Gina Mott on Midnight' Stud Duck

"Just remember, were going to this show for a good first experience. No grand expectations,
and hopefully he wont jump into the judges booth....."

Friday was full of anxiety and questions, and of course excitement. Midnight loaded like a pro and we made it to the facility with a very anxious momma behind the trailer. Midnight was slicked out in a slinky and shipping boots, his tail was wrapped and he looked like he had a mile long resume like the other horses, but alas he was simply a first timer in this big new world. We found our stall and introduced ourselves and Midnight, and he was very quiet. The rest of the night was the first of many surprises, he was an absolute gem in the arena...no spooking, nothing. He didn't bat an eyelash at anything. We were cantering 20m circles in 15 minutes with great ease as he was focused and extremely confident. I think he took the whole show thing VERY seriously as for the next 5 hours we bathed, clipped, wrapped, braided, and dressed, and he was an angel the entire time...other than for the wash rack, but hey I woulda been scared of the big horse eating drain right in the middle of it too. As we left that night around 9:30, he stood in his stall as if he'd been doing this his whole life...quiet and looking like Zorro ! he ate his hay and seemed very comfortable! I was hoping he'd get some sleep, because tomorrow was the big day!

"Im getting there AT 5 AM...I don't care if you're there or not, but I, however, will be there!"

We encountered some directional difficulty Saturday morning but we did make it by 6:30...later than I had wished, but we had been driving for an hour and a half trying to find the place. I rode for about 40 minutes; he was again perfect. We went and got the vet check and back to the stall so I could re-braid. I braided him and got him saddled and I must say he was THE best turned out horse (we were going for the intimidation factor ). I got myself ready and jumped on with about 15 minutes until my dressage test. My adrenaline was through the roof! We were both turned out and ready to ride!  We went in for our dressage test and executed it like we have a thousand times in the arena back home. I forgot to salute....  yeah my bad..he broke out of his flat walk a few times, and his first stop was not very square and un-balanced but those are things that we are still working on at home...for BOTH of our first dressage tests ever, we scored a 61.8! YEAH!! He never one batted an eyelash the entire time, I truly felt like we were a team.

"I hope he doesn't try to eat the brush box...."

Our stadium obstacle course was right after our dressage test...We nicked a couple poles, but we performed turn on the haunches in the box and on the platform perfectly. We did, however, knock down the rope gate....ha ha. All in all, the obstacle course was pretty well done; he got a little prancy but came right back to me.

"This is not a race...just an enjoyable ride through the country "

Before going into the Cross country, we were in fifth. We both knew we had to kick butt in order to bring our spot up...even though we weren't "competing", my competitive side had kicked in the moment we entered the dressage ring. This ride changed my entire relationship with this horse...we went and we conquered, together as a pair, in total unison. We left the ride and I started my stop watch, I had a minimum time of 18 minutes, a optimum time of 24, and a maximum time of 28. My strategy was to keep him walking because it was such a short ride...and he's a VERY fast walker!  that strategy quickly changed.  (Oh - I was riding in the dressage saddle because my trusty steed had suddenly become so svelte that his girth for his trail saddle was TOO big!!!!)
About 60 feet before our first gate, he realized there were no other horses and it seemed as if he changed his mind and said "ya know what? I've changed my mind..." BOOM he threw me forward in my seat, sat back on his hocks and spun around and took off about 10-15 feet for the barn before I got him stopped. I was thinking to myself, okay he got it out of his system...we're fine. We continuted walking and got probably 20 feet from the gate and BOOM, he did it again, just as hard and just as fast. I figured, all right now he's really got it out of his system. Once we get through the gate (that I wasn't supposed to open and go through ha ha) he'll be great. So I got off, opened the gate and was told I went the wrong way. I got back on and continued, white knuckling it the entire time as he was ready to move out. We went down the small hill after the gate and came to a very small creek that was in the middle of a field. I was holding him back, and out loud saying "DONT YOU DARE! this is not the rolex we can walk over this" The lady that was monitoring this all was laughing at me...Before I could even finish my talk with him he jumped it...ha ha, I was like, okay well we'll jump it then...another 50 feet ahead he did it again..BOOM! threw me forward sat back spun and ran just as hard...at this point I was thinking..."okay, third times a charm...were still okay...maybe"  No sooner had I said that and got him turned back around he did it a FOURTH time, BOOM...just as hard as the first time. At that point I was uneasy and unsure that we were going to be able to do this. As I'd done before I brought him back to me; he was scared and he had lost his desire to finish this ride. OUT LOUD, I had a talk with him...I didnt know what else to do really...I swear the lady thought I had fallen off the deep end..."Midnight, its your most cousin Gina up here, it's just you and me bub...we have to do this, we're a team and you have so many to prove wrong." we were already 13 minutes into the ride, not even a quarter of the way through. "You remember you trust me, its just you and me, no one else...we've got this, YOU are the STUD DUCK, and we have pushed through so much...dont let me down, we've got this"
As soon as I finished I reached down and gave him a good pat and hug, and his entire demeanor changed. His ears went up, his body relaxed, and he was ready to boogey.. He said "You pushed me through this, and im gonna push you just as hard...lets do this. " And just like that we were off! We crow hopped and cantered to the first gate, and as we're aproaching the first bucket I'm like "hey...hey ...HEY, bucket, I gotta stop here, hheey! bucket!" he side passed over to the bucket and as soon as that tally hit the bag I was keeping them in, he was GONE.   We were cantering in and out of trees, dodging rocks and holes as professionally and as adeptly as he could have ever been. We came to the second bucket...I holler at him "bucket, bucket, HEY!"  He side passed over to the buck, never ONCE stopping his feet. He knew we were running out of time. The tally hit my bag and he was off once again. He knew exactly when I had a branch to duck or dodge as if  he were reading my mind as I could read his. We came to bucket three and just like the first two...I yelled to him "bucket, bucket, HEY! BUCKET!" He sidepassed over, the tallly hit my bag and we were gone. Only 3 left. We got to bucket 4 the same way, cantering the entire way up and down hills and dodging anything and everything that came our way. Bucket five was back in the woods where the trail wound around trees. He never missed a beat. At this point I was at 23-24 minutes, we grabbed our tally out of bucket five as i'm yelling..."HEY, BUCKET," he slowed down but never stopped moving his feet as we sidepassed over. Bucket six was the bottom of a short, but steep slick hill. We were approaching the hill, and all the while I'm up there saying to him " hey hey hey, HEY...HEY we have GOT to slow down." He said, "oh no, we dont have time!"  We hit the hill and he slowed down only to sit on his butt and shuffle down the hill with amazing ease. He picked himself up and I saw the 6th bucket...I say to him "PHEW! WE'RE ALMOST DONE MIDNIGHT! "Hey, hey HHEEY! BUCKET!"  At this point we were at 26 minutes.  I knew we had to haul butt back to the finish line. As we sidepassed to the bucket he pawed at the ground, he pranced and his ears were back on me waiting for our next move. BAM, he struck out at the ground again and my adrenaline was through the roof! ...about 30 feet from the bucket was a gate and I knew if we didnt go slow it would take my leg off, the gate was not wide. As soon as the tally hit my bag, I said...alright, we've gotta boogie bud, let's do this!"  He took off with the fire of a seasoned race horse and switched leads going through the gate to where I had room on each side to clear my legs...I think at that point my jaw was almost to the ground ( he had just learned to canter 10 days ago!!!  ha ha) We were running through our last field and I saw the monitor lady standing in the middle of the lane...I was like what is she doin??? There's a big black horse barreling down on her. She never once moved, so I was like "alright bud. you're a dressage horse now..".right leg in him ...BOOM he jumps to the right..... dodges the lady and gallops up the hill...I was saying to him "okay now we HAVE to slow down, this is just not going to work at a canter, much less a full gallop!!!!!." There was barbwire fence on one side of us, then a 3 foot wide trail and then a cliff. The path was covered with rocks and small ditches...That horse never once skipped a beat. He cantered the entire path dodging rocks and the small ditches. He knew what had to be done..we hit the last open stretch and I looked at my stop watch, 27:30. I had 30 seconds!!!! There was a small bridge that we could cross for extra points...We ran to it, he stepped on it and at the exact same time we BOTH said "nope,  ZERO time for this right now"....He dodged to the left and took off for the finish...27:40...We were on our right lead and I knew we had to boogie, my heart was pounding because I knew it had to be crossed by 28. We ran and then BOOM he switches to his left lead takes a sharp left and hits the finishing gate at 27:56....PHEW! we both were so happy, and exhausted...we had MADE IT! Together, through everything as a team...

That ride completely changed our relationship...we have always been a team, but we have never been as one, we've always been two playing together...but yesterday, after that first gate for the first time...we were ONE, in the same mind, together fluid and ready to kick this cross country course in the butt. I pushed him through his fear, and he pushed me through mine. I truly feel like we came together after that first gate, and nothing will ever be able to change that. I'm so incredily pleased and proud of this horse. We are only going to go up from here, and we will be unstoppable.
He came home with not only his first, 1st place ribbon...but he left that event with my heart : )  

Pixie Javis on McCurdy Iron Rebel

Well, we did it!

I’m so glad I got over being a chicken and entered the 3rd Annual “Gaited Three Phase Event” held in Winchester, Ky!!! It was a BLAST! My girlfriend & fellow McCurdy Plantation Horse lover, Colleen Cates, flew in from Texas to ride up with me and support the event. My husband, Jim, came up and watched all day on Saturday. My instructor, Jason Crawhorn, and his wife, Tiffany, and her father, Jerry, also attended and we all had so much fun together.

I took my coming 6 year old McCurdy gelding, Rebel, and my coming 3 year old McCurdy gelding, Gabe, to the event this year. I rode Rebel and Jason rode Gabe.

There were three different divisions this year: beginner novice, novice, and trainer. Both my horses were entered into novice. There were a total of nine horses in our division. Both of us made it into the ribbons (they started with 6th). Rebel and I got 6th place and Gabe/Jason got 5th place. This was my first horse show EVER, so I was happy to even get a ribbon.

Gaited Dressage kicked my butt. That was our lowest score of the three phases. We arrived the day before we competed and I was out riding Rebel and going over my dressage pattern in the warm up area and BLANKED out!!! I totally psyched myself out. I didn’t sleep well that night and woke up nervous. I got so worried about forgetting my pattern that I didn’t RELAX. I did remember my pattern but was too tense which reflected in Rebel’s body. Rebel did everything I asked but I had him too tight. But this was my FIRST time *ever*, so I need to not totally beat myself up. I don’t know why I freaked myself out the night before. Geesh. Sorry for your sympathy pains, Colleen. [grin]

I really enjoyed the Stadium Trail Obstacle course! Novice had 10 objectives and each was 10 points:

1. Go over a brush box
2. Open a metal gate, go through, and shut gate
3. Two sets of serpentines (around little metal butterfly thingies)
4. Up and down platforms
5. Back through a “Z” pattern
6. Forward through an “L” pattern into a box to do a 360 degree turn and step over a jump standard
7. Go around a barrel, three ground poles, and another barrel
8. Pick up a tennis ball off a cone... walk through a path with flowers on either side, set ball on second cone
9. Over a bridge
10. Through a mud pit

Rebel and I messed up the gate. This is the one thing I rode in there thinking we would pass with flying colors. Isn’t that how it goes??!! LOL! I have practiced that over and over but this gate was much smaller and tighter. I only got 2 points for this but at least we tried. I missed one point on the back through “Z” because Rebel’s back hoof tapped one of the poles as I started to back. Once we got going, he did it perfectly. We got a 1/2 point deduction because he scraped the jump standard with one hoof after we did our 360, so we got a 90.5 in stadium trail obstacle.... and “A” for this part!!! YAY! We also got an extra 10 points added on to our scores for doing everything in a snaffle bit!!!

I LOVED the cross country!!! That was definitely my favorite and Rebel’s, too. After our first two phases, we were in 8th place (out of nine competitors) but after our cross country, we moved up two places to 6th and just made it into the ribbons! The cross country was FUN, FUN, FUN! We had two creek crossings... one was VERY steep and we had to be careful. There were logs to go over and tight places/paths through woods. We had a wooden bridge to cross and a jump and a “V” shaped tree to go through. There were lots of open fields, as well. We had 7 buckets we had to find on trees to get plastic tags to take back in with us. They gave us a time window to complete the course.... 27 - 44 minutes with the best time being 35.5. I think I was 37 seconds past that 35.5 mark, so I was fairly close to best time. There are BIG deductions for being earlier or later than the suggested window of time to complete the course.

We wound up doing all three phases on Saturday because bad storms were coming our way that night. It was a hectic day but it really was fun. We had a wonderful meal on the grounds that night and then we were able sleep in the next morning before we headed home in the rain.

Oh, another brag on Gabe.... they also had high point awards for each phase. GABE GOT 2ND PLACE OVERALL CROSS COUNTRY (that’s all divisions... even trainer level)!!! I’m so proud of him.

I should also mention that both my horses competed barefoot with only a snaffle bit. Their gaits are natural.

I’m already looking forward to next year!!!

Thanks to all my horsey friends who are continually supportive and encouraging!!! I couldn't have entered this without your all's enthusiasm!!!!!

Please visit my facebook album with the same title to see some pictures. :-)

April Cuthbertson on Magic's Royal Gift and Heart of Steel