The D1 D2 Horse Rally

The D1/D2 Horse Rally Based on a real story

Jennifer E. Mrs. Abernethy

The D1/D2 Horse Rally Based on a real story

By: Jennifer E.

My Book is Dedicated To: My Horse—KoKo

Chapter 1 - Introduction It takes a lot of time to prepare for a rally. My neighbor and I practiced every day for this rally. You have to be able to make your horse walk, trot, canter, and jump. I have to memorize a dressage test. In a dressage test you have to trot, walk, and canter in certain places. Dressage shows a horse’s obedience to the rider’s commands. The dressage arena is twenty meters by forty meters with letters around the outside. The rider memorizes a dressage test and is judged on how well the horse listens to the rider. I have to keep my horse in shape for crosscountry. Cross-country means that you have to go a long distance in the woods with lots of jumps. The jumps vary in height by what level you are in. The levels are D1, D2, D3, C1, C2, C3, B, and A (A being the highest level.) Page 1

I am a D2. I jump jumps that are waist high. I also have to do a stadium course. It consists of ten to twelve stadium jumps. They must be jumped in the correct order, so I have to memorize the jump course beforehand. If I jump the wrong jump, I will be eliminated from this phase of the rally. To practice, Kelly and I set up jumps and practice jumping at different heights. We practice having our horse walk, trot, canter, and walk backwards. We riders have to put a lot of time in, giving our horses commands like turn, walk sideways, slow down, go faster, and stop. Your position is very important to the horse. Some horses only listen when the rider is in proper position.

Page 3

Chapter 2 - Preparation for Rally I must thoroughly clean my tack. The saddle and bridle must be taken apart completely. The bit and stirrup irons must be soaked, cleaned, and shined. If Dad doesn’t see, we sometimes run them through the dishwasher! All the leather is first scrubbed with saddle soap to remove the dirt. Next, it is conditioned, then oiled with neatsfoot oil, and finally buffed with a clean cloth. My horse must be clean. All bot eggs must be removed. His hooves must be neatly trimmed. Usually I give my horse a bath-not in a bathtub. I use a hose. The mane must be trimmed neatly. My brush box and brushes must be cleaned. All items must be labeled with your name, pony club, and competitor number. Page 5

Chapter 3-The Rally It’s four o’clock in the morning. We’re waking up. I’m so tired, as I quickly get dressed. Down to the barn I go to feed my pony. My Dad is checking the trailer and truck lights to be sure everything is working. Dad and Mom are busy loading all my equipment into the back of the truck. We usually take our own water, because sometimes ponies don’t drink other water. We bring lots of hay along with the horse first aid kit, human first aid kit, tool kit, tack cleaning kit, water buckets, plus many other items that are listed in the rule book. Here I come with KoKo in his halter with lead rope. He’s nice and clean and excited about going somewhere in the trailer. KoKo leads easily onto the trailer. I tie him using a quick release knot. We go to pick up Kelly and her horse, Taffy. Taffy and KoKo are glad to see each other. We’re off to the rally. Page 7

We arrive around six o’clock am. The grounds have just opened. We try to find the other two members of our four-person team. We know that their trailer is blue and their truck is red. There they are! We introduce ourselves and begin to set up our tack trailer. Our trailer is being used to tie the horses to. We get out our hay bags and water buckets. When everything is ready, we unload our horses and tie them to the trailer. Kelly and I are going to pick up our packet at the registration table. We put on our pinnies, and we must wear them the entire day. My number is forty-one and Kelly’s is forty-two. The other two girls are Erin and Christine from another pony club. We look up our formal inspection and ride times and begin getting ready. We walk the cross-country course with our instructor and stable manager using the map in our packet. We talk about which jumps look the hardest and what approach we’ll take. Page 9

It’s time to start grooming our horses. The stadium phase is the first event. I am walking KoKo to the arena. I am getting in line for my formal inspection. The judge inspects my pony. Next she inspects me. She unbuckles my helmet and checks the label. Now she puts my helmet back on and buckles it. Ouch! She pinched me! After ten minutes of warm up, it’s my turn to do the stadium course. Do I remember the course? There’s #1, #2, #3, #4. There’s jump #12. I got the course. KoKo is ready to rumble! Here comes #1. I’m scared! I made it! Here comes #2, #3, #4. Oh no #5 is taller than waist high. KoKo is cantering. His ears are perked up. He is ready to jump. Whew, we sailed over the jump. KoKo sailed over jumps six through eleven. I am looking for #12. The leaves are falling, the air is making my eyes water. There is the jump. Oh no, I’m scared. I can’t make it. It is too high. Ahhhh! “You made it,” Kelly screamed. Page 11

We’re ready for dressage. We enter the dressage ring at a trot and go toward the judge. We halt and salute. When the judge salutes back we continue. Yes, we did it. I remembered all the parts of the test and KoKo listened great. The next phase is cross-country. It’s two hours away. We go back to the trailer and untack. It’s time to eat now and take the written test. Kelly how do you think you did? I thought it was hard. Let’s go back and start grooming. I’m up next on cross country. Look at Christine go. She’s doing good. Her horse hasn’t refused any jumps. It’s my turn now. We sailed over jumps one through six. Number seven will be the tough one. It has lots of bright colored flowers. I put on lots of leg to let KoKo know that I really want him to jump it. Ahhhhhhhhhh we made it! Way to go KoKo. Now just five more to go. We sailed over the rest with no problem. Whew! That was fun. Kelly’s up next. Go Kelly! Page 13

Chapter 4 – Awards The scorers are busy on their computers adding up all the team scores. I wonder how we did. Everyone gets two ribbons, one for the riding part and the other for stable management. The announcer begins with the last place team. We got first in horse management and second for the riding. What a day! We met lots of new kids and had a lot of fun. Now it’s time to pack up all our gear and horses and begin the long drive home.

The End

Page 15