Race Recap Saturday March 26, 2011

The race went well. We fell in the crack between the 2D and the 3D which means we were too fast for 3D and too slow for 2D. I was fine with this though because we had a clean run and Riley tried pretty hard even though he had never raced there before. Also he slipped pretty bad on first but caught himself. Second barrel was almost bad but I could feel him fixing to duck and turn before the barrel and pushed him past it. It was a huuuuge pen, apparently where Troy University does there competitions. Very nice well groomed arena but by far the biggest we have run in. Riley, as I have said before, is a very 'ratey' horse and really sits down around a barrel. He goes into the chute hunting them and does very well with small indoor pens or large outdoor pens. (May on the other hand would have ate. this. pen. UP! She thrives in the bigger pens because she is so quick in the straight aways and is more of a free runner, definitely not very 'ratey' on her own. I hope to take her next time we race there!)This was a small indoor and I think maybe he got a little confused and anticipated the turn.  He is used to the indoor pens being small. As we were coming into second I could feel him wanting to turn right before or right on top of the barrel but luckily I tapped him with my inside foot and he went on and turned the barrel close but didn't touch it. Third was good and he ran home fine but we slowed down before we hit the timer. It felt like he ran out of gas. He is in pretty good shape but maybe I need to work on his cardiovascular strength? Longer distances of extended trotting and slow loping perhaps? The fastest, clean, time of the day (that I saw) was a 16.9. Beautiful pattern they ran but also goes to show how big the pen is. We clocked an 18.2 which is good but he is capable of much better. Still besides the pen being big there was a lot of distractions, cows everywhere in holding pens in preparation for the roping event that was after the race, and just lots of things he wasn't used to seeing at just barrel races. Riley seemed to love the cows. He wasn't scared of them at all and every time we passed a bunch he perked up and tried to stick his nose through the fence at them. Poor cows were terrified lol. Sadly, I did not get any pictures of us racing but I do have one of Riley and Tovah (my dog) and of Riley checking out the cows. 

I was surprised by how kind Riley was to Tovah at the show. Usually he HATES her especially when she tries to lick his nose, he pins his ears and squeals! Silly boy.

I will have an update coming on Moose and May later today or tomorrow. They are both well but I haven't been doing much other than feeding and grooming them due to all the rain. Moose has become quite the jealous butt in the pasture and took a chunk of hair out of May when she got to close to me. I just hope he isn't brave enough to try that with Riley because he will regret it! lol Riley isn't a dominant, problem starter, but he doesn't take any crap either. Well, I'm off to go doctor the injured (luckily none of which are mine!) and feed and groom my mud ponies! :)