And the winner is...

Yesterday I went to a horse event (my first), A Carriage Ride in the Country.
My friends, Ron & Kate own a smal herd of Gypsy Vanner horses along with a pack of dogs and a trio of mules. We left early in the morning for a ranch near Nashville towing a trailer containing Bowtie the horse and a fancy 4-wheeled carriage.

Bowtie is a Gypsy Vanner who came from England where he was used to haul freight, then pulled caravans across England, then ended up in the USA where he now lives a life of ease.

Anyhow, after getting all dressed up in a traditional country costume with hat, necktie and jacket, Ron hooked him up to the carriage and went through a "presentation" that was judged by an English lady who's dad was Colonel such-and-so of the Royal Horses or something. All very posh, but Greek to me. She was also in a movie starring Don Knotts. She was personally a nice lady and not at all snobby about it, but how snobby could one be after being in a movie with Don Knotts?

Then, much like a car rally, they went through a marked course at various speeds. Ater that they went through a hazard couse with various things to try to distract the horses.

Then came the endurance cross-country ride. Ron's wife graciously gave me her place on the carriage, so off we went.

Man, it was beautiful! Once we left the arena area we followed a marked course across hill and dale, through the "Fairy Woods", across a creek and past a couple of other ranches (I think that's what they call them around here??) The sun came out and we had blue skies with huge white clouds. The grass and trees were (dare I say it?) GREENER than Oregon. It was the coolest ride I've ever been on.

They had gift baskets in the Fairy Woods with each competitor's number. Funnily enough, since Ron & I are motor-guys, ours was sitting on an old junk Lincoln.

I have to say I have a new appreciation for how rough it must have been on our forefathers, riding in a jolting wagon across country.

When we got back to the arena area, there was wine and cheese while we watched the Kentucky Derby on TV. A horse fell after the finish and broke both ankles and had to euthanized on the spot, which brought down the mood of everyone present, considering they all love horses so much.

Following that, we had a wonderful home-cooked meal with fresh vegetables that were grown in the ground right next to the dining tables. This was followed by desserts and one of the choices was homemade rum-soaked chocolate pecan pie! What a meal!

After all that came the awards. Lo and behold, Ron won 1st place in the endurance race. So even though I was just deadweight, I was on the winning team! Pretty cool.
Then he won another couple of ribbons and took the grand over-all prize! Ron and Kate were about as happy as they could be.

All in all, it was a fine day.

(I'd sure like to ride that course on my Ural!)


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