Crow Valley Trail Series - Second Event

After our wonderful week in Harney County, we made our way home last Friday so we could get Brailey ready for her trail competition on Saturday and Rodeo Bible Camp on Sunday. She gave both Tex and Alvin a bath, which they seemed to appreciate. Look how sparkling clean Texi-Man looks - so cute! We made it to the trail competition first thing Saturday morning. Tex is a funny horse - he's always looking at me. If I didn't know better, I would say he is posing for this picture.
After a nice little warm up in the field, they were ready to go! Brady did this course on Mater with Brailey last year, although the obstacles were different. Britt and I had never been to this one, so it was fun for us to see all the different things horse and rider had to do.
Right off the bat, polo! They actually did what they were supposed to, but took too long to do it. This happened several times throughout the course. There is a one minute time limit, and you can't trot. If you take longer than a minute, you get a "no time." But the sense of accomplishment from just doing some of these obstacles is a great feeling. I remember it from when Alvin and I did it last year. I kind of wish I had rode him through this one, too. He would have done well, I think.
She wore her new helmet from one of our favorite stores, Feed Corral in Newport OR.
 Spectators. Pretty handsome fellers, aren't they?
Brailey and Tex did the obstacle in the above picture easily, but they weren't fast enough to get a time. The horse has to really step out to make the time, and Tex being so short, he is a fairly slow walker. Still, they completed the obstacle, and did it with ease!
This lady is one of our favorite people! Darlene and Julie are longtime friends and always so sweet to Brailey. They are the founding members of this trail series, and they run it really, really well. We are huge fans of theirs! Brailey started the day with Julie and ended it with Darlene.
And another trail series done! She still has one more to go in August. She didn't even get to ride Tex the week leading up to this event, because we were camping, so frankly, they did really well. They have a lot of work to do and quite a bit of learning, but this extreme trail riding business will make you a better rider, that's for sure. She really enjoys it, and that is all that matters to Brady and I.