More Dante Photos
What is THAT?!
This July, Dante got to try his
hand at cow penning
for the first time.
Aside from the fact that he was
terrified of the cows upon first sight, he did just fine.
I don't think you'll be seeing
him in any rodeos anytime soon, but he sure enjoyed himself.
He and his pal Cedar make quite
a team...
She cuts the cows, and he trots
them to the pen
(anything faster then a jog is
TOO fast, as far as he is concerned!).
We hope to go team penning a few
more times before the summer is over.
It really is fun!
"Umm, you don't really
want me to go in there, do you??"
Gordy, the guy who owns Oakwood
and tells us which cows to pen,
thought (and correctly so!) that
it would help Dante get accustomed to the cows
if he had to get them out of the
pen himself,
since this meant that he would
have to be in very close quarters with the animals.
So, our assigment for this round
was to bring the whole herd down and put them in the pen.
The cows shoved the fence a bit
to squeeze in- that is why it is leaning a bit in the pictures.
It took some coaxing, but Dante
ended up shooing the whole herd
out of the pen just like a pro.
Well, almost.
After that, getting three or four
cows out of the pen was a cinch!
The whole experience introduced
Dante to a lot of new things in addition to the cows.
He had to deal with a very spooky
old arena (look at the insulation falling down!)
and little kids riding tricycles
around just over the arena fence, dinging their bells.
He even squeezed into some of
the small holding pens at the end of the ring,
where the chute is for a rodeo.
All of this is exciting stuff
for a baby, but he was pretty brave all night.
Thank you to Robin Munson for
all of the team-penning photos.
Winning Ways!
Dante and I ventured out to Bainbridge
Island Saddle Club for a schooling show
August 4th. We had a very fun
day, but it was a tiring one. After schooling in the morning,
Dante got a brief break with the
haynet before I got back on to warm up for our first class.
That was around 9:30. I didn't
get off again until 4:30.
You do the math... however you
figure it, that's a LOOOONG day!
Karen (our trainer) figured Dante
needed the miles and it wouldn't hurt him a bit to
amble around the showgrounds or
stand for a while, just taking things in. She was right!
By the end of day, he was standing
relaxed and calm amidst the bustle of the busy in gate.
We also had a fantastic day in
the ring. By the last class, Dante was cantering around beautifully
(flying changes and all!). Unfortunately,
I went off course our last round- but he was perfect.
He won his first blue ribbon in
the hunter under saddle class,
and I followed that up with a
first in the equitation class.
Cross Country, Day 2
Dante and I got to take a trip
out to another eventing facility, Northwest
Equestrian Center,
to school over cross-country jumps
in August.
Our group was smaller than when
we went to Camas Meadows;
it was just Anne/Grady, Kate/Cedar,
and us.
This place didn't have the tiny
Beginner Novice fences that Camas had,
so Dante had to jump some fences
that were bigger than those we have been doing in the ring at home.
He handled it pretty well, although
it was good for a few quick peeks!
We were blessed with a gorgeous
day, but we knew it was going to be quite warm in the afternoon as a result,
so we arrived in Rainier early
in the morning. Still, by the time we pulled out of the driveway to head
home,
it was into the high 70's at least
(and **HUMID**- it gets humid around here! ick!).
I've got all kinds of pictures
to share, thanks to my mom!
