove her ponies to individual Gold in the Pairs division at the Combined World Pony Driving Championships in Dorthealyst, Denmark. It was quite a showing all around.

At the Pan American Games the Eventing team seized the lead from the very beginning and never let go. The team earned the Gold medal with a combined score of 162.80, far outstripping the Silver medal Canadian team at 211.10 and the host Brazilian team at 235.60. Teddy, the 14.1 hand Thoroughbred/Arabian/Shetland cross, ridden by owner Karen O’Connor, placed third in dressage, led through the difficult cross country phase, and finished with a clear round in stadium jumping. Phillip Dutton, riding Truluck (owned by Ann Jones and Shannon Stimson), was extremely close to O’Connor’s score, finishing only 1.1 point behind. Completing the victorious team were Gina Miles on McKinlaigh (owned by Thomas Schultz and Laura Coats) and Stephen Bradley on Charlotte Harris’ From.

The U.S. team also swept the first four places in the individual standings with Karen O’Connor (Teddy), Gold; Phillip Dutton (Truluck), Silver; Gina Miles (McKinlaigh), Bronze; and Darren Chiacchia on Better I Do It (owned by Adrienne Iorio), fourth. Stephen Bradley finished 13th overall and Mara Dean retired her mount, Nicki Henley, during the cross country phase.

Meanwhile, in Denmark, the USA’s Miranda Caldwell and her ponies took the individual Gold medal in the Pairs division by a slim 0.73 points over Germany’s Steffen Abicht. In the team competition, the U.S. finished with a Bronze medal behind Germany and the Netherlands. The team consisted of Rochelle Temple and Suzy Stafford (Singles), Miranda Caldwell and Tracey Morgan (Pairs) and Allison Stroud and Laurie Astegiano (Four-In-Hand).

A marvelous weekend all around for U.S. teams!

Up next is Show Jumping at the Pan American Games, with team and individual competition starting on Thursday.

For Us Crazy Distance Riders

/ Ashley Wingert / Leave a comment

For All of Us “Crazy Distance Riders”

This is for the riders in spandex tights and helmets
For the riders who skip family events to attend a ride
For the riders who can still trot their horse out for the final vet check, even after being stepped
on, bitten, slimed, concussed and broken
For the riders who can park a their rig in the middle of the night – after ridecamp is already full

This is for the riders who know exactly how their horse is doing just by looking in their eyes
For the riders who know exactly how valuable a roll of BodyGlide is
And who can still smile despite needed to use an entire roll of BodyGlide
For the riders who can find a cell phone signal in the middle of a remote ridecamp

This is for the riders who know that “To Finish Is To Win”

This is for the passion we hold, the drive we share, and the will to win.

We know what it feels like to close your eyes at night and still feel that you’re on the back of your horse…oh, wait, that’s because it’s mile 90 of a hundred miler, and you still are on your horse!

Weekend Wrapup

/ Ashley Wingert / Leave a comment

San Tan Mtn Park

East fenceline – San Tan Trail – over Saddle Mtn – trotting road – San Tan Trail – Goldmine Trail – rocky hill road
8 miles, 3.4mph average moving

Hooray for Epics working for Beamer! About time we didn’t loose any boots. And we did a lot of trotting today, and rode the rockier trail in the park, the one we like to call the “Easyboot Eating” trail because invariably, someone would usually loose a boot. Not today! We did have to compromise and just tape plain Easyboots on his hind feet, cause the gaiters were rubbing at the area where he scraped himself at First of Spring. But they stayed on! And no rubbing on the front Epics.

Here’s Beamer being a sweetie to Dad. He is such a touchy-feely horse. Whenever he gets scared, all you have to do is touch him on the neck and he calms down. It’s been a rocky start, but I think we’re finally getting somewhere. He’s done 2 NATRC rides this far, with a 3rd one planned for a month from now. We’re planning his first 50 mile endurance ride for this summer, either hte Devil Dog 50 in Williams in July, or one of the days of the Bryce Canyon XP in September.

It was a really nice weekend to be out, overall. It’s starting to get warm – mid 90’s yesterday and today. But it’s still cooling down at night and is really nice early in the morning. The heat conditioning is important for the horses, and us, as well. A lot of the desert plants are blooming right now – hedgehog cactus, the last of the ocotillo, greasewood. Those are pretty, but par for the course. What I love about right now is the saguaros and ironwoods are starting to bloom!

Mimi was really, really good today, too. She was such a pill yesterday, that today was a nice chance. She was kind of goofy early on when I hopped off to lead down the hill that goes over the saddle. It’s a nice single track that goes down, does a switchback, then goes down some more. Well, she decides that instead of walking down the trail, she’s going to climb on the pile of granite next to the trail. :) That really didn’t work so well, and she almost face-planted, something I haven’t seen her do in a while. Hopefully she learned her lesson about staying on the trail.

I finally remembered to get a picture of my new mascot:
This little fellow has been living with me since the summer between my junior and senior year of high school. He was my companion at Arizona Girls State, one week of sheer political hell and way too much estrogen in enlosed spaces. You know you’ve gone crazy when you start talking to a stuffed animal.
So on a whim, I stuffed him into my bag to go to First of Spring. I had been closet cleaning and found him. Well, he’s been living in my pommel bag ever since. He doesn’t have a name yet, but as is readily apparent, he’s a long way off from the African safari!
I like to think this is also a way of honoring Merri Melde’s Raven, who is MIA somewhere in Brisbane, Australia right now. While I’ve never had to opportunity to meet the Raven (or Merri for that matter…maybe when she gets back from all her traveling!), I follow their blog adventures. Merri, may you someday get your traveling companion back!
Ride countdown: 4 weeks until Descanso, aka the NATRC Region 2 Cuyamaca Benefit Ride. This is my idea of how to spend a holiday weekend!