Final volunteer weekend of the year

** Just a quick note on Spencer - I have had two updates from the riding program and Spencer is settling in well so far!   Thanks for the comments on my last post - I'm not as sad about it this week as I was last week, so that is good!

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We are well into fair season here, with the big ones wrapping up in the next month or so.  This past weekend was one of our local fall fairs that I had two volunteer commitments to finish up.

My friend is a judge, so I often tag along with her to the western shows at the fairs. I think I've been to most in a 2-3 hour radius from here, just to see what they are like.    This year, I was her ring steward as a favour to her.   I got into the fair for free, so that is a bonus.

These two percherons were close to our ring and kept geting excited every time another horse went by. 
Luckily none of the riding horses spooked!

This fair is a cute one - they have cattle, draft horses and a light horse show on the same day as the western ring.  I went for a quick tour around and it seemed to me that all the horse show entries were down. The western show only had 6 people, which is really sad. A lot of fairs have cancelled their horse shows and I wouldn't be surprised if this one follows suit.

Cows!

The fair board sometimes pays groups to come in and host events. And on Sunday, we put on our last cowboy obstacle show of the season at the same fair.   As of Sunday, I'm officially done volunteering with that club, which is a really good thing.

I'm very burnt out from volunteering on the boards of these local show clubs. It is such a drain on time and resources, especially if you work full time and, oh, I don't know, want to ride and show your own horse!  And don't get me started on politics and people not pulling their weight!

Cute!

The good news is that the show went well and our entries were decent, considering there were many other events on at the same time.

The other good news?  Mini donuts.  My favourite thing at a fair!  I know you can find them elsewhere, but I only let myself eat them at a fair.  And yes, I totally use my bucket for snacks or a dog water dish for the next few months!

1 Cowboy obstacle race down, 3 to go

We got through our day yesterday without too many hiccups! The weather worked in our favour too - it was hot and sunny right up until the last rider at 4:30, then the heavens open up and it poured for about 30 mins.

A fairly basic course - the bridge is fun and there was even a little jump!  Most people just walked over it.

We had about 50 runs over 5 divisions, so not a bad day. This club is a schooling level show and since it is the first one, our judge set an easier course.  For each division over novice, she added difficulty by adding decorations such as balloons or feathers to the obstacles and added water to the water box (in the line on the right, past the jump).  It made it easier on our volunteers, since they didn't have to move and add obstacles throughout the day.

Half of outdoor ring looking at the indoor.  Can I move in?

We were at the farm of one of our board members.  It is a big deal to have 20 or so trailers and 30-40 people traipsing around your (pristine) property.  This place is a horse-lovers dream - 10 stall barn, big pastures, individual pens, a small event field (they are ropers, so don't use it), a huuuuggge outdoor sand ring (at least 250 x 600, maybe bigger) and an indoor arena - I was contemplating moving in!

There are some old jumps out in the grass field 

The riders seemed to have fun and most of them did quite well with their horses and the obstacles.  These shows are interesting as a horse that does all kinds of stuff at home, will often look twice at balloons, feathers and other interesting things.  Oddly enough, the big flapping start/finish flags didn't bother a single horse!  The course is timed and riders get extra points for their time - faster time = more points, slower time = fewer points - and the obstacles are scored on a scale of 1-10.    The judge sets a pattern for the course and at our shows, the obstacles are numbered to help people.

We had a fun selection of breeds too - there was a fjord (want!), 2 Canadian horses (so handsome!), a morgan, many paints and QHs, a TB, an arab and a super cute pony.

The fjord looked at the feathers, but walked right over.

I got a short video of the Canadian - he is a stud - and quite handsome! Riders had to pull the ball in a haynet out of the barrel and drag it around the bridge.  If you knocked over the barrel you lost points and if you had a hard time getting the rope organized, it would slow down your run.  And we even nailed the trendy music...my friend's kids were asking us to play Old Town Road on repeat.  Our more mature riders weren't so sure of that song.  lol

I hit another storm on my drive home and I had to stop and get some pictures because the sky was pretty dark and dramatic.  And, it is beautiful here this time of year with all of the green and the big sky.   Although this climate change business has been bringing this region more tornado warnings and actual tornadoes. Scary stuff. A bad tornado hit very close to home (about 3 miles) away last September, so everyone is a little jumpy when the weather folks start broadcasting tornado warnings...

Dark and dramatic, with a dash of tornado warnings...

It is nice and cool and rainy this morning, so I thought I would knock out a blog post before I forget! I'm also counting cash and finalizing paperwork before heading out to the barn to do some work there.

Cash and more cash.  Crazy colours and all.  Sadly not mine...;-)

Would you guys try and obstacle race if there was one in your area?  Our club lets riders use whatever tack they wish, so no need for a western saddle or a cowboy hat!

Volunteer time - cowboy obstacle show

I think I've mentioned it before, but I've done a fair bit of volunteering for horse show-related stuff over the past 10 years.  It started out being fun, but slowly become a complete drain on my time and energy.  I resigned from all my positions but one last year. I'm on the board of directors for a small club that does cowboy obstacle races.  I stayed on to help as a favour to a friend, but this will be my last year of helping out to this level.

Part of a course from last year. That is the barn owner's dog drinking out of the water box!

I'm the treasurer and I do all of the finances, paperwork and prizes - forms, entries, order-of-go for the classes, scoring, sponsor letters, etc.  It is fun to a point, but it takes so much time and we have 4 shows this year.   Our first show is coming up this weekend, so I've been spending a fair bit of time in the evenings doing paperwork.

Charlie is my manager - she isn't very helpful...but she is super cute!

Shopping for prizes and exhibitor gifts is the fun part for sure.  This year my friend picked up a few things she found.  Some years we have bought a bunch of different stuff at Congress.  This year I  found a great local vendor of horse treats and placed a big order before the show.  I have to stop by the local tack shop for a few things on Friday and and make a run to the bank.  This year, aside from a few fun prizes, we are giving out cash for 1st-5th place in all divisions. We find that everyone likes cash - it doesn't collect dust like a trophy.  :-)

These are the gift bags the treat people made for us!  The cookies are edible by humans as well - they are soft molasses cookies that aren't too sweet.

We have a long weekend coming up, so this will keep me busy until Saturday, then I'll have Sunday AND Monday to relax and get some stuff done around the house.