Before I get to actual August events, I forgot to mention one of the fun things I did in June. June! Apparently, not blogging regularly makes it impossible for me to remember anything I did in the past. I met up with Beljoeor and got to ride Tristan.
We also went up to Burlington to go to a quilt festival, which was really cool. Sometime back in the spring I won a saddle cover from Beljoeor and she generously offered to let me give away a logo saddle cover on my blog. Unfortunately, I then fell off the blogger bandwagon and never did that. So now I’m trying to catch up. See the end of this post for a chance to win an amazing saddle cover from Beljoeor.
Anyway, back to August.
We started off the month by hitting up a bunch of local events. We went to the rodeo at Pond Hill Ranch, which was pretty fun. They do a wide variety of events to keep the audience amused, from bull riding, to barrel racing, to cattle work, to drill team performance and more. Plus fair food. Fry me up some food and let me watch ponies and I’m happy.
We were really digging into the whole #countrylife that weekend and we went to a Horse and Ox Pull the next day.
The event included a chicken dinner for lunch. What’s not to like about food and watching giant draft horses loose their damned minds. Seriously, those horses were INTO it.
The next week, I volunteered as a jump judge at the GMHA Festival of Eventing on Friday.
On the Monday following events, GMHA is open to members for whatever the event was. For example, if they had a dressage show, they’d have dressage arenas set up. We trailered down for a lesson one time to take advantage of having a real arena to practice geometry in. If the event was endurance, the trails would be open. It’s all free to members. On the Mondays after eventing shows, the cross country course is open. Eugene’s hocks had been recently injected and, while he was cleared for light work, the vet didn’t want him doing a lot of jumping yet. We went down anyway planning to let him get some flat exercise while Levi got to jump things.
Unfortunately, we got there on Monday to find that all the BN jumps had been put away. For the big August event, they run BN and Novice as a one day on Friday to clear up room in the schedule for the upper levels over the weekend. I didn’t realize that they’d be putting all the BN XC jumps away, but apparently they did. Because I’m a wuss, I had my husband jump Levi while I rode Eugene.
Of course, Levi doesn’t have a problem with bigger jumps. That’s just me.
Later, that week, I went to a crafting meet up and learned how to make felt pendants. Of course, I found a way to make this equine related and made a Nilla mule necklace.
Next weekend, we went back to GMHA for their Hunter Pace. I’d never done a hunter pace (they’re not at all popular in California) and doing one had been on my equestrian bucket list for a long time. I’ve read about them, but had no personal experience. We had the choice of entering the Hunting (faster) or Hacking (slower) groups and we chose the Hunting group. The woman parked next to us said the Hunting pace was “fast.” So we went fast.
Too fast for pictures – I think we took like 3 the whole time. There was a stop about 2/3 of the way through with drinks and snacks, which was nice, as it was INSANELY hot. By the time we got back, the boys were drenched in sweat. We went through the finish line and the timer remarked that we were really fast. In retrospect, we were averaging about 6-7 miles per hour, which is barely faster than turtling at an endurance ride, but it felt fast because it felt like we were hustling all the time (and passing other groups constantly). The boys were so hot we took them to the creek and made them stand in the water and shade until they’d cooled down.
After everyone had returned, there was an included lunch and the awards. Trails, jumping, and food?! Seriously, hunter paces are the best. Despite being the fastest group, we came in second place – only 7 minutes off (faster than) the optimum time.
After the hunter pace, my husband was off to California for work and then to go hiking in the Sierras with his friend. I don’t ride when he’s away because I live in the middle of nowhere and there’s no cell service here, so I occupied myself with other activities like finally getting rid of the *sshole rooster, and painting storage additions for the tack room.
Once my husband returned, we did something I’d been wanting to do since we moved here; we rode the horses to the town general store for lunch.
It was a gorgeous day for a ride. We got to explore some new trails, eat some good food, and take in the views. And it was a great way to end the month. Stay tuned for September’s recap coming soon.
Don’t forget the Giveaway! If you’d like to win a logo Saddle Cover from Beljoeor, leave a comment on this post letting me know what logo you’d have put on your saddle cover. I’ll do a random draw of all commenters next week.
Y’all really had an action-packed summer! That saddle cover is gorgeous. I love the brand as a “logo”. Hopefully over the winter I can come up with a logo for my little farmette that I can later emblazon on everything.
Do you have name for your farmette?
So jealous of the hunter pace! We don’t have them here either and they sound so fun. I’ve shared your saddle cover with another Mustang owner here who I think is planning to buy one from Amanda now. They’re such a great idea.
I already have a saddle cover with the Welsh dragon that I love from her, so consider this me not entering the giveaway but just saying hi 🙂
The welsh dragon is such a cool emblam though. I am loving the hunter pace thing. We have a few nearby, but there are a lot in the wider area if we were able to travel.
Sounds like lots of fun events this summer! I need a logo for my little farmette one of these days…I’m sure I could think of a logo to put on a saddle cover if I were the lucky winner!
I haven’t come up with a logo for my farm yet either.
so happy youre blogging again. i saw instagram photos and wanted to know more.
I just recently designed a logo for my boy – a knight chess piece with his paint markings. His name is Checkmate. 🙂
That logo sounds awesome!
What a fun and busy August! Also love the saddle covers- I would put a fox on mine- or a flying burrito but that might be kinda hard to find 🙂
Do you mean a flying mexican food burrito or a flying miniature burro (like from the Disney movie)?
Hunter Paces exist out here! There is an entire season of hunter paces at Connie Arthur’s place (Lone Tree) in N Ca. But yeah, she’s the only place.
And if I got that, I’d have a hard time figuring out the logo. I’d want a brand, but Nymeria, while officially a Kiger mustang (not a Kiger horse) was born in captivity, but wild bred in the Riddle HMA. Her dam was adopted pregnant with a filly at her side in the last big Kiger adoption in 2015.
I guess I’d have her name put, and choose a dark teal color, which is her color.
We never made it to one of Lone Tree’s paces. There used to be one in Woodside put on by the Los Altos Hounds, but they’re not active anymore. There was one up at Camelot one year we’d signed up for but it got cancelled. The logo can be whatever you want; it definitely doesn’t have to be a brand.
I love the cover with Eugene’s brand.
I’d probably have the haflinger breed logo put on to a saddle cover. Either that, or my farm logo.
What’s your farm’s logo? I need to come up with one for my own place.
You guys are having a blast up there it looks like <3 glad to catch up with you this way
We were having a blast. Now the snow is coming to ruin everything. But I hope I can keep blogging a bit.
You had a busy August! Is your arena being built? I would love a saddle cover. If I had one embroidered id put a dancing horse logo on it.
That’s a good logo! Our arena is STILL under construction. It’s endless. I can’t even with it.
Sounds like a great summer! Can’t wait to hear about September!
September was out busiest month yet so stay tuned.
This sentence alone makes me think we’d be good friends if we lived closer to each other:
Fry me up some food and let me watch ponies and I’m happy.
Sounds like a really fun August! You got to do so many fun things! LOVE the felt Nilla,so cute!
Food and ponies are the best!
Yay, you’re back! I don’t instagram so I’ve missed your writing. I especially like all the diy tips, but also enjoy reading about the adventures of you, hubby and the horses. Glad I decided to check back today and see if there was anything new posted (comments were already closed on the June post otherwise this comment would have gone there.)