Weekend Ride

Friday I hauled Ladybug again to a new ACTHA competition. We left really early on Friday for such a short ride because I had to half way there to see my oldest nephew Cody off to his year in Germany in the student exchange program.  We had a good visit and said "See Ya Later" in Albuquerque before heading on up to Santa Fe to make camp. 

Since we got into camp quite early we got to pick a good spot to camp. It turns out that we park right across the way from where all the good camp activities were planned. When the ride host Shelly Green showed up later to set up her Check-in point I volunteered to help set up one of those pop up portable shade canopies and the "some assembly required" fire pit. somewhere in the middle of putting together that "some assembly required" fire pit I believe I dislocate my knee cap. Talk about PAIN!!  Somewhere about 3:30 AM on my stiff legged walk that football field distance to the toilets it finally un-dislocated itself but it's still pretty painful.

Ride day was perfect! The weather was beautiful and relatively cool. The rains held off until just after the awards ceremony was finished but the clouds building up all afternoon kept the temperatures pretty moderate.

I'm still waiting on ride photos so I'll tell you all about the obstacles and the ride when I get the photos. So today I'll tell you all about the prizes and awards that were donated. They had quite an impressive selection of donations.

Linda Tellington-Jones donated a couple of books:

and

Anne Martinez in Santa Fe is a professional photographer who donated a two hour professional photo shoot for a horse and rider combination at a location here in NM. I won that for being the runner up most uniquely dressed individual at the ride with my old time cowgirl outfit.

The Feed Bin a feed store in Santa Fe was really generous with their donations.They donated 16 Buckets of Ranch-Way feeds "Horse Candy" treats. That was enough to have one for every rider in every division that placed in the top 6 places! Plus they also donated an additional half pound sample bags of the same "Horse Candy" treats for every single entry in the event. That means they donated around  30 pounds of just samples.

 Another very important item that was donated was the loan  of 3 or 4 large water tanks to provide the water for all the horses.

Aromaland of Santa Fe donated a gift basket of aroma therapy products.

Barn Dogs of Santa Fe donated a Leather Halter.

Trader Joe's in Santa Fe donated a big gift basket of non-perishable Healthy food items.

Crown Jewels of Santa Fe donated a $45 gift certificate to their store.

La Plancha Restaurant donated a $ 25 gift certificate.

Eldorado Country Pet Donated a $20 Gift Certificate

Century Bank  of Santa Fe donated some folding camp chairs.

The Water Boyz of Santa Fe donated 2 personal sized water bottles.

Lowe's in Santa Fe donated some water and charcoal for the lunch and breakfast cooking.  

We also had the Founder and President of ACTHA  Carrie Scrima  and her family came to enjoy the trails and the sights of Santa Fe.  We had people come from all over New Mexico as well as from Texas, Arizona and Colorado. We also found out that New Mexico rides are doing really well. New Mexico is one of the TOP ACTHA states for ride attendance. Texas is first in Number of participants per event, but they started it there and have had more time to develop a member base, New Mexico is pushing right up there and getting large numbers of participants with almost every ride hosted. 

Next post should be ride photos!