April. Fourth month of the year that opens with a day of practical jokes and ends with the Rolex Kentucky CCI****. For many of us, it brings a lot of rain, and with the rain comes mud, and of course, muddy horses. And for much of the country (or at least the portions of the country that spent a good chunk of December, January, February, March and even early April covered in snow), it's when Pony Club really gets into the swing of things and everyone starts getting excited about mounted lessons, ratings, rallies, and qualifying for Championships.
If you haven't heard, 2011 is a particularly special year for Championships. I mean, it's not just Champs...it's FESTIVAL. And to top it all off, it's the 10th Festival USPC has hosted at the world famous Kentucky Horse Park! Like Napoleon Dynamite, it's kind of a big deal. And although July 18 - 26 may seem ridiculously far off when you're busy with school, preparing for ratings and rallies and banishing dandruff from your pony's mane and tail with the biggest bottles of Listerine you can find, lemme tell ya...
Festival is only 88 days away. Yikes, right?
As you can imagine, the BIGGEST rally and educational opportunity sponsored by USPC requires a lot of planning and preparation so that you can have a totally awesome experience once you get to Kentucky. Since this will by my *gulp* 5th Festival and I will be serving in the role as the Overall Horse Management Coordinator (more on that job in a later post), I asked Wayne Quarles (Overall Championships Organizer) and Nancy Pittman (Vice President for Activities) about the possibility of writing this blog that will not only chronicle the preparation involved for the Horse Management portions of Festival, but also offer some tips and provide a forum for answering any burning questions you might have regarding HM expectations.
Although I'm now too old to be an active Pony Club member and participate in the mounted portions of Festival (BOOOOO!!!) I'm all too happy to share my trials and tribulations of being a Chief Horse Management Judge (whoa, how did THAT happen?) who spends most of her non-rally weekends competing a borrowed horse (grey - my curse!) and pony (paint with dandruff "issues" - my other curse!) at horse trials.
Well, I'll be honest...we have a lot to cover over the next 88 days, so fasten your properly fitting ASTM/SEI helmets, lace up you paddock shoes, and slap on those medical armbands, 'cause it's gonna be a wild ride!
Got a burning HM question you'd like to see featured in the blog? Email Me!
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