Track Day - FINALLY

Lara and I have been aiming to go to the track and race our horses around for fun for the past two weeks and each Tuesday it dumps buckets of rain down upon us and we have to reschedule. Well today was gorgeous weather, as nice as we could ask for. Temperatures were in the high 60s with a breeze. At first I worried there may be too much wind, as it was whistling at the barn - but the track was fairly calm and quiet. The fairground crew had set up concrete barriers in the rodeo area for the demolition derby tomorrow night but there was still room to ride two abreast between that and the grandstand so we had full use of the entire track.

Arriving at the track about quarter 'til six we unloaded and tacked up quickly. Matt and Levi were there so Matt could video tape the experience. About ten after Tyson showed up to take photos.

We warmed the horses up by walking a full loop and then did some trotting. They were hot to go but the walking helped to put them in a more relaxed mindset. We both had to dismount and tighten our girths before increasing our speed. Finally it was time to let them out. We walked along the grandstand going clockwise and asked for the trot as we reached the turn. Then a canter and into a gallop as we passed the post. Lara made her usual Man From Snowy River noises to encourage her horse to go faster and Sinwaan was happy to run along behind.



I understand now why jockeys wear goggles - they are not just for mud. There were actually some stones in the dirt on the track and every once in awhile when I was behind (which was most of the time) I would see them fly up at us from Imaginn's hooves and a couple even zinged off my helmet.

The first go-round we were somewhat cautious because we weren't sure if the horses would spook at Tyson's position or how they would react to running in a new place. They had a great time and it was hard to slow them down on the opposite turn. We again walked them past the grandstands up to the turn, then asked for a trot and then the canter, this time I heard Lara say "at the post" and I said "ok" and we got to that post and I shouted to Sinwaan GO GO GO GO!! And he really dug in and gave me all he had and we were flying down that track. It was the fastest I had ever ridden him. It took a little while but Imaginn did dig in and take off once she saw us pulling away and then overtook us before we hit the end of the straight stretch. Lara joked that Ima wasn't serious about it until she saw us getting away and then she lit up.



We had two more go-rounds down the one stretch, each time the horses giving us what they had, but not quite as fast as the time before, yet still hard to slow down on the corners. It didn't take long before they had figured out what we wanted and were eager to oblige.

It was a very exciting evening for us and we were so glad to have taken the opportunity before Lara moves away next week.