Cross Country at the Event

I spent all afternoon at the Rebecca Farm Event, from noon to the end at 6 pm. One of the jump judges told me they were putting in a 12 hour day as the competition started at 7 am.

It was a sunny and very hot day. The high temperature was 96 F. The average wind speed was 2 mph with a maximum of 8 mph. A beautiful day but hot! Along with thundering sound of the horses hooves I could heard many breathing hard in the heat.

A number of people had umbrellas to provide shade for them. A good number of people were dressed in long pants and shirts and cap to protect against the sun. A number of the younger, mainly female, people were not so covered so as to get somewhat of a tan. Interestingly not many people had tans, even the ones trying for a tan.

Me on the other hand, am somewhat dark from being outside much of the time picking weeds and whatever. Or I should say the top half of me is tanned as I wear long pants around the ranch as it is a must when working. Today I wore short pants and I think my legs got a touch sunburnt. The first few hours I watched at the duck pond and had shade. The rest of the time there were no trees.

At 96 F I was sweating in my clothes so I took my tshirt off. Being tan no problem with sunburning. Later a man, (pregnant) woman, and two girls came and sat nearby. They looked like they were out of the "Little House on the Prairie" as the woman and the girls all wore long pioneer dresses. They looked hot. When the man and girls went off to look at a jump from another angle I caught the woman looking at me. Wonder what she was thinking?

I started my viewing at the duck pond. This is the first water jump and the 5th jump in the competition. The pond is shallow. It is called the duck pond because of two very large carved ducks sitting in two parts of the pond. If I remember old newspaper articles correctly, the ducks are made from several large pieces of wood. They look very nice and the experienced, top level, riders were required to jump both ducks. The other levels had lower objects in the pond that they had to jump.

The duck pond had a few large cottonwood trees to provide shade and most people were in the shade. There were more spectators than yesterday, but still not a whole lot of them. It was easy to find a good spot in the shade to watch.

The few people not in the shade were the professional photographers. They took and sold to the competitors photos and videotapes of them. Their cameras had super long lenses. Brain would have been drooling over these cameras. As the photographers were set back from the pond, they had to contend with people coming to watch and getting in the shot.

Most everyone was either at the duck pond, else on the hill overlooking the two ponds and much of the course in the middle to end of the course. I had walked half the course and stopped at a few jumps to watch and there were only a couple spectators at these jumps.

One jump area had two jumps where the horse and rider had to time the horse's gait to make clean jumps. Making it more difficult were the two jumps were in a "crescent" shape. After the jumps the horse and rider had to quickly get around a hill to the jump at the edge of the hill before going downhill to the next (trout pond) water jumps. I stood on the edge of the course after the double jump and watched a few riders come past. The riders, 95% women, were very focused and serious as they galloped past. They were looking ahead and I think if anyone got in their way they would have been run down.

If the horse refused three times to jump over any jump, it was eliminated from the competition. Five "refusals" over the entire course and the horse was eliminated. I never witnessed any 'refusals' while I was at the duck pond, but heard later in the day the announcer calling out refusals at the duck pond. I saw a handful of refusals at the trout pond water complex.

Some horses and riders were very smooth going over the jumps, and some seemed like they wouldn't make it over but did somehow. A few horses jumped like a deer over some jumps. I heard a number of hooves hit the obstacle and saw a woman later walking the course looking for lost horseshoes. One horse rubbed its belly hard going over the jump but make it. One time the horse ran into jump and the rider had to circle around to try again. After the third refusal she was eliminated.

The two water ponds section of the course was challenging. At the top/side of the hill the horse had to jump over a very large log., Then run downhill to the trout pond, jump over a large log to land on a short section of land before the pond (I don't think the horse could see the land - only the pond beyond). Then a few steps then a small jump over a little log and into the pond. Just past the other side of the pond was another large log jump. Then sharply to the left and jump a large log then run into the pond and on the other side of the pond was another large log. Then sharply to the right and a smaller log and a short distance then leap into another pond. After that pond race a ways to the next jump. There were a number of different jumps around the ponds and the lower levels of riders didn't have to make as many jumps or had a different route through the ponds.

The challenge was making the jump at the side of the hill then slowing the horse going downhill to then make the first jump before the water. A few women were shouting "Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!!" as they rode downhill.

Many riders were silent. A number would say either "Good Boy!" or "Good Girl!" after successful jumps. One woman talked and talked to her horse during the water jumps, and after the final water jump let out a joyous cry.

I think a number of riders would be sore after all the water jumps. Some riders rode smoothly, some riders were tossed around by the force of the jumps. Many parents and family members were watching and let out a sigh of relief after the last of the water jumps.

After making the jump the horse and rider would ran fast and hard to the next jump. The riders didn't sit in the saddle when racing to the next jump. Some riders appeared to float over the horse, and with other riders you could see their up and down movement as the horse ran.

Dog were allowed at the Event as long as they were on a leash. One time a dog ran onto the course as a rider was coming out of the second pond. Someone ran and got the dog before the rider reached that spot. I seen other dogs and they were panting heavily in the hot sun. I think it was cruel and selfish of people to bring their dogs on a day when it was 96 F and no shade.

One woman had a toy Australian Sheppard. It was a cute tiny dog and many people went ga-ga over it. As the woman and I happened to be at several jumps at the same time I heard her story over and over. She seemed to have brought the dog to get the attention. She is from Bozeman and bought from a breeder in West Yellowstone. Apparently it costs $950 but she traded one of her sculptures for the dog.

One woman was so enamored by the dog she wanted the name and phone number of the breeder. While she said all species of female were superior to males, and she wanted to buy a female dog, her description of her current female dog and past female horses seemed to focus on their stubbornness and neurotic behavior. The male dog she had owned (she had to take the male dog to get the female one), though deaf and partially blind, seemed to have a calming effect on her female dog. Unfortunately the male dog was run over and the female dog then got extremely neurotic.

Each jump had several judges to watch that the horse and rider made the jump and would radio in the result of each horse and rider. I asked how they judged the jump and it was "make it? yes or no". No points were deducted if the horse touched the jump obstacle. I guess they are more critical on how the jump is performed when it comes to the show jumping tomorrow.

I was told there are 500 competitors. Looking towards the stable it looks like a small city what with all the campers and horse trailers. Supposedly there is even a competitor from New Zealand. I heard many riders announced as being from California. Alberta, Canada also had a number of riders.

The riders, while stylish, wear vests to protect their chests. A medic I spoke with said the chest injuries are almost all prevented after the vests were required. The hats are actually helmets. I am used to helmets looking like football helmets or bicycle helmet. Leave it to the horse riders to make the helmets look stylish. Then again most all the riders are women. I remember how the bicycle catalogs in the 1980s changed after women took up bicycling. From a page selling clothes, now many catalogs are half or more with clothing for sale.

Tonight was a social party. The tickets to the meal were all sold out, but apparently one could attend the dance afterwards and cash bar. The Event hired a live band to provide music. If one is male and can dance this may be the event to attend. As I mentioned most competitors were women as I only saw a handful of male riders. In the spectator crowd it was mostly women. The men often were fathers (someone has to write the checks!). I can't dance. Besides I had a feeling that since the final part of the competition (show jumping) was tomorrow the competitors may call it an early night.