Monday, June 17, 2013

Horses and Flamingos? Must be Beach Party time!


It was a hot one.. but a good one.  The other weekend, FCF pros Chelsea Jones and Giana Roberge, along with our fearless leader Dusty battled the heat in Sacramento for a day of competition.  It was the infamous Beach Party Horse Show, where flamingos and Hawaiian shirts stretched as far as the eye could see.  Horse show manager, Peggy Fackrell has a penchant for themed horse shows, that while being a little “out of the box” are also very entertaining for exhibitors and spectators alike.  The $10,000 Flamingo Jumper Classic is what brought FCF horses Peter, Coppacabana, and Dusty Z to the blistering heat.  With temperatures topping 110 degrees, it was going to be a tough day for horses and riders.  We arrived early in the day to allow our horses to acclimate to the heat, as we definitely did not want to end up with sick or dehydrated horses.  After a morning stretch of the legs and a cool bath, all that was left to do was wait for the 7:00 pm start time of the class.  Finally, it was time to walk and mount up.  With the help of our wonderful working student, Shallin Ris, we had all 3 horses looking good and ready for action.  The class was set at an inviting 1.25m (perfect for newcomers Coppacabana and Dusty Z, who have only been with us a short time) and with a field of 17 horses, it was shaping up to be a fun class.  First to go for our group, Coppacabana and Chelsea cantered around in fine fashion, posting a lovely clean. Yay!  Next up, Giana and Dusty Z headed in for their round.  This was Giana and Dusty Z’s very first class ever together and the 2 looked like they’d been at it for years.  With one rail coming down inside the very tight 3 stride to 1 stride combination, the 2 finished just out of the ribbons.  What a bright future for this pair!  Now it was down to Peter, who showed us yet again how great he is by flying around and leaving all the rails in the cups.  Ok, jump-off time!!  Seeing as we didn’t know Coppacabana very well, Dusty and Chelsea made the decision to be efficient, but not go crazy in the jump-off.  Which is exactly what they did, throwing up a beautiful, quick clean round to put them on top of the leaderboard.  Unfortunately, their lead didn’t last for long, and were soon beat out by a very fast ride.  Hmm.  It was looking like Peter, last to go, had some work to do.  Now Peter has had some experience over bigger courses, so Dusty and Chelsea knew Peter could pull off a wild ride.  Chelsea dug her spurs in and off they galloped, flying around the shortened course to win by a full second.  Way to go Peter!  Final results were Peter with the win, and Coppacabana with a fantastic 3rd.  Thankfully it had cooled off a bunch by this point, but our horses still worked up quite a sweat, so it was off to the washracks for our winning group.  After a cold shower and many treats, our horses were tucked in and ready for a nice sleep!  Like I said: a hot one, but a good one :)
Peter for the win!

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