Sorry to have taken so long to return to action. The virus that has plagued so many people over the last two or three weeks threatened to "take" us - as we had a good day followed by a bad day - but through it all we managed to get three horse shows and tournaments in.
The May Tournaments at Spruce Meadows were a great success as the unpredictable Alberta spring weather raised its ugly head. Evie had made a quick trip to Nelson, B.C. the week before May I and as she flew over Spruce on Sunday the entire grounds were covered in snow - and horses would be arriving to compete outdoors in two days. Needless to say Spruce Meadows have options and quickly decided to hold the ponies and .90m/3' classes in the EquiPlex and the 1m-1.10m/3'3"-3'6" would be held on the Rocky Mountain Sand Warm Up Ring. Many people were disappointed as they are more than ready to compete outdoors - having spent the last three months competing in the EquiPlex but in the end the decision was a smart one as the weather continued to play havoc.
Friday we found ourselves trying to stay one step ahead of the weather as the day progressed. The first 1m competition was affected by the constant and steady downfall of rain, sleet and hail - and not always in that order. Initially the moisture was beneficial as the footing was excellent, however the more moisture we got the "muckier" it got - and not only in the competition ring, but in the warm up ring as well. The corners of the ring got very slick as those trying to make quick efficient "speed" turns and lines often found themselves slipping - not good for a horse or a riders confidence. By the time we got to the 1.10m competitions many of the riders had smartly decided to "stud up" - put studs in - especially in their hind shoes to help keep contact with terra firma. Despite the weather, for their first time outdoors the competitors did very well, each competition got better and better.
Saturday started out beautiful, with a strong, bright sun that worked wonders to lift everyones spirits. As the day wore on the wind increased, according to the weather network the winds were gusting at 80-90km an hour. We stacked the jumps the best we could, turned the plank cups over and in a number of cases we duck taped the planks and gates to the cups. At one point we two jump crew holding up the standards of a jump - each held one standard - the standards stayed up but the wind was so strong it blew the top rail out of the cups. I remember a time back in 2000 or 2001 when the wind was so bad that the flags that adorn the roof of the North Meadows Pavilion were snapping off and landing on the field of the All Alberta Ring like lawn darts.
There was another time back in 97-98, when we were still holding regular hunter competitions at Spruce Meadows, we had set a course on the Rocky Mountain Ring. The judge was sitting in one of the judges platforms they have that is similar to a lifeguards stand. We were getting to the end of the combined hunters around 3PM in the afternoon - the afternoon had been great - but as happens in Alberta looking to the east you could see weather coming our way. The wind started to increase and the horse on course had just jumped the single oxer coming home and was turning to jump the line going away when a mini tornado enter the ring picked up the island and proceeded to follow the horse up the line - as the horse jumped the vertical and was two strides away the wind picked up the vertical, then the judge screamed as the wind toppled her and her stand to the ground, the horse still on course proceeded to jump the oxer, which almost immediately disappeared - the jump material from the island the vertical and oxer were deposited in the west end of the All Alberta Ring. Amazing no one was hurt.
Another interesting situation arose on Saturday night which we knew would cause concern Sunday - the course. After the competition of Saturday ended we proceeded to build the course for Sunday. i laid out the track measured all related lines and proceeded to fill in the jumps. The decoration crew swung by and we sited the location for the islands. As I was putting the finishing touches on the last jump, I slowly took a step back and silently swore under my breath. Then I said out loud "the judge is going to kill me." One thing you must be aware of as a course designer or builder is to build in such a way to allow the judge to see all the jumps. Routinely, after I have built my course for the next day I will go into the judges booth to make sure they are able to see all the jumps. However, on this occasion I had actually come up with a design whereby there was not one jump on the rail - everything was built off the rail, on one diagonal or the other. I quickly realized what I had done. I turned to Mike, and said "she is not going to be able to see a thing." And sure enough as I walked in the judges booth I was correct, there was only one jump you could see clearly. But there was nothing to be done, we packed our bags and left. The next morning upon arrival we noticed the judge had beaten us to the ring and was just going into the booth when we heard a loud yell - I slowly approached the door and opened it and the face that greeted me looked like a deer caught in headlights - I said not missing a beat " honest we did not do it on purpose" - there mwas a moments silence then we all started laugh. At Spruce Meadows there is normally a large number of people in the judges booths - recorders, timers, back up timers - so what they did was each person was responsible for keeping an eye on a jump and we got through the day. Which goes to show that we are all part of team that works together to get the job done. Well I have covered a lot of information tonight. So I will say so long for now.