Dressage

This afternoon I took a break from tree watering and weed spraying to ride my bicycle over to Rebecca Farms to attend "The Event" for a little over an hour at the end of the afternoon.

And yes, the photo is of a statue representing the cross-country race leg of "The Event".

Hmmm... flowers by the statue. A woman's touch?

Today the competitors were doing Dressage. I've seen youtube videos of horses performing dressage. The one video of the horse performing to the song "Lady Marmalade" is a favorite of mine.

Last year I did not watch the dressage events at Rebecca Farm. This year I watched the end when the top riders competed. I discovered that dressage at the Farm is not performed to music.

I haven't a clue how dressage works other than each horse has to perform the same routine. The routine has slow and fast sections and different trots and gallops, stops and back ups. I have no idea how the routine is scored, and when the scores were announced, no idea if they were good or not. My only clue was when they said the score put the rider in first or second place. That was a good score. I had the horses I liked, I guess that is all I needed.

A grassy berm surrounded the area and as the few trees are relatively young, there was no shade. There weren't that many people there, probably mostly other competitors and their families, some former horse women, and then the curious like me.

After the competition was over I wandered the grounds. I ran into Johnny who cut my hay years ago. He is still busy cutting hay and had taken much of today off as the fields he was working on are located the east side of the valley where they had the most rain last night. He brought his kids along and I counted seven, appearing to range in age from four to 12. His wife wasn't along - probably home resting welcoming the break. All the kids wore pants, including the girls. Back when he hayed my field, the girls that helped load the hay bales all wore dresses.

Because of the dry year, he and most others are not getting as much hay. He already sold what he has cut, and is even wondering if he will have enough hay for his cattle this winter. He is also getting $20 more a ton this year over last. Hmmm... it may be a good idea to get hay now and not wait till Spring.

I wandered through the trade goods tent. You can tell this sport is dominated by women by what items were being sold. More clothes, more crafts, more class than with items surrounding men's sports. You just wouldn't see a booth selling the "No Bounce Sport Bra" at a male sporting event.

In the one photo you can see ae cameraman. Lots of professional photos are taken and sold to the competitors. In the second photo is a male competitor - a rarity. Last year I saw only a few men competing. This is overwhelmingly a woman's sport.