As barn dogs, there is always a lot of tasks for Trooper and I to do. And to be honest, this farm just wouldn’t run properly without us.
Trooper is always on my case to help him be a lookout. “Lookout for low flying birds” “Lookout for cars pulling down the farm driveway” “Lookout for anything suspicious and out of the ordinary”
I on the other hand usually have my own ideas about what we should be actually looking out for.
What about “Lookout for the snakes that accidentally get baled in the hay”
Or “Lookout for yummy missed poop in the pony stalls”
“Lookout for people in boots who might mistakenly step on you”
And “Lookout for ponies who look cute, but are really thinking maybe they didn’t get enough to eat”.
So Trooper can keep a lookout for strangers who might want to brush our ponies (the horror), and whatever other boring stuff he comes up with….
…and I’ll continue to lookout for the important stuff. Because we all know that pony poop isn’t going anywhere except for my belly!
Over the weekend I took my very first trip to the Fair Hill International Event, one of the most prestigious international three day events in the world, this is the ultimate test of a horse and rider. Through tests in dressage, endurance, and stadium jumping the horse and rider teams work together to show that they can compete in the most demanding and highest levels of equestrian sports.
But before I could attend the event, I had to go on my very first school bus ride!
Trooper tagged along with me on this adventure, and we were both pretty excited about taking the bus to the event grounds from the parking lot.
I can only imagine how exciting it must be to take the bus everyday to school! Those lucky kids! I even sang the wheels on the bus during the ride just to make it even more fun.
Once in the park I quickly made my way to the arena, because the real reason I came to the Fair Hill International was to cheer on my friends from the Chincoteague Pony Drill Team!
Made up entirely of Chincoteague Ponies (and the only one in the world), the drill team performs at events to choreographed music. It was great to see my friends again, as I had not seen them since I went to Chincoteague a few years ago so that my pony friends could frolic on the beach.
After I said goodbye to my friends I was ready to check out the other events at the Fair Hill International. (Above is me pictured with Misty’s Icicle, the only cremello colored pony in the Misty family line of ponies)
Of course my number one mission was to RIDE A PONY! But since most of them were busy competing I settled for this cardboard cutout of one instead.
And here’s what I would look like if I was a world class eventer like the riders that were competing at Fair Hill! Dashing right?
Next up I hit up the Dog Agility area, where they very nicely let me try a practice course – which was the first time I tried a course outside of my weekly classes at the Dog Training Center. I was a little distracted by all the smells on the course (and the fact that some of the obstacles seemed a bit different than what I was used to), but I did complete all the obstacles!
You may have heard my pal Trooper crying in the background of the video – he was utterly convinced that the course was going to eat me up if he wasn’t out there to protect me – or better yet, herd me around the scary obstacles. Oh Trooper, such a silly boy.
Next I headed over to watch some of the show jumping on the hill with the other dogs. You might not be able to tell from this photo, but almost every person came to the event with a dog. Great Danes, Rhodesian Ridgebacks, Greyhounds, Jack Russells, Labradors, and I even spotted a few Dachshunds among them.
Watching the show jumping was quite spectacular as the horses soared through the air, but I have to admit, the Fair Hill International really wore me out!
I’m already counting down the days until next years event though!
Make sure you check out some more photos and video of the Chincoteague Pony Drill Team at the Painting Pony Blog.
So, as most of you know my mom left me home last week while she went on a fantastical adventure with two of my favorite ponies, Minnow and Boomerang, to Chincoteague Island for the 88th Annual Pony Penning.
They got to do amazing things like check out the wild pony round-up, swim, and auction – and they even got to perform all week at the Chincoteague Pony Centre.
My mom took some amazing pictures, so even though I wasn’t there – her photos make me feel like I was! You can check them all out HERE.
But I was most excited to hear about how my ponies did in their big performances, especially Boomerang who did an amazing job on his very FIRST debut – I’m pretty sure everyone was super impressed with the bean bag sitting skills that I taught him.
Even my special pony Minnow did an amazing job painting some beautiful pictures that were auctioned off after each show – with part of the money going to help local animal rescue groups!
The ponies will have their own recap of all their adventures on their blog soon!
And while you may think I just spent my week at home like this:
I actually had quite a few adventures of my own at home with dad! But those will have to wait for another post!
But you can check out all the fun my ponies had on their facebook page, and soon on their blog.
You might remember that a couple of months ago I visited the Rodeo in Amish Country, well this time I was back to watch my mom and Boomerang compete in it!
Boomer was competing in a sport called Team Penning, which basically means that three riders have 90 seconds to round up three cows that are the same number (a number is called out by the announcer at the start) and pen them into a small corral at the other end of the arena.
My buddy Boomer is pretty new to moving cows around, and this was only the third time he’s tried team penning.
Luckily he had me in the stands to cheer him on, and I think I was good luck because on his very first time out Boomer’s team penned their cows well under the time limit!
Not to brag, but I pretty much taught him all he knows!
