It was always my intent to volunteer at all the OCTRA events up until Bentley turns 4 and I can start riding him at these events.
Then Chrystal put me in touch with Bob, who was looking for someone to ride his alternate horse in some of the events coming up, and I had a mount for Spring Ride!
Yesterday, Sue Downing offered me the chance to ride Foxy in Aprilfest this weekend. I never turn down a good ride on a good horse! That does leave me scrambling to find all my paperwork and pack for both days however, but I am very excited to do so. This will be my first time meeting her, but I have only ever met one horse I didn't like... but that's another story.
Of course she loses a volunteer in the process, but wow! What a response from GEC. I am so thrilled to have 2 groups of great girls coming along with me this weekend.
Saturday, Lily and Adriana are coming along with me. Adriana is going to ride Marg Murray's horse and Lily is going to volunteer. We are both riding the 12 mile set speed that day, a nice late start of 9:30 to hit the road (well late for me... I'm still waking up on my "feed the horses" schedule, boy will it ever be strange to wake up tomorrow and not head over to Halton Place). The ride is in Dufferin Forest, which I am a little familiar with as I have ridden there a few times last year on Abby. Oh yes, and I will be able to ride with Carol which will be great! I haven't seen her since November and there is so much to chat about!
Not sure if Adriana will be riding with me, it will depend on if she has a sponsor lined up or if I will become that person! It would be nice, but the group might start getting a little large :)
Sunday, Foxy and I will do the 25 mile set speed again with Carol and Sue's husband Mike. Rachel and Janna from GEC are coming as volunteers, and Lee is coming along as my pit crew. So another full car! Very excited to share the sport with these girls and I am already SO impressed that they were not dissuaded by the 6am departure time.
Boy do I have a lot to do tonight. Poor Bentley is going to have to go without exercise again tonight!
I rode last night, but it was relatively short due to the framing place in the mall wasting my precious time. However, Bentley DID have a good 3 mile trot continuously, and other than being extremely bored from lapping the ring that many times, he was not tired or silly at all. We had gotten our silliness out early as I walked around the fields and a porcupine ran in front of us.
Friday, April 27, 2012
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Busy busy busy
It has been a very busy week for me, and I apologize for not writing, and in advance for this probable novel I am about to write. I guess I should go back as far as last Thursday...
Thursday I took work off so I could get 2 horsey things accomplished: Riding with Bob Coleman on his horse Helfire, and shopping for my years worth of gear at the Greenhawk warehouse sale. I also threw in an early morning farrier appointment for Bentley (since my schedule still had a few spare moments in it). This was the first time I held him for a trim, and I was very impressed based on how I am told he acted on his first time.
Greenhawk, I blew my budget, but that was not a big surprise. The big thing I got was a new helmet, my small tipperary with extra padding was still proving to be too large, so I splurged and bought the T2 which is available in XS. How my head is so tiny, I don't know. I also got a lot of red "stuff" like food and water buckets, saddle pad and girth cover etc since that is going to be our theme colour. Also lost of fly gear first aid sort of stuff that I should just have on hand if needed. It adds up! Lots of things to buy when you have a new horse.
Then I hit the road up to Millbrook. Bob and i went for a nice ride in the forest, my Garmin told me we did 14.5 miles. Not bad! It was a beautiful day for a ride, sun was out, trails were dry. Only wish I had my saddle bag now... I was a little thirsty by the end of it! Helfire is a great horse, fabulously trained and quiet as anything. Hes an ex-racer so I only had slight problems when he decided to race Bob on Kashif, I wouldn't let him so I got a playful mini buck. I am going to take him in the two 25 mile rides for Spring Ride.
Friday, I was expecting I would have to take it easy, as I had not done a longer ride yet this year, but I was not sore at all (with the exception of a sun burn). So I moseyed over to GEC during the day (yes I took Friday off too, made more sense) and took Bentley out for a ride. We walked around in the ring for a little bit with Heather S, but she had to leave before I was quite ready to hang up the reins. Bentley and i started working on our trotting and cantering, trying to keep things sane. Since he was being good, I started taking him over some of the small x-2' jumps in the ring. He was an angel, coming back to the trot within only a few strides of the jump and jumping eagerly. Even the combination jump, which is new to him, was no big deal. I raised one jump to 2'6" and we flew over it. He refused it twice when I pointed at it again, but the 3rd time I wasn't going to let him off easy and we made it over. After that we lowered it back to 2' and did a 7 jump course at the canter. What a great boy he was!
After that, I took him for a walk around the fields. We stopped for a rest in the plateau and he happily nibbled on the fresh grass. We went back to work, and did lots of trotting around the plateau, practising the not cantering thing. He still has a tendency to get excited and try to break into the canter in some places, but doing lots of trot work and not asking him to canter I think helps him. I set the limit for the trail, and I think he is cluing into the idea that we never canter outside the ring. We did a nice 2 mile trot and he seemed to take it easily. He was quite calm and relaxed, but we were still getting a 9mph trot done, and I am very happy with that! Overall we did 10.5 mile ride, and I felt like he could go on forever. After we rode, I tried to cool him down with a wet sponge and learned that he is VERY afraid of wet sponges. Grrr... not so fun!
Saturday I began my final weekend at Halton Place. I am going to miss those animals! Of course, as my last weekend there, I ran into several snags. One being that almost all the horses had sore legs from the week before, and had managed to undo their wraps and hide them in their stalls. Also there was a lot of spring cleaning to be done, which made some long hours both Saturday and Sunday. So Saturday i took a break from riding, I had worked my body hard enough!
Sunday, I rode Bentley again after work. It was a lot cooler than Friday, so I tested him with a 2.5 mile trot. After I had finished counting the laps, I pull him up and try to get an idea of how tired he was. Well he wasn't puffing at all. I couldn't believe it! And he was so well behaved too, no rushing or anything, just having fun trotting around the ring. My sister Heather came as I finished up 5.5 miles total, and we went out for a walk around the back. We went up the cross country steps a few times since Bentley loves it so much and Heather wanted to try it. Ended up doing 8 miles! And when I got back, Bentley didn't have any sweat on him with the exception of both stifles. Which leads me to believe he is working much harder from his hind end than front, which is great!
Our total mileage since the mileage program started is now 41, and that's with a lot of days off!
Monday night was terrible, slushy snow coming down heavily, so we opted to go grocery shopping instead.
This brings us to yesterday, Bentley had his teeth done including a wolf tooth pulled, so no riding since he was still stoned when I got there. That's ok because I was there to go over the mileage program with the interested girls and their parents. It was great to see the girls getting excited for the program, and especially the idea of volunteering and possibly riding in the OCTRA events. Bentley got a mash and a snuggle and I came home relatively clean for once.
Thursday I took work off so I could get 2 horsey things accomplished: Riding with Bob Coleman on his horse Helfire, and shopping for my years worth of gear at the Greenhawk warehouse sale. I also threw in an early morning farrier appointment for Bentley (since my schedule still had a few spare moments in it). This was the first time I held him for a trim, and I was very impressed based on how I am told he acted on his first time.
Greenhawk, I blew my budget, but that was not a big surprise. The big thing I got was a new helmet, my small tipperary with extra padding was still proving to be too large, so I splurged and bought the T2 which is available in XS. How my head is so tiny, I don't know. I also got a lot of red "stuff" like food and water buckets, saddle pad and girth cover etc since that is going to be our theme colour. Also lost of fly gear first aid sort of stuff that I should just have on hand if needed. It adds up! Lots of things to buy when you have a new horse.
Then I hit the road up to Millbrook. Bob and i went for a nice ride in the forest, my Garmin told me we did 14.5 miles. Not bad! It was a beautiful day for a ride, sun was out, trails were dry. Only wish I had my saddle bag now... I was a little thirsty by the end of it! Helfire is a great horse, fabulously trained and quiet as anything. Hes an ex-racer so I only had slight problems when he decided to race Bob on Kashif, I wouldn't let him so I got a playful mini buck. I am going to take him in the two 25 mile rides for Spring Ride.
Friday, I was expecting I would have to take it easy, as I had not done a longer ride yet this year, but I was not sore at all (with the exception of a sun burn). So I moseyed over to GEC during the day (yes I took Friday off too, made more sense) and took Bentley out for a ride. We walked around in the ring for a little bit with Heather S, but she had to leave before I was quite ready to hang up the reins. Bentley and i started working on our trotting and cantering, trying to keep things sane. Since he was being good, I started taking him over some of the small x-2' jumps in the ring. He was an angel, coming back to the trot within only a few strides of the jump and jumping eagerly. Even the combination jump, which is new to him, was no big deal. I raised one jump to 2'6" and we flew over it. He refused it twice when I pointed at it again, but the 3rd time I wasn't going to let him off easy and we made it over. After that we lowered it back to 2' and did a 7 jump course at the canter. What a great boy he was!
After that, I took him for a walk around the fields. We stopped for a rest in the plateau and he happily nibbled on the fresh grass. We went back to work, and did lots of trotting around the plateau, practising the not cantering thing. He still has a tendency to get excited and try to break into the canter in some places, but doing lots of trot work and not asking him to canter I think helps him. I set the limit for the trail, and I think he is cluing into the idea that we never canter outside the ring. We did a nice 2 mile trot and he seemed to take it easily. He was quite calm and relaxed, but we were still getting a 9mph trot done, and I am very happy with that! Overall we did 10.5 mile ride, and I felt like he could go on forever. After we rode, I tried to cool him down with a wet sponge and learned that he is VERY afraid of wet sponges. Grrr... not so fun!
Saturday I began my final weekend at Halton Place. I am going to miss those animals! Of course, as my last weekend there, I ran into several snags. One being that almost all the horses had sore legs from the week before, and had managed to undo their wraps and hide them in their stalls. Also there was a lot of spring cleaning to be done, which made some long hours both Saturday and Sunday. So Saturday i took a break from riding, I had worked my body hard enough!
Sunday, I rode Bentley again after work. It was a lot cooler than Friday, so I tested him with a 2.5 mile trot. After I had finished counting the laps, I pull him up and try to get an idea of how tired he was. Well he wasn't puffing at all. I couldn't believe it! And he was so well behaved too, no rushing or anything, just having fun trotting around the ring. My sister Heather came as I finished up 5.5 miles total, and we went out for a walk around the back. We went up the cross country steps a few times since Bentley loves it so much and Heather wanted to try it. Ended up doing 8 miles! And when I got back, Bentley didn't have any sweat on him with the exception of both stifles. Which leads me to believe he is working much harder from his hind end than front, which is great!
Our total mileage since the mileage program started is now 41, and that's with a lot of days off!
Monday night was terrible, slushy snow coming down heavily, so we opted to go grocery shopping instead.
This brings us to yesterday, Bentley had his teeth done including a wolf tooth pulled, so no riding since he was still stoned when I got there. That's ok because I was there to go over the mileage program with the interested girls and their parents. It was great to see the girls getting excited for the program, and especially the idea of volunteering and possibly riding in the OCTRA events. Bentley got a mash and a snuggle and I came home relatively clean for once.
Saturday, April 21, 2012
Cat Lovers
Dont have the time or dedication to write right now, so instead I will share with you an article about why cats are better than dogs. Quite interesting really!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-karen-becker/cats_b_1073988.html
And if you were looking for something funny, here you will find cats improving famous works of art. My pick: Anthony van Dyck, “Drunken Silenus” because I love the face.
http://www.themarysue.com/cats-improve-paintings/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-karen-becker/cats_b_1073988.html
And if you were looking for something funny, here you will find cats improving famous works of art. My pick: Anthony van Dyck, “Drunken Silenus” because I love the face.
http://www.themarysue.com/cats-improve-paintings/
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Hello there Mr. Trump!
The news was filled yesterday with the news of the 2 big names visiting Toronto. Oprah and Trump.
While I must have missed Oprah's plane, we did have one very obvious jet parked outside my office (and in good view for anyone driving down Derry Road)
While I must have missed Oprah's plane, we did have one very obvious jet parked outside my office (and in good view for anyone driving down Derry Road)
Had I been able to get the full plane in the frame, you would see the obvious "Trump" instead of "Tr", but then I would have never got that mop of blonde hair ascending the stairs. Huge aircraft for one very successful man, I can only imagine what the inside looks like!
Monday, April 16, 2012
Friday the 13th
I am not a superstitious woman, but when silly happens, it doesn't hurt to have something out of my control to blame it on.
Friday was due to be my last lesson at Myrddin. I always leave my helmet and boots in my tack box at GEC. So my first stop was there. Upon return to my car, funny thing... I was locked out. My car is not supposed to lock if the keys are inside (there is an RFID in it), and there they were, sitting right in plain sight on the passenger seat. And here I though those keys were supposed to be foolproof.
Fortunately, I was at the barn and not stranded anywhere. Yes I did have to forfeit my last lesson, but I still was able to have a great ride. We started in the ring, where I did half a mile of walking to warm up, and tested him with a full mile of trotting. He passes! Barely broke a sweat. He was behaving quite well too, speedy at first, but calmed down pretty quickly. We went out on a walk with Liz and Kahlua, circling the corn fields and plateau a few times before night started to settle in. Total for the day was 4 miles, mostly walking.
Saturday had a bit of 13th continuance in the fact that it was just a disgusting day at work. I found a dead, flattened mummified bird in Grace's paddock, a dead soggy mouse or mouse like critter in the wash stall (it got pretty beat up as i tried to shovel it away, so unsure) and pieces of a dead slobbery worm that trailed from one end of the barn to the other. Darn dogs! Oh and then when I went to eat my breakfast, the cat came within inches of vomiting in my oatmeal. It was really tough to eat that mush after that. I have to say, working at the barn has made me tougher... i don't think i could have ever picked up that stuff before.
Aside from the extra messes to clean up, I was able to get out of there for a lunch that was long enough to accommodate a good ride and actually had energy for it!
Bentley was being a pain in the rear for the first half of it. There was some light rain as we mounted up in the indoor, and made him anxious of the sound on the roof. Very difficult to mount indeed! We took right off to the trail since both the outdoor rings had lessons, something I have never done yet. We walked the first quarter mile, but he was so antsy, I let him trot up the gradual hill at the back end of the cornfields figuring it would help wear him out. Not at all, he busted into a canter and I had a terrible time trying to get him down the hill into the plateau. Once we got there, things weren't much more sane, we couldn't get the trot for quite a while. I ended up treating the plateau like an inflated dressage ring, and would figure 8 him at every "Letter" location, or do serpentines from one side to the other. This took us quite a long time. He is very good when he has to make all the turns, but as soon as I let him go straight, he wanted to run.
We slowed down to the walk and decided to go back to the corn fields for a walk to have a mental break. I was getting a little stressed from containing him and I don't think it was helping. We went back up via the stairs, which he LOVES for some reason. He actually jumped them from the walk this time instead of one leg at a time. Stairs are a cross country obstacle/jump ours are a set of 2 about 2' high each. They are set up a very steep hill, and unlike a regular jump, there is an up, but no down after it. So having 2 or more is like a very large staircase for horses. He was even starting to pull towards them later in our ride. Funny guy, love his spirit!
When we came back to the plateau again, he was much quieter. Still had a tendency to run when I would let him go straight, but would only get 2-3 strides in before he listened to my Whoa's . Eventually we were trotting consistently around the perimeter.
We also ran into Ernie and her dog as we came out of the plateau a second time. He took off at a gallop, but I circled him quickly and dismounted. After a few minutes, I had him beside the dog, and he was calmly eating grass. Not a bad recovery!
Went back to the barn and into the small sand ring to blow off some steam at the canter in a safe place. I cant seem to get him to pick up his right lead. Not sure if I am unbalanced when I am asking him (we were having some troubles in the corner) or if hes just not getting it yet. He usually picks up both leads correctly, but they could have been flukes. His head didn't seem all there, so I am guessing we just need more practise and that it isn't an unsoundness thing.
He was pretty sweaty by that time, so I decided to try and get him to cross the stream. Again I dismounted and tried to lead him over it. Boy, was it ever tough, he did NOT want anything to do with it. And it was only 1.5' wide, about an inch deep. Where was that brave horse from the stairs? About 15 minutes went by of tugging and spinning and him calling to his friends. Then a group of lesson students walked by on the far side of the field, across the raging rapids. It seemed to give him some extra motivation (or maybe he had just had it with me nagging... by that time I was in the stream myself showing him exactly how easy it was) and as they disappeared out of sight, he awkwardly hopped through the stream behind me. We caught up with the schoolies and finished our ride at 8.5 miles exactly. I think we had ridden for about an hour and 50 minutes. Not bad considering a lot of that was balking at water and dogs!
Friday was due to be my last lesson at Myrddin. I always leave my helmet and boots in my tack box at GEC. So my first stop was there. Upon return to my car, funny thing... I was locked out. My car is not supposed to lock if the keys are inside (there is an RFID in it), and there they were, sitting right in plain sight on the passenger seat. And here I though those keys were supposed to be foolproof.
Fortunately, I was at the barn and not stranded anywhere. Yes I did have to forfeit my last lesson, but I still was able to have a great ride. We started in the ring, where I did half a mile of walking to warm up, and tested him with a full mile of trotting. He passes! Barely broke a sweat. He was behaving quite well too, speedy at first, but calmed down pretty quickly. We went out on a walk with Liz and Kahlua, circling the corn fields and plateau a few times before night started to settle in. Total for the day was 4 miles, mostly walking.
Saturday had a bit of 13th continuance in the fact that it was just a disgusting day at work. I found a dead, flattened mummified bird in Grace's paddock, a dead soggy mouse or mouse like critter in the wash stall (it got pretty beat up as i tried to shovel it away, so unsure) and pieces of a dead slobbery worm that trailed from one end of the barn to the other. Darn dogs! Oh and then when I went to eat my breakfast, the cat came within inches of vomiting in my oatmeal. It was really tough to eat that mush after that. I have to say, working at the barn has made me tougher... i don't think i could have ever picked up that stuff before.
Aside from the extra messes to clean up, I was able to get out of there for a lunch that was long enough to accommodate a good ride and actually had energy for it!
Bentley was being a pain in the rear for the first half of it. There was some light rain as we mounted up in the indoor, and made him anxious of the sound on the roof. Very difficult to mount indeed! We took right off to the trail since both the outdoor rings had lessons, something I have never done yet. We walked the first quarter mile, but he was so antsy, I let him trot up the gradual hill at the back end of the cornfields figuring it would help wear him out. Not at all, he busted into a canter and I had a terrible time trying to get him down the hill into the plateau. Once we got there, things weren't much more sane, we couldn't get the trot for quite a while. I ended up treating the plateau like an inflated dressage ring, and would figure 8 him at every "Letter" location, or do serpentines from one side to the other. This took us quite a long time. He is very good when he has to make all the turns, but as soon as I let him go straight, he wanted to run.
We slowed down to the walk and decided to go back to the corn fields for a walk to have a mental break. I was getting a little stressed from containing him and I don't think it was helping. We went back up via the stairs, which he LOVES for some reason. He actually jumped them from the walk this time instead of one leg at a time. Stairs are a cross country obstacle/jump ours are a set of 2 about 2' high each. They are set up a very steep hill, and unlike a regular jump, there is an up, but no down after it. So having 2 or more is like a very large staircase for horses. He was even starting to pull towards them later in our ride. Funny guy, love his spirit!
When we came back to the plateau again, he was much quieter. Still had a tendency to run when I would let him go straight, but would only get 2-3 strides in before he listened to my Whoa's . Eventually we were trotting consistently around the perimeter.
We also ran into Ernie and her dog as we came out of the plateau a second time. He took off at a gallop, but I circled him quickly and dismounted. After a few minutes, I had him beside the dog, and he was calmly eating grass. Not a bad recovery!
Went back to the barn and into the small sand ring to blow off some steam at the canter in a safe place. I cant seem to get him to pick up his right lead. Not sure if I am unbalanced when I am asking him (we were having some troubles in the corner) or if hes just not getting it yet. He usually picks up both leads correctly, but they could have been flukes. His head didn't seem all there, so I am guessing we just need more practise and that it isn't an unsoundness thing.
He was pretty sweaty by that time, so I decided to try and get him to cross the stream. Again I dismounted and tried to lead him over it. Boy, was it ever tough, he did NOT want anything to do with it. And it was only 1.5' wide, about an inch deep. Where was that brave horse from the stairs? About 15 minutes went by of tugging and spinning and him calling to his friends. Then a group of lesson students walked by on the far side of the field, across the raging rapids. It seemed to give him some extra motivation (or maybe he had just had it with me nagging... by that time I was in the stream myself showing him exactly how easy it was) and as they disappeared out of sight, he awkwardly hopped through the stream behind me. We caught up with the schoolies and finished our ride at 8.5 miles exactly. I think we had ridden for about an hour and 50 minutes. Not bad considering a lot of that was balking at water and dogs!
Friday, April 13, 2012
Playing with Numbers - GEC Mileage program
I am a very calculating person, when I drive places, I take note of the exits and calculate my time to my destination. When I am sweeping the barn, I count my strokes. And when I have something on my mind, like training or budgeting, I like to calculate different circumstances to see how I can reach my goals.
So for those of you who have signed up for the mileage program, here are some scenarios.
# 1 - ride every day starting Apr 9th, ride 1 mile per day in April, 2 miles per day in May, 3 per day in June and so forth. Never missing a day and following this pattern lands you 675 miles at the end of the year, 737 points.
#2 - Ride one a week after your lesson to cool out for 1 mile, and once a week doing a 10 mile ride (which is realistic for an hour and a half to two hours of riding). 286 miles, and 259 points. Are you starting to see the value in the milestones yet?
#3 - 3 miles every other day. 270 miles, 256 points.
#4 - Starting the program in may, and doing the same thing as #1 (only starting with 1 mile per day in May, 2 in June and so on) 494 miles, 300 points. Wow what a difference from #1! enough to get your entries in asap right?
#5 - Starting the program tomorrow (Saturday the 14th) and riding a 2 mile ride twice a week, and a 10 mile ride once a week until June. Then up your weeklies to 3 and 15 until August, then up to 4 and 20 until the end of the season. Whoa not only must you be committed to distance riding, but you will have 563 miles, 714 points, and 4 days a week for you and your horse to relax!
That's a good point right there, its important for you to let your horse and you have a break. Give them a vacation here and there to recover from stiff muscles, sore backs and exhaustion. After a long ride, don't you like to sleep in the next day? Hence why #1 and #4 are purely statistical. Also, don't always work hard at your rides. Sometimes just go out for a nice walk so your horse doesn't look at hitting the trails to be work, but also a chance for fun!
Any other situations you want me to calculate out? I made up a great spreadsheet to track you all and I can run any situation oh so quickly ;)
So for those of you who have signed up for the mileage program, here are some scenarios.
# 1 - ride every day starting Apr 9th, ride 1 mile per day in April, 2 miles per day in May, 3 per day in June and so forth. Never missing a day and following this pattern lands you 675 miles at the end of the year, 737 points.
#2 - Ride one a week after your lesson to cool out for 1 mile, and once a week doing a 10 mile ride (which is realistic for an hour and a half to two hours of riding). 286 miles, and 259 points. Are you starting to see the value in the milestones yet?
#3 - 3 miles every other day. 270 miles, 256 points.
#4 - Starting the program in may, and doing the same thing as #1 (only starting with 1 mile per day in May, 2 in June and so on) 494 miles, 300 points. Wow what a difference from #1! enough to get your entries in asap right?
#5 - Starting the program tomorrow (Saturday the 14th) and riding a 2 mile ride twice a week, and a 10 mile ride once a week until June. Then up your weeklies to 3 and 15 until August, then up to 4 and 20 until the end of the season. Whoa not only must you be committed to distance riding, but you will have 563 miles, 714 points, and 4 days a week for you and your horse to relax!
That's a good point right there, its important for you to let your horse and you have a break. Give them a vacation here and there to recover from stiff muscles, sore backs and exhaustion. After a long ride, don't you like to sleep in the next day? Hence why #1 and #4 are purely statistical. Also, don't always work hard at your rides. Sometimes just go out for a nice walk so your horse doesn't look at hitting the trails to be work, but also a chance for fun!
Any other situations you want me to calculate out? I made up a great spreadsheet to track you all and I can run any situation oh so quickly ;)
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Mileage Program Rules
Ok, with my previous post, I had hoped to lure you into the program without revealing too much before the official start. Well... i guess it kind of backfired on me, because I had a whole lot of questions asked that I knew were answered in the package you get when you register.
Yes this is very new to most of you, so I shouldnt have been surprised that you would want to know EVERYTHING before you signed up. I guess I was a little bit lazy too, not wanting to write out everything twice.
So here is a copy and pasted rule list (straight from the package some of you may already have), read through it, and then I will explain some more underneath it all.
Mileage Program Rules
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So, some FAQ's are:
Yes this is very new to most of you, so I shouldnt have been surprised that you would want to know EVERYTHING before you signed up. I guess I was a little bit lazy too, not wanting to write out everything twice.
So here is a copy and pasted rule list (straight from the package some of you may already have), read through it, and then I will explain some more underneath it all.
Mileage Program Rules
1. A team consists on one horse and one rider. If you wish to enter more than one horse in the mileage program, your mileage will be tracked separately. Horses can also have multiple riders, but will be tracked separate from each other.
2. Mileage only counts if you are doing it for the sake of mileage. Do not include your lessons or other activities as part of your mileage. You do not need to be mounted to do mileage, walking and trotting your horse in hand for the purpose of mileage will be counted towards your total.
3. If working on mileage outside of the ring, make sure to bring a friend and or adult, and tell someone at the barn where you are going and how long you expect to be gone for. Always wear your safety equipment!
4. Mileage logs should be handed in to Sarah or Linda 2 times a month (on the 15th and 30th of each month) in order for it to count towards your total for you to earn rewards.
5. Prize tickets will be awarded for every 5 miles you complete, as well as one time bonuses when you reach a milestone. Prize tickets can be used at the end of the season to bid on fun prizes in an auction style.
Milestone Bonus Prizes
20 Miles – 2 additional tickets
50 Miles – 10 additional tickets
100 Miles – 40 additional tickets
250 Miles – 150 additional tickets
500 Miles – 400 additional tickets
Examples:
35 Miles = 7 regular mileage tickets
2 tickets – 20 mile bonus
= 9 tickets total
125 miles = 25 regular mileage tickets
2 tickets – 20 mile bonus
10 tickets – 50 Mile bonus
40 tickets – 100 Mile bonus
= 77 tickets total
Other ways to earn tickets (amount will be assessed by Linda, Laura or Sarah):
· Volunteer at an OCTRA event
· Display knowledge of “parameters” including checking horse vitals, conditioning techniques, and long distance rules
· Attend GEC clinics
· “Other” category… get creative and show us your Distance Riding Spirit in any way you can think of.
6. Mileage will be tracked from April 9, 2012 to October 6th, 2012 and will end with the Annual Harvest Hack. Prizes will be awarded at the Harvest Hack.
- How do I sign up? There are forms in the Lounge, ask your instructor, or click here and print out a copy for yourself
- What day is this event? Or when can I qualify for mileage? Mileage is already starting to be accumulated. There is no particular day that you need to ride on, just ride whenever you usually do. Just make sure that you log your distances and hand in those forms. When you get your forms, you will get everything you need to start. The sooner you get your forms in, the sooner you can start tracking your mileage.
- How do I know how far I have ridden? Once you have signed up, you will get a package with maps of the property. The maps have common routes mapped out and their distances. Remember to stay to the edge of the routes to make sure you are doing the full distance!
- Where do I hand in my forms? For now, you can find me or give it to your instructor. Look for the lady on the dark gray horse :) I will hopefully in a few days have a drop box where you can leave your entry forms/fees AND your logged rides. Make sure you put your name on everything!
- Do I have to ride to complete mileage? Nope! In most distance riding competitions, you can run or walk alongside your horse to give it a break, so we chose those rules too. Its a great way to practise your groundwork.
- Can I do this if I only ride in lessons? Yes you can, but your lessons itself will not count. However, if you cool your horse out after your lesson by doing one lap around the cornfield, thats one mile closer to getting a ticket. And you can get extra tickets for other activities too. Join the facebook group for announcements about ways to get bonus tickets.
- How do I know how I rank? I will be putting up a distance board so we can see everyone's mileage. I will update this every 2 weeks or so. Please dont move your picture on your own, I will handle all of that! I will put Linda and I on there, but we arent eligible for prizes... so dont worry about that ;)
- What are the prizes? To this I answer.... what do you want? The program will hand out prizes at the end. All of your entry money will contribute to prizes, but we hope to have some donated too. So tell me what you want for prizes and I will do my best to get things everyone will want. There may be opportunities to cash in your tickets before the final prize auction too, so stay in the loop :)
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