Judged Pleasure Ride

We went on our first Judged Pleasure Ride yesterday (like Competetive Trail Riding, but just put on by a local group)! We had so much fun. 4 of us went together, 3 of us were on our first one ever.

I was SO proud of my boy, he accomplished every single obstacle. Some weren't pretty, LOL, but we did get through them.
I don't know our total score yet, but don't really care (other than curiosity) - I was just so happy at how good his attitude was about it all.

Our obstacles were

-Mount while keeping the horse on a carpet
-Weave between some cones with pinwheels at a trot, then halt at the finish line for 5 seconds
-Trot over a series of 4 logs
-Back up in a V shape
-Walk between two sets of balloons, walk half a circle between flags, pick up some cow bells, trot once around the circle, set down the cow bells, walk back to the start and go between the balloons again
-Move flags between two trees
-Pick up a cup of water off a table, drop it in a waste basket, pick up a mint from another table
-Drop both stirrups before passing between two scarecrows. Pick up the right stirrup, turn around another scarecrow, pick up the left stirrup, and continue trotting back between the first two scarecrows.
-Cross a wooden board on top of a tarp. Stop for 10 seconds in the middle of the board
-Drag a sled on a rope around a large hay bale

It was so much fun! It was a gorgeous day, too. It started out sprinkly, but then cleared up and was very pelasant. I can't wait until the next one!

Just wanted to share.

Wow that sounds pretty cool! Sounds like something I would like
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Very cool! Where in Nova are you? Any more coming up? I am moving my guy there for the winter in a couple weeks. We did a trail trial (very similar) last week and also had a great time! Would love to do one when we get home!

I'm in the Aldie area. The JPR was at Manassas Battlefield.

I only know of one more this season, but it's a "Crystal Crown" - and from what I hear, those are much more competetive than the rest of the JPRs - as in, obstacles are more challenging, and people take themselves more seriously.
I've never been to one myself, though, so that's just second-hand (or third-hand, or so) information.
That one is Oct 17 at Sky Meadows State Park.

Most of the local JPRs are listed on this page (if you can decipher it, LOL)
Calendar

TROT also does some, although they seem to be over for the year. I don't know much about them.
TROT - Trail Riders of Today - Home Page

Thanks! I am in Leesburg, and the horse will be in Purcellville/Berryville area. We won't be home quite yet by the 17th, oh well. We never take ourselves too seriously anyway. We just go to have fun. We actually won the Judges Choice award last weekend out of 100 horses, which was MUCH better than any point award ever! It meant we were the happiest, friendliest and most kind.....attitude is everything, and my guy loved the break from his reining training. (I think I will be the only reiner in NOVA! Lol)

Oh, I like the idea of a Judges Choice award! That's fun. I haven't heard of any of those in the competitions around here

They had lots of great sponsors so they had lots of stuff to give out. That is why they did some fun stuff.....I will say, I really wanted one of the Tucker Halter Bridles they had for some of the prizes!

Sounds like the trail obstacle course we had at our last show. Had to cross a little wooden bridge, step or jump over a small jump, pick up a lasso and lasso a stick horse in a bale of hay, back thru an L, walk across a tarp, pick up and put on a rain parka, open and close a gate, take a chain out of a metal mail box carry it to and leave it on a barrel, turn around in an 8' square and then drag a landscape timber for about 15'. It was fun! And better yet Jane won first place!!!! SO PROUD!

One of the fun parts of this is that the course was 10 miles long, and we could only get a vague idea what each obstacle was, right up until it was time to perform it (they all had 2-3 word titles that sometimes gave a little clue - but we didn't really know until we reached it and the person waiting there explained it).
So sometimes we'd be riding along for 2 miles, come around a corner and find something waiting for us. There was always just a touch of adrenaline at that moment.
Even when the groups got backed up, they usually kept us waiting far enough back that we couldn't get a really good view of what was happening until it was our turn.

Of course it's always fun coming up on 8 miles in, everyone falling asleep (because we've been up since 5:30am to get ready, and have already riding for nearly 3 hours), and reaching an obstacle where you have to trot without stirrups. LOL!

Just thought I'd bump this up. If you're around this upcoming weekend, there's a schooling JPR at Fountainhead ("schooling" basically meaning it's a JPR without the J - 6 miles, 8 obstacles, no scores).
I just found out about it, but when we talked to them yesterday there were still openings. So a couple of us are going.

Clifton Horse Society - Calendar of Events
If you're interested.