Red Hills Horse Trials, Cross-Country

The cross-country has just got to be one of the most interesting horse activities possible. Friday's post had a few of the jumps shown. Saturday they added the horses. What fun!

The next picture is at the Manatee Jump.

This next one is the same jump from a little further back. Note the alligator jump in the background.

This is the tummy tickler, wonder why?

Another tummy tickler. After seeing the gray in the second picture below, maybe now you know why it's called that.

Between jumps, riders and horses try desperately to make up some time. They all go for broke!

Here's the jump they called Autobahn, sponsored by Mercedes no less.

The scenery is simply fabulous. The grey stuff hanging from the live oaks is spanish moss, [Tillandsia usneoides].

Between jumps, is just 'go'! ... but in a beautiful setting.

Note that a few of the horses have had their winter coat trimmed, this one has the main body trimmed but the legs have been left; neat 'two-tone'!

For the car buffs, here's a stretch golf cart!

Not a nice sight to see at a horse trials is a riderless horse. This one was aimed for his horse trailer. The good thing about such a sight is that the horse is OK!

This is one of the new fiberglass jumps. Still immovable mind you.

... and fairly tall, I might add.

Some jumps go into water, others are out of water. How neat is this?

Just out of the water and there's yet another jump!

I thought these sights were just spectacular. Water splashing everywhere, horses doing well at their jumps while seemingly having fun, and riders competing for that position on the team.

Each horse seems to have a different water trail...

This horse seems to be appearing out of nowhere but actually he's jumping up to a table, then turning left sharply to jump the difficult 'Big Bend' jump. What a sight!

This is the Big Bend! Who would have thought you'd build a ramp so that horses could jump a branch of a live oak tree. Stunning!

This horse decided to turn right, and take a lesser jump. Can't say I blame him. I'm sure the Canadian rider Kyle Carter has other thoughts [he's still staring at the Big Bend]. Remember, you can always double-click any image to enlarge it.

This is the squirrel jump. The body is one challenge, the tail, another. Note that magnificent tree!

This is a multiple access water-jump. The horses jump in [B], then out, changing their level by about 3 or 4 feet. Then, the horse had to climb a step and jump a very high jump [C] that had to be nearly 5' over the regular grass level. And the jump was skinny to boot!

This grey is jumping the first of two jumps leading into a water trough, before negotiating more jumps.

Note how this next rider and trusty steed are taking up as little space as possible: streamlined or what.

If you'd like to see pictures made at Red hills two years ago, they can be found at:

http://notesfromaway.blogspot.com/2008/03/day-at-cross-country.html

I'm not much of a horse person but I very strongly recommend attending any horse show. The horses are stunning, the riders well turned out and usually well behaved, the setting can be spectacular, the spectators enthusiastic, and the experience sans-parreil! The only defect is that it's a dusty place... be forewarned!