The Old Fashion Race

I rode in our Old Fashion point to point today -- this is a horse race where the objective is to make it through three designated "points" out in open hunt territory in the fastest possible time. It doesn't matter what route you take or what order you do the points in -- literally, the fastest route between point A and point B wins. You have to turn in a poker chip with your number on it at each point to prove you actually made it around.

Points were the abandoned caboose on the Jefferson Farm, Wendy Tackis's Gate (we knew it!) and a fat log in the woods on the way to Brown's Chapel Road.

Thirty-three horses raced.

I came in fourth over all and Burton won the award for fastest non-thoroughbred horse.

The winning time was 27 minutes and something. We came in just over 31 minutes. Slowest time was an hour and a half.

Pretty much galloped the whole way -- jumped a stone wall and an enormous tree and some telephone poles, as well as several streams and banks. This means we were literally standing up in our stirrups for a solid half hour which is tiring even for those of us who ride all the time.

Footing was very slick so the horses worked real hard and were blowing for a good long while when were done and totally lathered.

Hardest part was heading for the finish line through what I call the "tube orchards.". Baby trees planted everywhere with plastic tubes around them to protect them. It's like skiing a slalom course on horse back only your hands are very sweaty at this point and it is hard to steer effectively because you can't grip the reins very well (no gloves on because that hampers one's ability to get the poker chips out of the pocket of one's ladies' hunting frock). So horses essentially bashed through the tube orchards and tubes flew everywhere.

Burton tried to manoeuvre around them all because he is rather nimble and also smart but didn't tell me which way he was going until the last minute for most of the tubes so at least once we had to sort of jump around a tube and at least one tube met its botanical demise and I'm sure I did not win any points for style. Robbie -- who was two horses ahead of me (came in second) -- basically took out an entire diagonal line of tubes up and over both orchard fields trying to catch Giggles. He made a stupendous noise. Steering is not his forte.

My barn cleaned up the awards -- we got first through fifth places and then seventh through tenth, and won fastest overall (Jennifer on Giggles), fastest non-thoroughbred (Burton), fastest woman over forty (Karen on Godiva), fastest woman under forty (chick who came in right behind me so I was TECHNICALLY the fastest woman under forty), fastest man under forty (Robbie), fastest staff member (Dale) and also fastest maiden rider (not me, even though I qualified for that too -- they try to spread out the awards).

My trophy is an enormous silver bowl -- The Margaret Gallagher Memorial Bowl -- with the names of the fastest non-thoroughbred horses and their rider's engraved on it back to 1988.