Locals jump at the chance to participate in annual event on Lazy Mountain

LAZY MOUNTAIN — When driving to the Crawford family’s land on Lazy Mountain it’s at first hard to believe a horse riding event is taking place somewhere in the hills.

The road to Ben and Virginia Crawford’s 40-acre spread pierces through a tunnel of trees along a dirt track barely wide enough for one vehicle. After every turn more trees present themselves, and travelers along the route might feel like they’re being led astray to some backwoods camp in the middle of nowhere.

But keep driving and the thick canopy of trees slowly gives way to a clearing in the woods vast enough to let local horse riders put their steeds through the paces of horse trials.

The Honour Bound Pony Club of Palmer held its second annual Lazy Mountain Horse Trials at the Crawford place Saturday. Young and old alike braved a chilly, driving rain to participate in three events leading up to an eventual trophy winner.

A fringe sport, horse trials are likely seldom seen by those outside the horse enthusiast world, but for the girls and women (men are rare in the sport) participating Saturday, horse trials are one of the best tests of themselves and their horse.

“You’re looking at the confidence of the rider and how they handle the horse,” said cross-country jumping judge Kimberly Hopkins.

Horse trials consist of three events — dressage, cross-country jumping and stadium jumping — all counting toward a final score used to determine the winner.

Like golf, in horse trials the lowest score is the best because riders are penalized with more points for mistakes.

The first event, dressage, tests the precision and obedience of a horse’s gymnastic development. The purpose, according to the Palmer pony club, is to show the results of intense training between the horse and rider.

In cross-country and stadium jumping, riders and horses leap various obstacles of different sizes, with cross-country taking place along a lengthy course following natural terrain.

But while riders and horses appear to have tons of fun, competitions are serious business.

Hopkins, the judge for the cross-country jumping event, said judges look for multiple aspects from riders and horses.

Just before the cross-country race began, Hopkins positioned herself next to a nearly four-foot tall jump — there was a judge on nearly every obstacle — made from stacked logs. She was low enough to see both rider and horse, and to watch the fluidity of both when the jump was executed, all of which counts toward a rider’s score.

If a horse refuses a jump an obstacle three times, the rider is disqualified. Four refusals in a single run also means disqualification.

Saturday’s event posed an extra challenge to riders because of the wet grass and potential slipping issue. Riders also looked a bit uncomfortable as the temperature seemed to drop with every new rain cloud that flew past, but hot coffee and some snacks from a make-shift concession stand kept everyone going.

But, as is often said, Alaskans are a hardy bunch, and the girls and women riding on this gloomy day on Lazy Mountain went ahead with their race.

No one was injured Saturday, but a particularly hair-raising moment came when one rider’s horse refused to jump a gate. When the rider finally goaded the horse into compliance, the steed jumped nearly 10 feet in the air, almost sending the rider higher.

That’s the ever present danger of riding a massive hulk of an animal, said property owner Virginia Crawford.

Crawford, who has broken a leg in a horse riding accident before, said slips by a horse and other disasters can occur without notice, sending a rider to the ground.

If that happens two people spring into action. One, a rider seated on horse called an outrider, is responsible for attending to the horse and getting the animal under control. For the human, an emergency medical technician will spring into action.

No one needed either Saturday, and as the cross-country race wound to a close, riders still cheered one another on.

That’s one of the best aspects of a small event like Saturday’s, Crawford said. When riders from Anchorage, Eagle River and the Mat-Su Valley get together for something way smaller than grand national events, the camaraderie runs high.

“This is such a nice group of people,” Crawford said.

Contact Michael Rovito at michael.rovito@frontiersman.com or 352-2252.