friday foto finish: ALMOST TIME!!

Summer is winding down. Students are back in school. And September starts this weekend. Which can only mean one two things: this weekend is Labor Day Weekend here in the US, and, more importantly, we are imminently approaching our ANNUAL LABOR DAY PAPER CHASE EXTRAVAGANZA OMG. Heck yes. 

the original inspiration collage

For the uninitiated, a paper chase is basically a hunter pace. Which, for the un-un-initiated, is essentially a glorified team trail ride with ribbons at the end.

STARS, YO

Basically, the host venue marks out a path at some prescribed distance range. The longer ones in our area tend to be about 6-8 miles, and the shorter tracks (like we'll see this weekend) are roughly 2-2.5 miles.

The path gets marked in such a way that you wind through the woods AND through the cross country fields. There are jumps sprinkled around everywhere ranging from 18"-3', tho every jump at this particular venue can be gotten around by those such inclined.

so many primary colors

Teams enter the divisions based more or less on what style of ride they want. For instance, the fast high group goes for speed over the 3' fences, whereas the adult flat might take a more leisurely pace while skirting all the jumps.

Organizers send horses out in advance to ride the track, setting what's known as the "optimum time" for each division. This optimum time is kept Top Secret, however, until all competing teams are finished. So it's basically up to the teams to set their own pace throughout the ride guessing more or less where they should be galloping with reckless abandon, and where walking is more appropriate.

ok ok, i admit it. a craft store barfed all over my coffee table and i am 1,000% cool with it haha

This particular venue - Tranquility -  tends to pad out the times a bit too, encouraging riders to take advantage of schooling all the cross country fences scattered around the fields. Which, considering this paper chase costs $20 per rider and the normal schooling fee is $25....

Well, honestly, my friends and I just tend to treat the whole thing like a glorified trail ride / xc school / party ride, with no real thought to the clock.

betcha didn't expect to see this picture on the blog today, eh? hell yes those are metallic gold hot pants LOL

With, erm, ahem, one minor difference lol.... In case you weren't entirely sure how these pictures were related to the subject of the paper chase, well. Allow me to fill you in.

It all started back in 2016. We were planning on going on the pace with a big barn group. Things were already on the outs with me and Isabel (in fact, I'd barely ridden her at all the month prior...) but we still wanted to make it fun. Plus, barn friend Rachael was getting married soon. So we decided to surprise her with a bridal-shower group theme.

Naturally, complete with matching "bridesmaids" outfits to Rachael's white, plus a special bonnet for Rachael's mare Birdie. And, um, aha, of course -- a set of veils for both the bride-to-be and her Bird. LOL...

and cuffs, obvi

The whole lead up of brainstorming ideas and crafting out all the details was so much fun for the whole group, that we decided to repeat the process again the following year. Minus the surprise aspect, of course. So in 2017 we adopted a "Chase the Rainbow" theme, complete with every color imaginable, displayed as garishly as possible via tutus (obviously) and feathered boas.

Charlie was already nearly a year into his retraining at this point and was starting to feel really solid at N. Getting to jump him over some bigger stuff for us, combined with the whole team aspect, made for a very memorable day <3

so much hot glue, guys

We carried the tradition forward into 2018, this time with a "Jockeys and Racehorses" theme. Other things had been going on that summer (like Charlie puncturing his hoof on that godforsaken piece of mulch....) that had kinda bummed me out. But this particular day ended up being a highlight of the whole year <3

gotta have matching "belts"!!

So... All that brings us to present day: Labor Day Weekend 2019, wherein we are hitting up Tranquility's annual paper chase. This time as Super Heroes. Fuuuuuuck Yesssss.

Not like, any particular specific set of superheroes. Not the Marvel universe or whatever. Just sorta a generic "whatever gets your creative juices flowing" type approach. In my mind, this means lots of primary colors studded with metallic tones, punctuated by gold and silver (and maybe a little puff paint lol).

can you see it yet??

Everyone is kinda following their own destiny when it comes to choosing colors, tho I volunteered to craft up some key accessories to help bring cohesion to the overall look.

We found in the past, especially with the Jockeys theme, that we really didn't need to work too too hard at being Ultra Coordinated. Rather, the theme spoke for itself when there was enough repetition of small details across each horse and rider. Like numbered saddle pads for our racehorses.

oooh, forgot to mention, there will also be CAPES

So to this end, I picked up a whole bunch of felt plus this weird gold plastic-y jersey fabric. Felt is so versatile, it's easy to just cut into shapes and glue wherever.

Like these circular star emblems in various color combinations, that all have safety pin backings so they can be put on outfits, saddle pads, bonnets, what have you. Or the "belts," which are actually just strips that can be pinned or velcroed to the front of anybody's existing outfit, should they be inclined in that way lol.

The gold material we're using more for stuff like cuffs, and probably some manner of boot topper and maybe helmet stuff too. TBD at this point lol, tho my mind is swimming with all manner of ideas haha.

my vision, guys. true grace and beauty!! i can't fucking wait hahaha

PLUS, haha, Plus -- obviously we need capes. Duh.

I picked up some extra material for lending to other riders in our group should they need it, but hopefully it'll be a motley assortment LOL. Also I hope you appreciate the inspiration pic I mocked up, using one of the "landing" pictures from our ultra-glorious-droppage moment during that Sally XC lesson a couple weeks back haha. hahahahaha.

2018 Jockeys!

So. Ya know. You could say that I'm pretty excited lol. Obviously skeptical and superstitious as always, bc it's Charlie after all. Charlie, due for his shoes next week so naturally we're already down a nail in one shoe with the others looking mightily dubious.

But whatever tho. Idc what it takes, but come hell, high water or lost shoes, we are getting dressed up as superheroes and taking pictures of it, dammit. LOL.

2017 Chase the Rainbow!

Plus, of course it goes without saying that the day's true joy will come from galloping around on our precious unicorns in the company of good friends and yada yada yada... But let's be real, it's all about them pics ;)

Anybody else got some exciting plans for the weekend?? Or wanna come tag along with us?!? ;)