This message is from: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Hi,
Just wanted to jot a quick note this morning to fill you in on what is happening on our end of the world. This weekend is the Mountain Trail Trials in Eugene, OR. Some of you may remember the article that I wrote for the Herald last year about this event. It is THE most spectacular thing you have ever seen being held indoors. Weather is never an issue for this event since this facility has 3 indoor arenas all under one roof. This year the show has been expanded to two weekends and several new classes have been added including a timed event. I suspect that may have been inspired by the Extreme Cowboy Race on RFDTV? OOOEEE that was pretty exciting! This is the biggest show so far with entries from as far away as Louisiana and the stands have been full. Each day the courses change, but the main obstacles include a 25' waterfall, running creeks, 4' deep trenches, water pits, a forest of 12' tall trees, boulders and logs to navigate over and around, mountains of dirt to climb, a 50' bridge which you not only cross over, but go under as well, and a pond, which is pretty deep this year! It is UNBELIEVABLE! Sometimes the course requires that you travel behind the waterfall and sometimes you travel in front of it navigating through the running creek. No fake water hazards here! I was not able to participate this year, but my barn is well represented by Sue Grantham with Thomas and Mary Johnson with Topas. Sue and Thomas have participated each year in this event and have done very well. Mary is a new Fjord owner. She purchased Topas, a gray weanling filly from Catherine Lasessen. Topas is sired by my gray stallion, Johan. Topas is being shown in the In-hand classes and is, I think, the only weanling there. This is her very first show ever and she is taking everything in stride like the little trooper that she is. Instead of being stressed out by all of the to-do, she actually looks forward to tackling the next new thing. Mary said that the only time Topas seemed a bit concerned was when a BIG Fresian came thundering past them in the warm up ring. Topas didn't spook, but looked UP at that thing with a rather curious expression on her face. OH LORDY, what is that??!! At one point during her run last night, the judges asked how old she was and were amazed at how well she was handling everything for a 7 month old baby! Thomas and Sue have been making us proud as usual. Today are the finals. Usually this is the day that they throw in an extra special 'something' on the course for the horses to tackle. It will be interesting to see what they have dreamed up this year! One year they put lion pee 'somewhere' on the course. It didn't take long for some of those horses to let the riders know exactly where it was! Sue mentioned to me last night that one of the judges approached her and mentioned that he owns 3 Fjords himself! His comments was BRAINS - horses that think! I will have to find out who he is today. I thought that was very interesting. Fjords are continuing to 'make their mark' on the horse world. That is a good thing and I attribute that to their very dedicated owners who keep on keepin' on, despite the 'prejudice' that is often encountered along the way. I will keep you posted on the outcome after everything is over. I sure would encourage more of you to participate in this event. It is certainly a terrific venue to show off the Fjord disposition that we all love. Gayle Ware Field of Dreams Eugene, OR www.fjordhorse.com The FjordHorse List archives can be found at: http://tinyurl.com/rcepw
