District Horse Competition Aug 8-9th 2008

Well this year at our District Horse Competition it was held at the Pleasant Grove Arena and it was our first official competition of the year. I'm 13 weeks pregnant and taking it easy, but Darren is all out having a good time and winning in lots of events! Here is a breakdown of our riding club and our competitions;

We ride for the Utah County Sheriff's Posse horse club. Along with assisting the Sheriff with volunteer search and rescue by horse back we are also members of the USWRCA (Utah State Western Riding Club Association) and we compete in arena events as a club. Every year we have 3 competitions and at the competitions we do as many of the following events as we want.

• Potato Race- with a 'poker' you run from the start point to the first barrel jab a potato and run back to the second barrel and knock your potato off the poker into the barrel. This is a team event so you have to pass the poker and 5 people all compete together.



• Water Race- using a 'ladle' you run from the start to a bucket full of water being held by another person on a horse fill it, run back and dump the ladle into a jar on top of a pole about your shoulder height. First team of 5 to fill the jar wins.



• Key Hole- Again ran in teams of 5 each rider has to run into a chalk pattern in the dirt that looks like an old fashion 'key hole' and pass a baton to each other with out any of your horses feet going out of the pattern.



• Poles- this is called 'pole bending' by the pro's, we have this as a single and team event. There is a straight line of 6 poles and you have to weave the poles in the correct pattern as fast as you can without knocking any down.



• Barrels- this is also done as a single and team event, you have to run the clover pattern barrels as fast as you can with out knocking any over.



• Pony Express- as a team of 5 riders you start on your feet with a bare back horse with a Bridal on, when its your turn you have to grab the quick sinch (small) saddle that is in the designated circle, saddle it up, run (on the horse) down and around a barrel, get off your horse, unsaddle and walk (on the ground with your horse) back across the line for the next person to go as fast as you can.



• Hyde Race- this is one horse, and one rider. The person on the horse dally's a rope attached to a 'hyde' at one end of the arena then runs to the other end of the arena, the rider then jumps on the hide and rides it being drug on the ground behind the horse back to the start point.



• Trailer Race- a team of two start in a truck attached to a trailer with one horse in the trailer, they as a team have to get the horse out, saddle, ride the horse around all the trailers, unsaddle, load the horse, throw the gear in the back of the truck bed and jump back in the truck as fast as they can. You are in a race with lots of other teams at once.



• Cow Cutting- one person pulls out a cow from the herd and tries to prevent it from getting back to the heard.



• Ladies and Mens Pleasure- this is the event where judges pick the best reining trained horses out of a group that walks, trots, lopes and stands for the judges.



• Stock horse- this is an individual event and is a set reining pattern and is judged for teqhnique.



• Parade- this is a judged event done with multiple riders walking down the arena doing different patterns and waves to no music just a whistle.



• Drill- this is a judged event done with multiple riders at any speed chosen doing different formations, weaves etc to music.



• Team Penning- 3 riders have to seperate and pen the cow(s) with the correct number on them given to the riders by the judge



• Calf Roping- a single rider tries to rope a small cow around the neck as they both run from seperate shoots.



• Team Roping- 2 people try to rope the head and the heels of a small cow as they run from seperate shoots.



• Breakaway Roping- a single rider tries to rope a small cow around the neck but can release the rope once caught.



• Ribbon Pull- 2 riders from the shoots try to run along side the cow and pull the ribbon tied on the cows back off.



• Wild Cow Milking- 1 rider 1 man on foot, the rider ropes the cow then they both try to milk it and run milk in a bottle back to the judge first.



• Races- on the flat tracks (when available) they run 1/8th, 1/4, 330, 3/8 and the 1/2 mile races. Along with a relay race with 4 riders passing a baton to each other.

Aug 8-9 2008 District- this is against the 5 clubs in our area or district. What ever we place in at this competition qualifies you to move on the Region. (Held in Pleasant Grove UT this year)

Aug 22-23 2008 Region- this is against the clubs in our region. What ever we place in at this competition qualifies you to move on to State. (Held in Price UT this year)

Sep 5-6 2008 State- this is for all the marbles, the best of the best are here and you win trophies! (Held in Fillmore UT this year)

You can see why these competitions take 2 days there is a ton going on! They are so much fun but a LOT of work. Darren and I aren't going to compete next year, we're taking a year off. But I'm sure we'll be back.

This is Darren running in the Single Poles events. He usually takes first place, but this year on this run he took 2nd which is still really good! He is riding Lucky here.

This event is Darren and Kelsey doing the Hyde race and they took first! Wow this is fast, and dirty! I did this one year with Don and I learned my lesson. Its fun to watch though :)