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Our first hunter pace of 2008
It's that time of year again! Yesterday my friends S & K took our 3 horses out for our first pace of the year.
For those of you who don't know what they are: A hunter pace is a low-key competitive event derived from foxhunting. Teams of two or three riders follow an outdoor course laid out over terrain which is meant to simulate the riding conditions encountered during a foxhunt - that is, a mixture of gaits that a foxhunter typically uses as a fox's scent is found and followed by hounds through open country and along wooded trails. There is no set length for a hunter pace course, although courses are typically around eight miles and can take up to two hours to complete.
It is up to each team to guess what the organizers of the pace have decided is an ideal time to complete the course and to adjust its progress accordingly. The ideal time is determined by sending out one or more test teams to ride the course before the event. On the day of the event, the team which completes the course in a time closest to the ideal is placed first.
Let me begin by saying the weather was not as promised. Raw and windy. The other 2 horses were being idiots, mine of course was very laid back, waiting for me to mount.
We rode over to the start and it was all I could do to stay on. Our horses love these things and wind makes them very silly; to the point we weren't sure we should compete.
Glad we went out though as all 3 settled in nicely and it was a very nice course. The course was 8 miles with 40 jumps. The jumps being logs of various heights. You can go around them if you choose to as S did. K & I were jumping them together in tandem; by the 6th one we were high fiving each other as we went over. WHAT a BLAST! I so wish we had pictures to share.
This one was a 2 day event. Saturdays match time was 56 minutes. Exactly the time it took us to complete the course. However, we competed yesterday, Sunday, and it had rained the night before. Match time of 1:06 so we came in 10 minutes under and placed 20th instead.
Because we haven't ridden much this winter I feel like I was hit by a truck and I'm sure my grey slept real well last night.
For those of you who don't know what they are: A hunter pace is a low-key competitive event derived from foxhunting. Teams of two or three riders follow an outdoor course laid out over terrain which is meant to simulate the riding conditions encountered during a foxhunt - that is, a mixture of gaits that a foxhunter typically uses as a fox's scent is found and followed by hounds through open country and along wooded trails. There is no set length for a hunter pace course, although courses are typically around eight miles and can take up to two hours to complete.
It is up to each team to guess what the organizers of the pace have decided is an ideal time to complete the course and to adjust its progress accordingly. The ideal time is determined by sending out one or more test teams to ride the course before the event. On the day of the event, the team which completes the course in a time closest to the ideal is placed first.
Let me begin by saying the weather was not as promised. Raw and windy. The other 2 horses were being idiots, mine of course was very laid back, waiting for me to mount.
We rode over to the start and it was all I could do to stay on. Our horses love these things and wind makes them very silly; to the point we weren't sure we should compete.
Glad we went out though as all 3 settled in nicely and it was a very nice course. The course was 8 miles with 40 jumps. The jumps being logs of various heights. You can go around them if you choose to as S did. K & I were jumping them together in tandem; by the 6th one we were high fiving each other as we went over. WHAT a BLAST! I so wish we had pictures to share.
This one was a 2 day event. Saturdays match time was 56 minutes. Exactly the time it took us to complete the course. However, we competed yesterday, Sunday, and it had rained the night before. Match time of 1:06 so we came in 10 minutes under and placed 20th instead.
Because we haven't ridden much this winter I feel like I was hit by a truck and I'm sure my grey slept real well last night.
I'll know later if we'll be trailering over by you.
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