Paso Qualifier for Battle of the Breeds in Montana

[nmcreel]

Hi, My Paso Fino, Cassidy, qualified to compete in the Battle of the Breeds at our annual Winter Fest here in Bozeman, Montana. She'll compete in a 4 minute gait race, Barrels, a reining pattern, and a jousting type event where we spear rings. I'm going to skip jumping (24" jumps) and a hide drag. Twelve horses were selected. Three were gaited and besides Cassidy, included a standardbred and a Montana Travlr. The rest of the field is some drafts, quarters, paints, a nice track thouroghbred, a haflinger, and a Dale's pony. The event is this Monday. This is a first time event and the organizors are hoping that it will be a big audience draw.

Nancy

[halfmoonfino]

Way to go! Congrats! Have fun showing the world what our breed can do. I know you'll be astounding ;-)

[CarolU]

And don't forget to get someone to take pictures!!!

good luck!! Can't wait to hear how it goes!

[PASOFAN]

That is great! Good luck, and yes take pics, we all woud LOVE to see them!!! :D

[Pasogirlz]

Congrats. That is great. Would you like to do a write up for Showtime about it afterwards?

[stella]

Yes, this is great! Will be looking forward to pics---I KNOW a paso would be good at jousting , do it in the LARGO, keep your hand and arm steadier to get the ring(yeah, seen that in Maryland, its the official sport!)
Its a wonderful thing you are doing, good luck!

[nmcreel]

Well we tried the Battle of the Breeds yesterday and were tied for first in the 4 minute trot or gait race, but from there we dropped in the standings. I skipped jumping as I didn't ever practice on the 2 foot jumps that were required. We got up to 18", but I wasn't comfortable to keep raising the jump height. The second event was the rings and after watching a Dale's pony slowly gather up all four rings I decided to ride it in a fast largo and missed three rings by not getting my crop through the ring properly. Next up was barrel racing and we posted a respectful time of 23 seconds that put us in the middle of the field. The course was set long so I was happy with the time. The next event was a reining pattern Cassidy started out great with two tight turns to the right inside a small box of jumps poles, and then out of the box and into a slow lope to the right followed by a fast lope on a larger circle. From that we needed a flying lead change, but on the left lead her rocking horse canter broke down and she dropped to a largo and never cantered again. I was fairly happy to hit the canter depart and make the flying lead change though as I haven't cantered her all winter as we were mostly working on collection in gait. The final event was a hide drag. I used my eight year old daughter who only weighs 50 pounds and had to thread the rope under the pomel of my Barefoot saddle, but it worked and we successfully corto'd down to the turn. On the return I had a little tangle with the rope, but Cassidy finished and my daughter was safe. I was really happy to complete this event as half the horses just drug the tarp without a weight. We'll work harder for next year, but I'll happily defer if help out if a better trained PF is willing.

Blurry photos from the event are posted here: http://bozemanagility.com/cassidy.htm