Extreme cowboy challenge

Last night we went over to the Extreme Cowboy Challenge out at Colonial Stables.  Fun!  Unlike the Craig Cameron Extreme Cowboy Race, though, it was mostly regular folks who were, let's just say, "not pros."  I loved it!  Lori rode a horse belonging to someone else for her first attempt at this thing since Pops is definitely not yet trained to do this stuff.  Here she is getting her stirrups adjusted before the contest began.

It really looked like something we might want to try eventually.  They even have an "Old Cowboy" category for those of us over 50 or 55.  Unfortunately, though -- from my point of view -- those guys were some of the best since they had obviously been riding their entire lives.  Still . . .

I think once we get our horses home I'm going to set up some of those "challenges" out in our pastures.  Even if I never go to one of the events, it would be fun to learn, I think.  

Okay, here are some of the things that were required in last night's event.  I may not have them in exactly the right order, but all these things were included.  Starting out, the horse needed to go over a "teeter-totter" made of a double layer of plywood laid across about a 6" steel pipe. 

From there, the rider was handed a 20 or 30-foot rope attached to a barrel and they had to ride around the barrel as fast as possible while holding onto the rope without dropping it or allowing it to touch the ground.

Then they rode through one of those big round bale holders turned on its side with a slit tarp fastened over it so the horse can't actually see what's on the other side (the rider, particularly anyone on a tall horse, had BETTER remember to duck!)  The picture below is pretty bad because I captured it from a video, but it does show the bale holder they had to ride through and the double cattle pen in the background.

After that there were two low "jumps" -- one a 12" or so log, the next a line of hay bales. 

Then there was one of those big balls some horses play with placed between two long gates.  The horse had to kick the ball through that passageway.   Below is Lori starting the ball event and the "teeter-totter" is shown between the two fake trees on the left of the judge.

Then there were two long 12" diameter pipes laid out one in front of the other about 10 or 15 feet apart.  The horse had to side pass across the first one in one direction, keeping its front feet on one side and its back feet on the other side of the pipe.  Then it had to sidepass back in the opposite direction across the second pipe.  Then the rider had to weave the horse BACKWARD through a row of cones.  Here's Lori beginning the backing event with the pipes for the sidepass shown on the left side of the photo.

Okay, then the rider would ride out of the outdoor arena as fast as possible toward the indoor arena then stop at a white line.  Then they had to ride in circles in two directions changing leads appropriately.  When they finished with that they would ride back out to the outdoor arena and someone would hand them a lasso which they had to twirl over their head at least 3 times, then rope a metal "cow" with it.  Next, the rider was handed a rope attached to a metal cow on a slide.  They had to dally the rope around the saddle horn and pull the "cow" about 15 feet, then turn the horse around and pull it another 15 feet backward.   Below is Lori trying to get the horse to back up with the metal cow attached to the saddle horn.

Next they rode up to a white line in the dirt, stopped the horse, dismounted and "ground tied" it, ran forward about 10 feet, picked up a landscape timber, brought it back and laid it down right in front of the horse.  The horse was then blindfolded with a lined fly mask and they had to lead it across the timber and the rest of the way down the arena as fast as possible.  Unmask the horse and pick up each foot and hold it for 2 full seconds.

Then they would re-mount from the RIGHT side then ride over to the cattle pen, sidepass up to the gate and open it from horseback, ride inside, close the gate, herd a cow from that pen into an adjoining pen and back again, then come back out the gate and ride as fast as they could across the finish line leading out of the arena where the time clock would be stopped.  Whew!  The best times were generally in the five minute range.

None of the things were all THAT difficult, but having a horse that could do all of them would be an absolute JOY!  What fun!