Mock Fox Hunt

The Championships Quiz team went on a field trip to Rancho de Los Altos, the home of the Los Altos hounds. There they would study and see the hounds and go on a mock fox hunt. First, see the hounds. Mathew Cook, huntsman for the lost altos hounds showed us the hounds. There are 49 hounds or 24 1/2 couples as he said.( Imagine how much dog food you would need!)

Then on to studying. How many of you can recite the pony club pledge right now? Or tell me what is the job of the whipper in? The Quiz team can! The Quiz team is practicing hard. They have had 2 study sessions so far but practice a lot.

The Fox hunt was the best thing there by far! We all got name tags with what we were to be on it. I was the fox. We had 3 hounds. 2 were people from the quiz team and the other one was Mathew's own basset hound (a little short but technically still a hound!).We started as soon as we could. There was a lot of land to run on. I'll tell you the fox's story because I was trying to get away from the rest of the people and don't really know what happened to them. You'll just have to imagine their story but every now and then I would have an accidental run in with them. And now, the fox's story:

It was a dark and stormy night.....(Just kidding! It was quite warm actually. let's start over..)
Bounding through the grass. The fox leaps over logs and creeps under trees. Still in plain sight it must rely on speed to escape it's determined pursuers. The three hounds, two of which are balancing on two feet, are close behind the fox. Making a quick turn into a narrower, winding path it is losing the hounds. It leaps and bounds stumbling a few times on stick or rocks. It runs down a hill and then takes cover behind a big log. As the fox catches it's breath it hears first the hounds. the the huntsmen run past it. After the sound of foot steps passes it runs the back the way it came. One of the hounds spots it and charges after. The fox, realizing what is happening, takes a running start and leaps over a creek. The hounds stops on the other side and the fox takes off. It runs on a narrow path now and passes what appears to be junk yard. Stopping briefly to admire what appears to be the remains of a golf cart it continues down the path. It runs straight into a barbed wire fence. The fox continues down the fence and ends up it a dark forest like place. Struggling through thorn bushes it spots a snake under a log. Without thinking of where it is going the fox takes off, going as fast as it can through the thorn bushes. Finally it is out of the thorn bushes and faces a new obstacle. A steep rock cliff. It  has two choices: Try and go up the cliff, or go back through the thorn bushes to the snake. The fox climbs up the cliff. It was going pretty well until halfway up the fox looses footing. Neither able to go up or down it is stuck. Only then does it notice the mournfull eyes staring through the bushes at the top of the cliff. The basset hound, third member of the hounds and therefore not a good sign. "Shh" says the fox. "I'm not here. go back" But the dog stays. "What's he looking at?"  The fox hears voices. The other two hounds show up. "There she is! I found the fox!" The fox was surrounded in less than 10 seconds. The hunt was over.

Pretty thrilling story huh? They should make a movie out of it! Anyway, that was the mock foxhunt!

Tet Rally

The Tetrathlon Rally was hosted in a place called Vigne Farms in Santa Cruz. The  facilities at Vigne were perfect for tet. They had a nice arena and a wonderful track for running. We shot in a wide open area that they were going to build a cross-country course on. They didn't have a swimming pool but it was a short drive to the pool which was at a nearby High School.

 There were only 9 people and 3 teams. (It would have been funner with more people.) On my team were Intica and Aubrey.

On the 1st day we did riding and swimming. I borrowed Intica's pony, Jake for the riding part. The course was really fun and had lots and lots of curves, bends and rollbacks (all Nichole's idea). It even had a slip rail and a gate. The fences were decorated very prettily with flowers and fancy standards.


When we drove to the High school to swim we passed many beautiful beaches. (if anyone is going to those beaches, call me! I'll go with you!) The swimming was over almost as soon as it had begun! It went by a lot faster than I expected. It was really awesome that we got extra time after we swam to have free time in the pool.

On the 2nd day we had running and shooting. The track for running was a trail that led around the facilities. This would have been a good time for me to check out the farm but, for me, it is not exactly the easiest thing in the world to drink in the scenery while huffing and puffing your way to the finish line. :)

The shooting, as I said, was held in an area of the farm where they were hoping to build a XC course. It was perfect for shooting. I borrowed Aubrey's gun. Nothing much exiting happened during the shooting besides a dog running in and some people chasing it around trying to get it to go back to the barn.

We did not get ribbons for placing in the awards ceremony (can you still call it a ceremony if there are only 9 people?) but we got gifts for each division for example: 1st place in swimming got goggles, 1st in running got socks etc.

All in all it was a fun rally.

Eventing competitors

Eventing rally was cancelled due to the virus EHP. The riders that wanted to qualify had the option of going to Camino Real's eventing rally. Some riders could not make it so they sent in a exception request which allows them to compete in championships without having to go to a qualifying rally.

The exception request was approved for Maya and Logan. A few others like Alecia and Theresa will be attending the rally at Camino Real that is held within Shepherd Ranch Horse Trials.

Good luck Alecia and Theresa!

Eventing tips from a Rolex rider

James Alliston is an eventing rider who competed in Rolex 2011 with two of his horses: Jumbo's Jake and Parker in the beautiful horse park. James is originally from England. He came to the US to train with Bruce Davidson. He lives in California. I asked James to give the Championships Eventing riders some tips.