By Jana Preston
The Arkansas Gaited Horse Association sponsored a weekend of Sport Horse activities during the Memorial Day weekend at camp Robinson Field Trail Area in Mayflower, Arkansas. The field trial area is equipped with a campground and barns for the horses as well as a beautiful riding area filled with 3,000 acres of trail, which lead through fields, forest and along side Lake Conway.
The weekend started off Friday night with a meet and greet potluck, where everyone had a chance to introduce themselves and enjoy good food.
Saturday the morning was left open for everyone to try out the trails and get ready for the competitive trail ride. The trail riders turned out for the competitive trail ride, which offered both a class for Spotted Saddle Horses and a class for other Gaited breeds. Several trail riders out for a day of riding joined in when they found out the competition was going on. Obstacles for the day ranged from up and down slopes to walking across a large flat rock. The competitive trail ride helped everyone to build up a big appetite. This was solved as Bill Parchman and his son Matt served up fish, fried to perfection and all the trimmings.
Sunday morning brought another beautiful morning of riding, as everyone grouped up and went out riding. The afternoon brought more Sport Horse classes. The competition included the key hole race, saddle around the barrels and poles, barrels racing, soggy barrels, egg and spoon, and a very well laid obstacle course. The obstacle course included everything from a side pass to dragging a tarp, which even caught the attention of some of the very well trained horses. Other fun classes included the catalog race and musical buckets. Then it was time for the Tennessee bunch to teach the Arkansas gang to play broom polo. This event definitely was one of the favorites as the Arkansas gang competed hard against the veterans of this game. In the end everyone turned up as winners as they left the fields, tired, hot and laughing at all the fun. The evening ended as Chef Bill and his crew cooked up hot dogs and hamburgers for everyone.
The SSHBEA Sport Horse committee would like to thank the Arkansas Gaited Horse Association for adding this event to the Sport Horse calendar and for all the hard work they put into sponsoring this weekend. A special thanks to Dawn Carter, Mike Sneed, Bill Parchman, and Matt Parchman for all of their time and effort. We would also like to thank all the judges and class and door prizes sponsors. This is a great event and we hope in the future that you will plan to attend this and other Sport Horse events. For more information on Sport Horse events, please contact John Mohon at 901-476-4030 or any other Sport Horse committee member.