The day’s done. I got a fifth place in horsemanship in the Challenge of the North competitive trail ride. It was a lot of hard work for a pink ribbon. I am now thinking about all the time I spent out on the trail. Actually, being out on the trail was its own reward.

Why only fifth? I was not as confident as I should have been. I rode on Tinni’s ass a better portion of both days. Raudi was polite, but not at all happy about this. She was happiest this afternoon, when I put her out front and she got to move out. And it felt good to me, too. What a great horse.

We had a few blunders at the pulse and respiration stop. It was hot and I was

tired and did not exercise good judgement. And the judge saw me as I turned Raudi’s butt into Pete. Oh oh. It also didn’t help that she was in season. I guess I forgot that it’s not over until it’s over.

What I must keep in mind – it’s an accomplishment for me to have taken a horse that I trained – a very willful horse – and successfully complete a two day trail ride. Last year we only did a single day of riding because Raudi got a girth sore. But Pete took care of the problem by sewing a rubber pad and a piece of sheep skin onto her girth – this covered the buckle and thin leather pad.

We also assisted my friend Heather and her horse Rio. Heather came in sixth in horsemanship. We helped her out considerably, mainly with transport and camp tasks. Pete also put considerable time into giving her input on saddle fit.

I am not focusing not on how well I didn’t do, but rather, how well I will do next time. I do not yet know if there will be a CTR in our area – no one has yet volunteered to be ride manager. But there is always the year after; that is, if the powers that be cooperate.

This event also turned out to be Tinni’s last hurrah. He appeared to be intermittently lame at lunch today – with just a few miles in the event remaining. The veterinarian said that it was Pete’s decision whether or not to ride him. He decided to go for it. And Tinni was just fine all afternoon. Still, Pete did not win any prizes this year. There is a fine art to being an athlete or being in charge of an athlete’s career. You just have to quit when you are ahead – and we maybe stepped a little over that line.

I have been having this pipe dream – I would like to go Outside if we can’t do a ride here and do one or two Outside. The only things holding us back would be cost and finding someone to watch our place. How hard could this be to do?

Next: July 31, 2017: Recharging Old Batteries