Road To The Horse

Courtney, Patty and I spent four days in Lexington at the Kentucky Horse Park Alltech Arena watching the Road To The Horse World Championship of Colt Starting.  It is entertaining, fascinating watching the horses, and a great showcase of true horsemanship.
 

The purpose of Road to the Horse is to identify the superior colt starter who accumulates the highest score throughout the competition.  Judging focuses on the competitor and the effectiveness of their horsemanship methodology to communicate, educate and build a partnership with their colt based on trust.

We (as do all equestrians) always have more to learn about horsemanship.  Horsemanship is a term that encompasses the skills, knowledge, and understanding needed to form a harmonious relationship with a horse.  It involves treating the horse with respect and working with its natural instincts and behavior to create a positive and safe riding experience.  It can include communication, understanding, training, handling, and riding a horse.  Some of us (myself included) have so much more to learn.  I think many people take to it much more naturally than I do.  

Wednesday 3/20 - Patty picked me up at 4:55 and off to Nashville we headed.  We stopped at Culver's in Mt. Juliet for dinner, each getting a chicken cashew salad. 


We arrived at Courtney's about 7:30 and she got home (from dinner after work) a little later.  We chatted and made plans for our morning's trip to Lexington. 
 

Thursday 3/21 - I slept well, and hoped Patty did also because we shared a bed.  I enjoyed tea and a breakfast bar here at my computer while Sam watched the world waking up beyond the window. 

We were packed, ready to go, and out the door before 9:00.

I chose the back seat so I could shift my weight as needed to relieve my sciatic pain when necessary. 

We had a fairly quick lunch stop at McDonald's, and arrived at the Horse park a little before 2:00, eastern time. 

Courtney helped me take a selfie of us in the parking lot as we were walking into the Alltech arena. 

Our seats were at the end of the arena, by the entrance, and facing the stage at the other end.  And we were in the second row, right up close to the action.

When we arrived, Ryan Rose and his wife were giving a clinic, basically about getting your horse comfortable both physically and mentally.
 

Blogger was being a booger and giving me fits about where I can put my photos.  Patty has witnessed me sitting here on the hotel bed struggling with this for nearly an hour (Friday evening).  I finally gave up and left the blank spaces you see above.

Anyway, back at the arena Thursday afternoon, a team of four of the Whispery Pines percherons from Kingsville, OH made a few passes around.

While three round pens were set up for round two of the Wildcard competition, I walked around and did some shopping.  In the first ever Pen Wrangler Edition of the Wild Card Challenge, three past Road to the Horse pen wranglers got their chance to step into the round pen and showcase their colt starting skills. 

The wildcard competitor's wrangler was a past winner of RTTH.  The competitors were Lindsey Patterson (pen wrangler Brandi Lyons), John Baar (pen wrangler Pat Parelli) and C.D. Wilcox (pen wrangler Mike Major).  They had made their selection from the remuda of three year old fillies this morning and competed in round one. 

We watched the second round of the Wildcard competition.  I was rooting for Lindsey Patterson who was working with Desire A Blu Boon.  She made steady and consistent progress. 

By the end of round two, Lindsey was in second place, with C.D. ahead of her and John behind.  It was a close battle between the first two, but John was too far behind to be a contender for first place.  

The round pens were cleared and then they ran the Remuda of geldings (video) that would be selected from in the championship competition starting Friday. 





Number six, the black one, was my favorite.  He was definitely the leader of the pack, very brave and curious.

Courtney's first two photos of this group are much clearer than what I was taking.  Not sure why mine looked so grainy. 

After hearing the results of the day's competition, we made our way (in a long slow line of cars) out of the park and to the Holiday Inn Express. 
 

We had dinner at Applebee's (a short walk from the hotel).  It was kind of a sports bar and the crowd was watching Kentucky in the NCAA tournament.  But behind me, the TV was playing all random funny videos, which Patty and Courtney were getting a kick out of.

   

Friday 3/22 -  Day two of RTTH. 
Getting into the horse park proved to be much slower than we had planned on, so we got there just as the final round of the Wildcard competition had started. 







This is Lindsey Patterson (pen wrangler Brandi Lyons), above is John Baar (pen wrangler Pat Parelli) and below is C.D. Wilcox (pen wrangler Mike Major).

We enjoyed watching all three competitors with their fillies, working them in the round pen, then doing rail work and ending with the tarp obstacle. 

There was an intermission while the scores were figured and the arena was cleared and dragged.   We each went and got lunch at different vendors.    

As you can see from the final score, it was a very close competition, with Lindsey being only 4½ points behind C.D.  An award was given and C.D. would be advancing directly into the championship competition. 

 

Then the opening ceremonies began.  In celebration of the 2024 Olympic Games, this theme was apparent throughout the four day weekend.  The Wranglers drill team (with the Olympic colors flying on their flags) performed an amazing routine. 





I posted these (videos) of their performances from all three days.

Next on stage (out in the arena) was Roman Rider Piper Yule.  





She did some great trick riding. 








Piper also demonstrated liberty work with a third horse that came into the arena.  This cowgirl was another example of wonderful horsemanship.

Piper and her Trick Roping friend, both from Alberta Canada, can be seen in these (videos) from all 3 days. 










Today, the Whispery Pines Percherons, in a team of six, made a few passes around the arena and then they demonstrated doing a 180 turn of the horses while the wagon remained in place... well done, amazing, and just beautiful. 

I posted these (videos) of their various performances and of their different horse and cart configurations, over the four day event. 

 

One last time they brought in the remuda of thirteen colts (one had been removed) and then the selection process began.  Below is the face and name of each remuda colt.   


As part of the Olympic theme, the Championship Competition featured an international line up.  Below is a look at the competitors (I wrote in CD's name), with the color below their name corresponded to their shirt and round pen paneling color. 

Once the horses were selected, they were all herded back behind the scenes (and I am sure the four horses that had been selected were pulled from the group somehow).

They then started setting up the four round pens that each competitor would be working in.  In this photo you can see the view we had from our seats. 








Donal Hancock (in green) was working with the #3 horse (Cowboy's Last War Cry) whom I had picked the night before when Patty, Courtney and I did a draft pick with the horses. 


C.D. Wilcox (in black) was working with the #14 horse (Cats Dashin A Lena) whom Patty had picked.  We could see both of these quite well.  The other two at the far end of the arena were difficult to see unless you watched the Jumbotron. 

In this view seen near the other end of the arena, Ken McNabb (in blue) was working with the #4 horse (Shiney Rockin CD) Courtney's pick and Tik Maynard (in red) was working the #11 horse (Capera Catt) another one of Patty's picks. 

We enjoyed watching the first round of competition.  Some made better progress than others.  Poor CD could not get his colt to join up with him.  Ken's horse, a couple of times, almost climbed out of the round pen.  And in this photo, Donal's horse had been swinging the tarp around and pawing at it.  When all (but CD) got a saddle on their horse, there was quite a bit of bucking from #3 and #4.  Tik's horse was the calmest about everything and he advanced the farthest in the competition so far. 

It had rained much of the day and ended up being the coldest day inside the arena.  We waited to hear the results of round one, so getting out of the arena was extremely slow.

Once we finally got on one road heading towards the hotel, we then got stuck in traffic for an hour, and only went about one mile the whole time.
Oh, one thing I had noticed, was that they had painted all the fencing black at the Kentucky Horse Park.  In the earlier photo of the sign I took off the internet, you can see that the fence was white.  Below, did they miss a board?

After quickly freshening up when we got to our room, we then walked right next door and ate at Zaxby’s.  After dinner I tried some blogging but gave up because I was having troubles.  It was time for lights out anyway.

Saturday 3/23 - I had slept well again, and went down to the lobby early for a big complementary breakfast and to try to work on this blog.  A photo from the Facebook page showed that the geldings had rested well also. 






On our trips between hotel and Horse Park, Patty thought she saw a sign that said Big Ass Fans.  We confirmed it later and this morning, with plenty of time to spare, found our way to the drive and did a photo shoot - selfie in front of the Big Ass Fans sign.

Here is a better photo of the sign. 

And they even had a van with their name.  What a hoot.

We made good time getting to the arena, parked, and inside.  We got a better photo taken of the three of us with the Road To The Horse sign.

We watched the four consecutive half hour clinics. 

First clinic, Dan James - with "Advanced Liberty Training."  It is always cool to watch the horses work without being touched.

Then Tik Maynard went - with "Building Curiosity and Confidence Jumping."




The 11:30 clinic was Donal Hancock - talking about "Horsemanship."

Last of all, Ken McNabb - did his demonstration on "communicating Aids."  He had his wife and two sons out in the arena demonstrating different things with him. 

There was a brief intermission and then opening ceremonies again, starting with the singing of the three national anthems as on the other days.








The drill team, again my favorite, had different costumes and flags and did another great routine. 














Piper and the percherons also did some more entertaining. 

This cowgirl is only thirteen years old. 






There was a long intermission to set up the four round pens for round two.  I went out to Courtney's car to get the snack bag and cooler, and we set ourselves up with a little picnic lunch.
 



I had some time to walk around the outer concourse of the arena and took this photo from up behind our seat, showing the four round pens set up.  Now Tik (red) and Ken (blue) were near our end.

I also took this video of the colts being lead into their pen before I went down to my seat.

The competitors caught their horse, did ground work, got them saddled, worked on obstacles (from the ground), got in the saddle, and rode through/over the obstacles they had each brought.  Tik was right in front of us and in first place at the moment, so we tended to watch (and photograph) him the most.  

In this round, the competitors were allowed to ride out of the arena into the more open (and scary) end of the arena.  The horses tended to get a little 'sticky' not wanting to move forward, so needed a little extra urging.  This initially lead to some bucking with most of them.

Courtney got some great shots of Tik who was tossed off his horse one time.  Thankfully nobody got hurt all weekend.  Tik did not get upset with his horse but quickly joined up with him, reassuring him and then climb right back in the saddle. 

What a good sport and a great horseman. 

It was also great to watch CD do so much better, and make huge progress.

We chose to leave as soon as round two of the competition was over and we got out quicker and back to the hotel in very reasonable time.

Karen sent this photo when at the ranch to do chores. 

We had extra time before dinner, so got cleaned up and rested.  We saw the results of today's competition and CD had really made up a lot of points, but was still too far behind to be 'in the running' with anyone.

We drove a mile (or so) to eat at El Mariachi, a Mexican restaurant.  Sleep did not come easily because of an upset stomach (from spicy food) and noisy neighbors.

Sunday 3/24 -I slept in and we had to pack up to check out, so I didn't get much blogging done after breakfast.

We had a slick trip to the arena giving us time to kill before the final rounds started.  The round pen and obstacle course was all set up, ready for the day's competition. 






There was again an opening ceremony.  We had one last view of the drill team that came out and did a lap around the arena carrying the Olympic flags. They returned later with the advertisement flags... this kind of commercial I didn't mind watching. 

The Roman rider had fun with some of the obstacles. 

The Percerons came out in a group of two
horses pulling the chariot.

She took a path through the middle of the obstacle course, stopped and did a 180 and back with the horses, but without the chariot moving. 

 
Then four percerons came out pulling the wagon full of past winners and other competitors.  The crowd gave them a great ovation. 

Then the competition began, with each trainer working with their horse one at a time.  The final round was comprised of four components: saddling pen, rail work, obstacle course and overall riding.  Each competitor was allowed 20 minutes inside the saddling pen and 35 minutes outside for the rail work and obstacles.

They started with the lowest scorer and worked up to the top person, so CD went first.  He did a great job with his colt who had been so difficult on day one. 








He did get a 10 point deduction coming out of the round pen late, but said he was not going to rush his young horse.  They did great on most of the rail work.   

CD and 'Cats Dashin A Lena' made tremendous progress.  He spent quite a bit of time at the tarp and said he was letting the horse look at the obstacle and give it some thought before asking the colt to attempt it. 










Ken was second to compete.  He had a few problems to begin with but then his colt 'Shiney Rockin CD' settled in and did quite well.





He ended up being the only competitor to get his horse to step up on the podium. 







Ken had been the crowd favorite going into the competition.  Although humble, he did appreciate any accolades.

Donal Hancock on 'Cowboy's Last War Cry' was third to go.  He too struggled in some spots so it was hard to tell if he was still in the running for first place.  In fact, his current second place standing was in jeopardy.

He used two crops to direct his colt as needed, and get forward motion. 

 





Courtney got this good photo of the two taking a rest at our end of the arena.  His horse did show lots of curiosity about the crowd.  And I liked how Donal talked to us as he worked, although his Aussie accent was a little difficult to understand.

Tik Maynard on 'Capera Cat' was last to go, and was going to be difficult to beat, unless he really had a bad round.  But he didn't.  He was out of the round pen a minute early and his rail work went very well as he took his time with his horse. 

He even stopped to give his colt a hug after the dismount, saying 'I’m letting it soak.  Letting him calm down for a few minutes.' 

And here Tik stopped to give he and his colt rest while looking right at us.  And his horse was licking and chewing, meaning he was processing and relaxing.  All great stuff.


I was so impressed with Tik's thoughtfulness, ability to read his horse, and how he explained everything he was doing and why, while he competed.  He was the only competitor to do well at the circular cavaletti poles and executed it almost flawlessly. 

In this (video) right near the very end of his time, Tik had been the only one to collect all the Olympic rings, but struggled to get them on the pole, and bailed out when his horse did.  We could see every horse start to 'shut down' by the end of their round... it was just too much for each of them to process.

We three gals hurried out of the arena as soon as Tik's time was up, and were quick to hit the trail for home.  (Not literally, this photo was taken March 2nd.)  It was smooth sailing until just outside of Nashville, where traffic got congested. 

What a great time we had.  Thanks to Courtney for treating us to a fantastic event and for sharing her great photos.  Also thanks to the RTTH Facebook page I borrowed several photos from. 




We got the final results while driving home.  Tik won by plenty.  When he was getting his prizes, he said: “This is the first belt buckle I’ve ever won!”  He is not a 'cowboy' but an English eventer.  Ken had out scored Donal on the last day, but did not have enough points to over-take Donal for second place.

Patty and I did not waste any time switching over to her car when we got to Courtney's and were soon back on the road to Crossville.  I was enjoying the scenery.  I love the pine, and rocks, and blooming red bud.  








We made a quick pit stop and watched the moon rise as we finished our trip home.  Patty dropped me off just after 8pm.  I don't know why I was so exhausted, it had been four days of a lot of sitting, much eating, and practically no exercise.