Thanks to everyone for coming and participating! It was a lot of fun for me to be able to watch you guys with your horses. I count myself very lucky to have such great people who adore horses as much as I do around me.
Now, on to the "important" stuff:
We had 3 horses come wearing costumes and they got five extra points.
Freedom was dressed up like a husband BBQ'ing
Ginger was a Hawaiian Princess
Dani was a Nanny
The winner of the Ground Games was Becky & Dani. Becky did it all with baby Harper's help and coaching. Here they are in the Winners Circle:
Second Place in the Ground Games was a tie between Freedom & Desi. They both displayed their courage with horse-eating tarps attacking them.
Desi received extra points when he not only jumped the small jump, but he also jumped the bigger jump as well! Considering the big jump was barrels that were almost as tall as him, we were all VERY impressed! It is amazing what little horses can do when properly inspired.
Everyone took turns waiting to show off their mad skills.
We played a game that the participants didn't know they were actually playing until the first horse "won". When the first horse made a mound in the arena, a cow bell rang and the lucky person with that horse earned themselves a Mounds candy bar.....and got to pick up the mound their horse made for them. Dancer was the first winner of the Mounds game, but there was several more winners throughout the day.
We took a break and had a potluck lunch and cheesecake for Bryce's birthday. I took a moment to give out some special awards for the morning's activities.
Freedom won the Hot Tamale Award - any horse that is 40 years old, and can jump barrels the way he does really IS a Hot Tamale!
Desi won the Whopper Award. Who knew little horses could be so strong!? Dana landed a whopper during the Circle Game Challenge. He had to play Desi like a fish to keep from being pulled out of his hula hoop and disqualified.
Later on, once the riding begun, Dancer made a friend
So did Dani
All in all, it was a fun day!
If any of the other photographers would like to share some of their pictures of the day's activities, please feel free to do so here. Thanks everyone! ;D
We basically just use it as an excuse to play some goofy games with our horses, good natured competition, and get together and ride in a group situation here at the ranch. It is all for fun, and the prizes are small items that everyone would like to have - like chocolates, cookies for their horse, saddle soap, etc. 