Eventing With A Twist: Shepherd Ranch Horse Trials Part 3: Reese's "Top Gear" is Apparently 2nd...

... ok, to be fair that's probably more about his Mummy being a chicken s@#t - could we have gone slower without going backwards???

Warning – spoiler alert! All 4 ponies were cross country superstars today, gaining no jump faults and a few time faults spread amongst a few of us. So very, very proud especially of Nahmi to run two nearly back to back training courses on both of her boys and do them like a champ (wheezing and all).

Nahmi was up first on Simon, who like a grey ghost was a bit hard to follow in the early morning fog. They energetically attacked each fence, getting lots of hoots and hollers from Bill and Maureen who came up to watch as a pre-wine tasting warm up. It was awesome to see them finish the course. From where I was standing I couldn’t see it, but I can only imagine the beaming smile on Nahmi’s face.

After Susan turned in her second great ride of the day, it was Nahmi’s turn again, this time on Sparky. Like an old pro, he just slipped back in to his job like he’s been doing this every weekend while Nahmi wasn’t looking. Nahmi did have the cruel revelation that she is indeed NOT a 12-year-old little girl and had to pull up for a moment to get her air, but all around it was another super effort. Again, pretty sure that her grin was from ear to ear when all was said and done.

There was a long, LONG break in the day until we baby eventers got our turn on the course. Barn mate Lena went first and put in a respectable round with that was terrific save for one unfortunate course error near the end.

Carolyn and Junior came out of the start box looking bold and confident. Watching from the warm up arena, they were an inspiring sight as they smoothly sailed over every fence.

Reese and I... Wow, were we slow. Ouch. Still, we got over everything and that’s what was important, right?

Special thanks to Shepherd Ranch for putting on such a great course at every level. Although to the pros, the intro course SEEMED small, to me and the other 9 little girls on ponies, our “table” seemed like the real deal. Ok, maybe it was only me, but still…. And a BIG THANK YOU to the volunteers - no event could go on without you!

Can’t wait for the next one… hoping our horses feel the same.