Hello Redwood Riders,
We opened our spring riding season on April 27th with weather from July! I hope this isn’t a foretelling of what’s to come this summer! It must have gotten close to 90 degrees in the sun (at least it felt that way.)
Eddy Ranch was once again the place to be for gymkhana riders from the San Lorenzo Valley and Santa Cruz area. For those of us who have been traveling to other districts this winter, it was a welcome change to wake up and only have to drive a few minutes to our home arena. Eddy Ranch once again pulled their arena up out of the winter ruts and gave us great ground to run on. Thanks Mr. Eddy and Jessica! Love that new tractor.
The day started out with a little drama. No electricity! Does anyone know how to do a manual show without a computer?!? Fortunately, our timers are now wireless, so fresh batteries got us started. We set up the computer in the barn (poor Leslie - all that walking and no company. Thanks for your willingness to help!). We ran an extension cord out to the booth to power the microphone and we were in business.
We had a total of 29 riders. Welcome back to our regulars from last fall, and a special welcome back to the Ruggs. Marsha Rugg and RU Horse donated lots of stuff for the raffle, so watch at future shows to see what comes up there. Hope to see you on your horse next month, Marsha.
Janie Strang ventured out to her first gymkhana on her horse, Gettysburg. Happy Birthday Janie! Thanks for coming out and trying something new. We hope Shannon will join us next time.
Shelby Rugg was riding with us again and brought a friend from down the road. We hope you’ll be a regular, Keisha. Back on Prince was Amanda McDonald, showing us some incredible control and poise. You’ve really been working, Amanda, and it shows! Next time bring Mom Wendy a horse, too. Michelle Castagnetto joined us for a few events after several years of doing other things. Way to go, Michelle - Hope you’ll be able to join us again. Attending also was Jamie Tsuji - she’s working towards her Hall of Fame rides and is riding all the shows she can. Good luck, Jamie.
From right next door, came Haidee Anderson on her pony, Cisco. For a first timer, you did awesome! Sue Duggan also joined us for her first time, bringing her goddaughter, Samantha. Samantha rides with District 45 in Novato and we were glad to have her come give Sue some pointers at her first District 9 gymkhana. That cowhorse sure can work the poles, Sue!!! A big Redwood Riders welcome to Selena Friedman riding Sherman. We hope to see you again Selena.
We can’t forget to say Hi to our youngest rider, Erika and to our oldest rider, Jim Lafferty! I hope I’m riding like that when I’m his age. Can’t wait to see you at the State Show, Jim. We enjoyed seeing the Lacys again as well as Shelly, Austin, Robin, Kaylee, Ayla, Sara, Haylee, Leilani, Katelyn, Chris, Bonnie, Caitlyn, Marietta and Rachel. Thanks for being our core group!
Our day was hot, but fun. Lots of people warmed up on our setup, Fig 8 Flags. It was a good chance for some of the horses to be introduced to those scary, flappy scraps of material stapled onto sticks. Our day ended with our run for fun - Ribbon Race. There were some awful cute pairs. (That reminds me, if you have digital photos, we’d love to have them on the website. Email pics to http://www.flickr.com/photos/26257970@N02/ . Our tallest horse, Sebastien, at 16.2 hands joined his pasture mate, Ivory at 9.5 hands. Ayla and Rebekah finished the course without breaking the ribbon! Another pony/ horse pair, Chris and Kaylee did awesome too! Of course, our red hot riders, Rachel and Bonnie managed to hang on to their ribbon to walk away with big containers of horse cookies! Will we see that run at State, girls?
Not riding this month were Rebecca, Martina and the Hogye gang. We are also looking for the Compostis to head back up this way. Hope to see the Jacquiths back next show, too. We missed you all. I know there were others that normally join us too, and we want you back!
A big thanks to all our steadfast workers, booth, gate, arena. Samantha’s dad came all the way from Oakland just to work our arena! Thanks! Awesome snack shack, once again, Jan.
Our show was sponsored by General Feed and District 9. General Feed provided some nice grooming bags and D9 awarded haybags. Both of these made up high points. Reserves were our silver conchos. Sara Castagnetto showed us a great idea for all those reserve conchos by mounting them on her belt. Save those conchos up, everyone. High Points were as follows:
Open Pony: Katelyn Praly on Rusty
FC Horse, 10 & Under: Leilani Mize
FC Horse 11 & Over Julia Lacy
A Horse Chris Rice
AA Horse Marietta Sullivan
AAA Horse Rachel Crill
Reserve High Points:
Open Pony: Kaylee Anzalone
FC Horse, 10 & Under: Amanda McDonald
FC Horse 11 & Over Selena Friedman
A Horse Sara Castagnetto
AA Horse Rebekah Crill
AAA Horse Jamie Tsuji
Thanks for coming, everyone. Hope to see you at the next show - May 25 (Memorial Day Weekend). High Points are donated by Chris Rice. Custom Stall Plates! Come on out and invite your friends. And don’t forget to mark your calendars for June 28 & 29. This will be our annual HAT SHOW sponsored by Head N Home Hats, Gary and Merry Lee Watrous. All shows this season will be held at Eddy Ranch. 14504 Bear Creek Road, Boulder Creek.