Several boarders at CEC began a tradition of riding together at the barn on New Years Day. It's a day to just school per usual, catch up on news after everyone has been so busy with holiday preparations, and sometimes the group works up a drill team routine. It's meant to be a fun and casual gathering to begin the year in the saddle...the way we prefer to spend our time.
This year the Play Day was expanded to include members and friends of the North Willamette Valley Chapter of Oregon Dressage Society. It provided an opportunity to share the fun with even more horse enthusiasts, as well as welcome new folks to the facility to see what's offered.
We began the day with "Ride a Dressage Test." Participants rode the test of their choice and received helpful comments from the "judge." No scores or placements on Play Day.
This was followed by a "Walk/Trot Pleasure Horse Under Saddle" class. I believe it was the largest number of horses ridden at the same time in the arena since the facility was built! All equines were well mannered and again we received helpful comments on how our horses performed.
Following the potluck in the club room -- hey, horses and food always go together -- we returned to the arena for the gaming portion of the day. No blood was spilled and everyone had a great time, whether on horseback or cheering from the sidelines.
The Play Day games included but were not limited to:
Ride a "buck." Keep a dollar bill under your leg longer than anyone else.
Musical "chairs." Poles fill in for chairs...for obvious reasons.
Musical "chairs" dash.
The "clothes horse" race required riders to race up and down the arena to don various items of attire. The more glam the better!
Flying chiffon in the "clothes horse" race.
What's a Play Day without a spoon race?
Looks like the chickens were given the day off and potatoes were used instead.
As the song goes, "Oh the weather outside is frightful...." Today was a wet one and at times the wind-whipped rain came down so hard you couldn't hear yourself think. But it didn't dampen anyone's enthusiasm. A great time was had by all.
Who says the dressage crowd is stuffy?!
3 comments:
Great post Mary. I posted about it too. Didn't get the action shots that you did, so I showed Mick and Bay showing me up in the water. I did post some shots in my fb album though if you want to go look.
What a great time!
We had planned to ride on New Year's Day, but the weather outside was BEYOND frightful (sideways rain = no fun!), so we stayed inside.
Thanks for sharing the fun stuff.
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