Halloween 2015

It's Halloween and the kids headed to a party this year.  Sydney got the opportunity to dress up twice as she also had a Halloween horse show.  She tied for FIRST prize in the costume contest this year!!

Here is Zorro and her horse -

And Holden, well, we may need to explain...
There's a dubstep recording artist named Deadmau5 (Deadmouse).  He wears a mouse head when he performs and Holden wanted to make a head just like his.  It took a bit of work, but it looked GREAT!

And then there were the Jack-O-Lanterns.
From right to left we have:
Andy:  a Zorro sign in honor of Sydney winning the costume contest
Julia: normal evil pumpkin
Holden:  sad pumpkin because someone pounded nails into his face - see closeup below

Sydney:  Barad-dûr.  In the Lord of the Rings this was the Dark Lord Sauron's primary fortress in Mordor, serving as his base of operations and the primary nexus of evil in Middle-earth.  If you want to know more, you'll have to ask the expert.

Last Ren Fest picture update

Sydney and I had SO MUCH more to say about the Renaissance Festival, but this story must come to a close.  So, here's a little picture update of the 8 weeks...

Opening gates

Fighting with a Quarterstaff

The Petting zoo

The singing troupe that Sydney listened to each and every day of the festival

BIG Chess

Vegetable Justice - you get to throw mushy tomatoes at the guy.  Warning to those that are easily offended, he can sling insults faster than anyone can throw tomatoes.

Our favorite violinist

Our favorite pickle guy

And, of course, the jousting team...

Dave

 Colin (jousting injury took him out)

 Harry

 Tom

 Shelby

 Mark

Horseplay

The previous post talked about Indigo, the horse that fears elephants, so we thought we'd tell you about a few of the other horses with the War Horse troupe.

Abraham is the biggest.  He was a bit unpredictable and showed his fear of all things at the far end of the jousting track.  He dumped Sydney the first week and nearly dumped Shelby, the lady rider that travels with them, several times during the festival.  He's a nice horse, just quirky.

Tara was one of Sydney's favorites and the one Sydney rode the most.  Tara loves blueberry scones and she's married to Abraham.  Here's one of Sydney working on Tara at a joust, and another with Tara, Sydney, and Kelly Bailey - the owner of the jousting troupe.

Millie was also a bit unpredictable and Shelby was the only one that rode her.  Millie dislikes the jingling bellydance skirts and would not let anyone come near her if they were wearing one.

Christine is the only clyesdale in the group and Sydney got to ride her a lot during the weekday practice sessions.  She's an older horse that can't keep her feet still and wants to jump the gun when jousting.  Mark, her main rider, said she knows what to do but sometimes decides to give him the finger and go do whatever the heck she wants to.  Christine gently chews her water before swallowing it.  Here's Christine,

Manny is ridden by Kelly, the game announcer and the owner of the War Horse Productions.  Manny has a unique talent.  He claps with his lips.

Daisy is the oldest jousting horse and she's trained nearly every one of the jousters they've had for the last 15 years.  She's a sweetheart.  I actually have a picture of Sydney and Daisy from years ago when Sydney would take rides on the War Horses.
Here they are in 2009 -

And Sydney braiding Daisy's hair this year -

And then there is Marcus.  Aka Dr. Buttons.  He is going for his degree in marine biology.  His tiny tail is named Jeffrey because it has a mind of it's own.

'Nough said.

The Great Elephant Escape!

There are a variety of animals at the MN Renaissance Festival:  jousting horses, ponies, a reptile learning center, petting zoo creatures, elephants, camels, tortises, a llama, a raven, and probably more that I can't remember.  The 2 camels, 2 elephants, and the llama are in close proximity of the jousting horses both on the festival grounds and back at camp.

Unfortunately, one of the jousting horses is scared of elephants - Indigo.  He's a big, black percheron - the biggest they have.  He's young and he's got a few quirks.  He can't stand the bouncy trampoline monster at the end of the jousting track, he hates the trumpets that play during the jousts, and...  he has a fear of pachyderms.

When the horses arrived at camp the first day, they unloaded them one by one and put them behind some makeshift electric fences that would be their home for the next 10 weeks.  They're probably 150 feet from the elephants.  All was going well.  Then Indigo was brought out and the elephants sensed fear.  They charged the fence (a tiny electric wire), flapped their ears and lifted their trunks.  Indigo reared and freaked out, which seemed to be just the reaction the elephants were looking for, so they did it again.  And again.  And again.  They put Indigo as far away from the elephants as they could but he could still see them, and he had to deal with them next to the jousting ring each weekend.  He started to calm after a few weeks but always had one eye on them wherever they were.

Then, it happened.  The elephants escaped their handlers.  It was the middle of the week and they let the elephants out of the fences so they could play in the forest and dig up trees and just be elephants for a while.  The handlers were right there but they couldn't stop it.  It seems that the littlest elephant has a bit of a mischevious personality and she decided to make a break for it, and the other elephant thought he might as well take the opportunity to go, too.  They made a beeline down the row of horses, past all the others, right for Indigo.  Of course, the poor horse freaked out as they wanted him to and he broke through the fence.  Two other horses that he was with freaked out with him and they took off, elephants behind them.  The horses found a place to hide, the handlers captured the elephants, and the horses were found and brought back to camp.  Everyone was fine, people and animals, but it sounded like quite the scene.

Renaissance Festival Update

We're into our third weekend at the Renaissance Festival and Sydney is having a blast!

This is a three day work-weekend as they run the festival on Labor Day Monday. I drop her off just after 7:00 AM each morning and pick her up around 7:30 PM. They have to get there extra early as they drive the horses about a mile and a half to get to and from the festival grounds, and Sydney has fun with that, too. There are quite a few people and only two trucks, so some people hop on the truck bed for the bumpy gravel ride. Sydney and her cohort, Madi, have taken to not just riding on the back of the truck, but stand up - surfing into and out of the festival. 

So far Sydney has ridden four horses. Each time I see her it amazes me at how big they are. We went to pick her up on Tuesday after riding and I couldn't even touch the horse's saddle horn unless I stretched on my tip toes. The horses's mid back, at it's lowest point, was about 5' 8".

In addition to riding and taking care of the horses she helps give War Horse Rides between jousting events. People pay to hop on and someone walks the horse up and down the jousting field. When she's not walking she's lifting little kids on and off the saddles. (They have a platform to stand on so they're at least the right height.). She just crashes at the end of the day. 

Andy and Holden and I are all going out tomorrow to enjoy the festival together and see Sydney. We're sad though...  This will be the first time we won't have her hanging out with us. 

Picture update

Holden.

5' 8"

Yes, he really is that tall.

Sydney.

And Abraham.

Yes, he really is that tall.

Sydney's first day of college

And a short update for today.  After a long weekend and riding lessons at the barn this morning, Sydney had her first class at Century college.  It's a big week for her.

Good think we packed a lot of sleeping gear in the car for the Ren Fest.

The ride home...

Renaissance Festival update

We were too tired to post this last night (and I went WAY over my data plan allowance on my phone while I was at the Renaissance Festival), so I'll catch up a bit now.

I dropped Sydney off yesterday and only attended the last joust of the day.  Just as I was headed in, Sydney texted me saying that I wouldn't need to save her a seat for the jousting :-)

Yes, she got to ride the first weekend!  She saddled up a big horse named Abraham and looked amazing as she warmed up.  They were giving her some last minute instruction and she was focused on all the new techniques.  There's a lot to learn.

Here she is with Shelby, the lead lady-rider, and all four jousters before the match.
(If viewing on a small screen, you may need to click on the picture to see everyone.)

Warning:  long-winded educational side note coming.  Hope I'm somewhat accurate with my notes.

Neither of us realized that it would be so different to ride these horses.  They're not trained with the same cues as a typical English or Western riding horse.  Many of the important instructions are different, including turning, backing up, and stopping.  Believe it or not, you don't pull back on the reins to stop them!  We'll learn more, but we think that when they guys are jousting in full armor that some of the traditional techniques would not only be hard to do with all that gear on, but could be dangerous.  So to stop the horse, you just shift your weight and lean back in the saddle.  (This technique is taught with other horses as well, but it's usually in addition to pulling on the reins.)  So, when you see a guy hit in the jousting battle, he automatically moves back in the saddle - and the horse slows forward momentum.  Also, it's amazing to watch them - when a rider falls, the horses just STOP.  Good thing as they are so huge.  A typical horse can be 800 to 1200 pounds.  The draft horses they use for jousting are around 1800 to 2200 pounds!

So, there was much fanfare and riding around, then the first jousting pass came.  They guys clashed and the crowd cheered, then the girls rode down the length of the field.  They looked GREAT!  As they were riding back I noticed Abraham was at a large gallop - he was going fast.  Then they got to the end of the field and he didn't want to stop.  He hunched his back and started bucking.  Not big, bucking bronco style, but still, he's a big horse.  So, Sydney hung on for the first three bucks but then the saddle started slipping and she went off to the side - knowing it was the best move as she didn't want to go under him if the saddle slid around.  She hit feet first then onto her butt and bounced back up.  The crowd cheered when she stood, the staff checked to see that she was OK, then they resumed the jousting.

I don't know if I can fully explain, but several things went wrong.  First, Abraham doesn't like the new kid ride that was installed near the far end of the jousting field.  Kids are attached to bungee cords and jump on trampolines so they can "fly" in the air.  The horses don't like it at all.  So, Abraham took the opportunity to run away - FAST - from the big bouncy monster, Sydney didn't have full control, and she was trying to think about the proper instruction to give instead of just reacting with instinct.  She said she was trying to speak his language but had the wrong phrasebook.  Abraham got confused with her cues and he'd had enough.

I must say that Sydney handled it all with an amazing amount of grace and humor.  She knew she had a lot to learn, didn't blame it all on the horse or the bouncy ride.  She smiled, then got back up on Abraham after the match to get further instruction on riding, and on Abraham's hot buttons.

Here's a little video of her ride...

https://youtu.be/cDVYBOz47Dg

Renaissance Festival!!

II didn't get pictures aup from our Montana trip.  That will have to wait. More important things are at hand.

This is Sydney's first day working at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival!!!  We came to talk to them on Thursday and Sydney was SO excited!  Then we had a free day on Friday, and she was half excited, half nervous. This morning (up at 4:30 AM) she was all nerves. This is a big job and it's a lot of work. She was hoping she's up for the challenge.

This weekend she'll be grooming and feeding the horses and learning the routine. She won't be riding today as they didn't have enough time to work with her beforehand. Hopefully she'll be in the saddle next weekend. There are three jousts a day and they have the lady riders do more show stuff  before the first joust. For the other two they want everyone on the horses, riding around, building up the excitement. 

I tagged along with the troupe today and will hang out at the Festival until they pack up. Hopefully this will give me the opportunity to post a few pictures.

Here she is, giving people rides on the jousting horses.

 

Art Show 2015

Trying to catch up with a few blogs before we head to Montana.

Both Sydney and Holden took an art class and had a year-end art show.  Here are a few pictures of their best work.

Holden did three paintings this year.

The first one was a car -

The others were the Enterprise and a wonderful road picture that is one of my favorites -

Sydney did three as well.

She did the "star" tree in the upper left and a very detailed pine martin in a tree -

And then the biggest painting she has done to date was a picture she took of her friend, Ada, dressed as a wood elf sitting in a tree.  

There was also paper mache...
Holden did a sun with sunglasses - I love this guy!

 Sydney did a griffin with feathers -

And for the printmaking part of the class, Holden did several sharp objects - a machete thing and two swords crossed - and an adorable cat.

Sydney did several, including a dragon she drew herself, and a heron that made some beautiful prints!

And then there were the ceramics.

Holden did "cube guys".  (The animal in the middle isn't his.)

And Sydney did a blue and white swan dish.

 Finally, we'll leave you with a picture of Sydney and Ada at the show!