There was a typo in the Newspaper issue:
This newsleter was written by Rebekah Crill NOT Kristin Praly.
Thank You Rebekah!
Hope you all had a great October and are looking forward to a great winter of riding. Our "Welcome to Fall" show on September 30th was a lot of fun. The fall weather welcomed several new riders out to Eddy Ranch in Boulder Creek, and some of them even came away with the High Point of the day.
We started out the day greeting some first time CGA riders. A big "horsey" CGA welcome to Intica Jaquith, who rode Draco Poco Bars (aka Jake) and her mom, Leslie. Leslie`s horse, Cameo, finished up Horsey Boot Camp with her first gymkhana, but without Leslie. Mounted on Cameo was our local Natural Horsemanship trainer and Equine Body Worker, Wendy McDonald. Amanda McDonald was also out for her first gymkhana on her beautiful Palomino, Prince. An Eddy Ranch local, Rosie Schroeder, joined us as well and had a great time on her horse, Queen Darla. In fact, I think she got some cantering in that day that made her smile so big you`d have thought someone was tickling her!
Not her first show, but her first time all alone, Rachel Shupe on Rusty finished the day with success written all over her pink sheet. Thank you, Katelyn, for lending your beautiful pony to Rachel and letting her live her dream! And you gave us quite a demonstration of your riding talents on the Castagnetto`s horse, Maverick. Thanks to them as well for "sharing the wealth" or "sharing the horse!" And a big thanks to mom (Kristin Praly) who ran and got Maverick from Felton after the first event.
Out in force was the Faber clan and friends. Kathy Anzalone`s horse, Sherman, showed that he knew what he was doing - Kathy was just holding on! Nice to see Peppy being shared between Paulette and Allie, (another "share the horse" deal.) Erika was out there again on Sunshine and shared with Kaylee, who did great keeping all Sunshine`s feet on the ground this month. Good job, Kaylee. We are so glad to see you coming back again and again. You are becoming an excellent rider. Thanks Sunshine for teaching yet another child how to ride!
Not to leave out our stand-by regulars. Leilani and her new horse, Emmy, are really heating up that ground. Sara and Chief were also running their hearts out. Nikki is really connecting with that pony, Stormy and it was great to see April on Moose! Alex and Sparrow are really giving Rachel and Charm a run for the money. AAA and AAA reserve high points to those two! Awesome to see Mari come out to Eddy Ranch for the first time on her "horse" Mellow Mr. Yellow. We look forward to seeing more of you, Mari, out here in Boulder Creek. Chris was the star of the show riding Max, who actually bucked this time. Edee on Bo, showed us yet once again, that you CAN ride gymkhana in an english saddle. Even Haylee made a showing and leadlined a couple of events on Maverick. We all know Haylee is ready for her own horse! Anyone out there got one to spare?
Missing were Natalie Harnett (hope Beau is feeling better!) and the Sullivans (Marietta, Bonnie and Caitlyn) who were sitting at home waiting for their new "horsey" babies (who actually didnt arrive until Monday!) Rebecca and Martina were doing community service in San Jose. We missed you all and hope you`ll be up and ready to go for spring!
Our Fall Show high points were donated by Tack On of Scotts Valley. Tack on offers a wide array of fun sparkling tack, belts and some stuff for the horse, too. They have the most beautiful jeans Ive ever seen. Stop by soon and check them out! Taking home a bucket of goodies were AAA High Point, Rachel Crill, with Alex Rice a close second for AAA Reserve. AA High Point went home with Rebekah Crill (I really wanted the Twinkle Toes, too!) With Eddy Wildman coming up from the A division to walk away with the AA Reserve. Walking away with the A High Point, was Chris Rice with Robin Brandon breathing down her neck only three points away to take home the A Reserve concho. The FC 11 and Over High Point and reserve went home with two first-time riders! What a welcome to CGA! Wendy McDonald walked away with the goodie bag (I think she gave it to Cameo`s owner, Leslie, since Cameo really did most of the work!) and Rosie Schroeder just seven points behind to secure that FC Reserve concho. (Ill bet we see that concho on a belt or bridle soon!) The FC 10 and Under Division was big this month with seven riders! And who should walk away with the Tack On High Point, but Intica Jaquith (her first show!). And one point behind for that concho was April riding Moose for the first time. Four Open ponies had a great day with Emily Hogye on Okie walking (or should we way "running") away with the Pony High Point. (Emily - if Okie wants to run some more, we can sure accomodate him! I think that was what?, four laps around the arena!) Maybe next time hell stop when you say so! Coming in just eight points below Emily, Nikki took home a silver concho for her belt. Congratulations to our winners. What a day!
After the show, we made up a new game! Ever heard of carrot barrels? Our Run for Fun is one of the things that keep our district alive and we sure had a great time of it at this show. Paulette and I got together and talked about some new Run for Fun events. Somewhere, one of us had heard of carrot barrels! We set up three barrels in kind of a reserve Barrel pattern. The birangle pattern was already there, so we just threw a third barrel in the middle of the arena. Kevin McDonald was our tireless arena worker for the day and he set one mini carrot on each barrel. First to go was me on Sebastien (the horse). Remember now, that Sebastien is getting pretty fast around these courses now. When I asked him to stop at the first barrel, he looked at me as if to say, "you`ve got to be kidding! For the last 12 months, you`ve been making me go faster around these things and now you want me to STOP!" It took some doing, but finally he realized there was something to eat on the barrel and then he "got" it. The next two were much faster and he finished with three carrots. The AAA high point winner, Rachel, could hardly convince Charm that is WAS reallly okay to stop at the barrels. I think she thought it was a shuffleboard game because she pushed two of the carrots on the ground and finished with one carrot "down the hatch". The fastest horse - the least carrots. Oh well. Everyone else did much better with most riders getting three carrots and a only a couple other horses knocking those carrots off trying to pick them up. Sunshine even figured out that those carrots were up there beyond her nose and took all of them home in her tummy! Maverick and Sara amazed us all by riding last and getting all three carrots in thirty seconds! Her prize was a warm winter poncho with horses all over it. Thinking it over later, I wondered just how Maverick was so fast? Then I realized that Katelyn Praly had already ridden him around the barrels eating carrots and his second time through, he knew exactly what was on those barrels!!!!! Hmmmmm.
Our other mainstay was the great raffle that Kristin always comes up with. We really need more raffle prizes for the spring, so get some donations this winter!
If you get this newsletter in time, don`t forget our District 9 Redwood Riders Annual Awards Potluck. This potluck will honor those riders who signed up for year end awards for the 06-07 year that ran Aug 06 through Aug 07. The potluck will be held on November 11th at the Posse House in Santa Cruz at 1pm. All D9 riders and friends are invited to attend. See our website at www.cgadistrict9.com for more information.
As most of our riders know, we shut down for the winter, Boulder Creek being one of the wettest spots in California. But, we have a couple of other districts (not too far away) to visit if you need your "gymkhana fix." District 1 is located just 13 miles out of Watsonville on Hwy 129 and is running every month except December. Their website is www.batbgymkana.com District 8 also runs some winter shows in Royal Oaks and in Salinas. Both districts are about 1 hour and 14 minutes from Boulder Creek. Check them out at www.cgasalinas.com for their winter dates.
Stay dry, but ride on!