Here’s my video entry for the American Horsewoman’s Challenge.
I used Kye, Zelador and Zeloso to perform the various tasks. The entry form says you can use as many horses as you like as long as you’ve done over 50% of the training. Each of these three horses could have performed every one of the tasks. I thought the judges might be interested in seeing that the trainer can train more than one horse, a horse that she has a special connection with. You know, a one horse wonder. A week after I sent the entry I sort of figured out “facebook”. (I know, I’m showing my age. For most people there’s nothing to “figure out”. For me “facebook” is a mystery inside a confusing labyrinth.) I read (to my horror) that if one horse could perform everything that would be worth more points than a trainer using multiple horses. I was stunned! I emailed the “powers that be” and explained that I hadn’t understood the “one horse point advantage”. I also mentioned that Kye or Zelador or Zeloso could perform the tasks in all three disciplines. I received a response saying that my email was in my file and if the voting was close, the judges would see it.
For some of the filming the temperature in the arena was well below minus ten Celsius. When I see that footage of my very red face I can now laugh. But back then it was a challenge to stay focused on the tasks!
There are three sections to the Horsewoman’s Challenge: Liberty, Ranch/Trail and Dressage. On the entry form applicants were allowed to send additional footage after the Liberty and Ranch/Trail sections to show other strong points of the horse/trainer. I included a clip of Zelador and Zeloso taken at liberty in February 2010. In that year they would become six years old. They look like they’re THREE!!!! (Zelador’s birthday: March 16, 2004. Zeloso’s birthday: June 30, 2004.)
