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[RC] A Toe in The Waters of Distance Riding... - JANUSTUDIO~A Toe in The Waters of Distance Riding... At last the long wait is over...Paige, my granddaughter, finally got to do her official ‘first CTR' But, time is indeed relative. She commented that she had been waiting a long time, as in "all night", where as my reply was "I have been waiting eight years!" She has been riding her horse, Jack (cute Spanish bred Arab gelding) for nearly four years, starting with the leading thing, then the lounging thing, then the arena thing, then the on the farm but on the lead thing, then finally last year we got to go to the ‘real trail in the woods'. She handled the seven or eight miles easily, so we started to plan for an official competition. Since NATRC doesn't allow for juniors under 10 years, we went with Mike Chadwell's ride held every May at Cave Run Lake. It is sanctioned by OAATS, and is very junior friendly. And, has a 15 mile Novice ride... Plus it is only a bit over an hour away. Oh, the planning and the anticipation! How cool it is to see it all through fresh, young eyes! We pre-rode most of the trail twice, with Mary Lynn Stockdale and her trail savvy horse Breezz. I rode my horse Rider, who has had to take time off because of bone spavin, but he seems to warm out of his discomfort in a few miles so he was my chosen mentor horse. I had finally found a children's saddle that actually fit Jack's round and dippy back, but alas he has a dropped right shoulder and Paige is very right side dominate, so keeping the saddle straight was a real issue. Not much of a problem while doing exercises in the arena, but the long trots on the trail were a different matter all together... We try to think of one word to sum up our rides, and one of those rides had the awful ‘F' word. ‘Remember this is a junior story'....The word was FRUSTRATION!!!! Even a few tears, but she got through it and we vowed to solve the problem. Shims of all sizes and shapes only made the problem worse. So, we had to work on Paige's own equitation and the constant attention to the position of the saddle. Jack, by the way, was very unconcerned about all of this hoopla and is the only Arab I know that is never in a hurry. How proud I was to see Paige caring for her horse, asking questions and questions about the thing she and Jack were about to do. This was to be Jack's first ride too, but his attitude was so nonchalant, I wasn't too worried. It was actually my horse that concerned me, as he can be very competitive. She trotted out her own horse, lounged him and watched every move the Vet and Lay Judge made, soaking it up like a sponge...We arranged to start last and let everyone get out of sight. This worked well, and we didn't see anyone until we started to meet riders coming back from the out and back point. I kept Jack on the lead until we were out of camp, somewhat to Paige's chagrin, but from then on she had control of her own horse. The word for this day was the ‘V' word ~ Vigilance! When we slowed to a walk, shift the saddle, when we prepared to trot, shift the saddle, constant attention to the saddle position and her seat were what worked for this day. Then when we came out of the woods onto a gravel road at a trot, I heard the rhythm of a cantering horse behind me. I jerked my head around thinking the worst, but no, it was just Jack cantering along with Paige looking for all the world just like Alec Ramsey on the Black, grinning from ear to ear like it was the ride of her life!! When we met riders coming back from the check point, everyone was kind and encouraging, and the first words out of Paige's mouth was, "and we cantered for the first time!" The timing was set at approximately 5 mph, so we didn't do any tarrying except for the short pee break, that the horses took advantage of as well. Paige thought this was too funny. The fifteen miles went by way too fast for me, but Paige thought it was a find adventure and felt a great sense of accomplishment for her first effort. She of course did all her sponging, and presented her horse to the P/R, then to the vet & Lay Judge. Too make it all even better, Jack's score was higher than ours. I only rode for mileage, as Rider isn't a novice horse, still she scored better, then to top it off she placed 2nd in the class. How proud she was! So many to thank for a great weekend....Mike and Helen Chadwell for once again offering a good ride for all. With a special treat that usually marks Mike's ride ~ the nightly campfire where jokes are told, along with tales that grow with each passing year... Marshmallows were good too. To Mike Chadwell and Greg Jones for walking every mile of it carrying a chain saw to cut the downfall that had made the trail very difficult. To Raven Keith for being a partner in finding rocks, shells, flowers, weeds, frogs and whinnying like horses while ‘exercising' two Jack Russells all day Saturday....To our fellow competitors for the laughs, the friendly competition, and especially for my young rider's encouragement. To the weather God's for letting the weekend get by for once without too much in the way of rain. Just a little showery mist on Sat. Sunday couldn't' have been better. And of course, to those wonderful animals that agree to carry us into the woods, so that we might have that ride of our lives.... She's hooked, and is asking often, "When are we now doing a 25...?" Janice a.k.a., Granny Jan ~ quacking like the lucky duck she is.... =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. 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