Giddy-up!

So I seem to have this new thing about waking up at 3 am and ruminating for an hour until I can finally get back to sleep again. Today I decided to get up and do something rather than lie in the dark worrying about animals, so here I am at 4 am doing a blog post. Hopefully I can get some more sleep after this.

Last Sunday, I participated in my first-ever Extreme Cowboy event (novice division.) I hadn't done anything like this  before, but last Friday my riding instructor Rose conned me and two other women into entering the class. Then on Saturday, we practiced at her place for two hours. Sunday morning was the event, right after we FINALLY got some rain... which turned the ring into a mudbowl...

Nonetheless, the show went on! Rose offered me her wonderful horse Bonnie to ride, and I accepted, because Bonnie has participated in Extreme Cowboy events many times before and I figured it would be good if at least one of knew what she was doing!!

Before things began, everybody from all the classes came together and we walked the very-wet course.

And of course, I got picked to go first in my class. Sigh. And then Rose told me should couldn't stand in the middle of the ring and remind me which obstacle was next...

I think Rose was trying to reassure me here, but it wasn't working. Nonetheless, I soldiered on!

And surprisingly...

...things went very well! There were very obstacles to deal with, including weave poles, a bridge, a banner on a swivel pole that you had to turn, and bales of hay that you had to sidepass over.

Bonnie and I did a perfect sidepass over these hay bales.

It's not a particularly easy thing to do, so it really helped that Bonnie had done it before. I think we got bonus points for this one. :)

She would not, however, walk over this tractor-tire bridge set-up. That's my fault... I got too fixated on the object, and then so did she! I think only one person in my class managed to get his horse over this.

Fortunately we didn't have to try the teeter-tooter...

...but Rose managed it just fine!

And I even managed a smile!

And now I own a plaid shirt, too.

I had a great time and can't wait to try more of this. And guess what? I came in second place!:)

Okay, I'm off to try to sleep some more...