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Savvy Equestrian - Horse Blog
USPC Championships '08
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August 1, 2008 - 9:26 AM
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Hey Everyone!
I just returned from Champs earlier this week, and I don't think I mentioned that Sydney, Ariel, and I had all signed up to Stable Manage for other regions. Why on earth would I ever do that job again, you ask (see Show Jump Rally '06)? Well, because there were three regions that didn't have stable managers and if they couldn't fin one, the rules wouldn't allow them to compete. We went through this same ordeal last year, and almost weren't allowed to go. Since all three of us were going to be there anyway, we might as well help out.
I first off, have to say that I had the best team to stable manage for ever. Caitlin, Kallan, Gabbi, and Cheyenne were fantastic. Their horses were awesome to cooperate with, and they made the whole thing fun. This job could have been much harder if they hadn't been so great.
The first day we arrived (Tuesday), I was busy stuffing packets (my mom was organizing the whole event), and it was all pretty boring. Wednesday I helped set up Dressage rings, and came back around 1 to meet the team and help set up. We set up our tack room (pictured above), and I helped them all get ready to go hacking and school.
The next day was formals, the worst day for the SM. Nothing really went wrong except we had a judge who happened to be very picky about stock ties, so we lost five points total on formals. As far as rides were concerned, we were in fourth out of thirteen that day.
The next morning shock waves went through the barns. Daily sheets were posted, and massive points were taken off all teams. The only team who escaped the smasher was Ariel's. We received a total of 5 points off, and some teams were not so lucky getting as many as 11 off. We were fairly average for the total points- the lowest being zero, which only went to Ariel's team.
But as all things Pony Club go we had rides to get ready for so there was really no time to dwell. And as all things Pony Club go we also had equipment checks. To this day I have no idea how we escaped that disaster with only 1 point off. The whole time I was talking my way out of everything wrong and it must have worked because we only had 1 point off for a stirrup pad missing off an extra stirrup. Major point scares included extremely dust extra tack, outdated rulebooks, extra Pony Club Pins missing, controversial Equine First Aid Kits wraps, and incorrectly labeled feed charts. [Don't tell anyone!]
And speaking of disasters...it was known far and wide around the barn about the feed room disaster, and which team had the feed room disaster? Well it couldn't possibly be another teams could it? We had our feed room conveniently located next to a water spigot, and after the first time the drain started backing up into where? Our feed room. We "notified" HM that this was happening on Thursday, but on Friday when they came to do equipment checks they were shocked when our feed room resembled a pond. Easy solution though- just put our feed in the only available stall, two barns away in the Polocrosse barn! So with this verdict, we then had to walk about half a mile to get hay for our team's horses.
Sunday passed without incident except for another set of shocking dailys, in which we were deducted 6 more points putting our total to 17 points off. As far as rides were concerned scoring was so screwed up no one knew what place they were in. We went to awards with no idea whether we were getting first or last. We were surprised - we won 9th in HM with 17 points off, and 6th overall. Then my team gave me a brand new Champs '08 hat and they all signed it! It was really nice of them, and now I can put my other signed hat on the shelf as sort of a PC memory holder and get signatures on this new one.
I guess the only way to conclude is to say that my team made it well worth my while to have gone, and even though HM was sort of a disaster, it was more of a happy disaster! And now the Capital Region, which was my team's region, is my second favorite region.
Pictured above is Caitlin and her horse Calvin, and our tack room from the outside (yes the curtains are lopsided!)
Andy
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Insider Tip
When the ground gets hard and dry this summer, try packing your horse's hoofs with hoof packing 2 - 3 times per week. The hoof packing will make their hoofs more pliable and will help draw out any soreness.
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