Making strides

Frontiersman

LAZY MOUNTAIN — It’s rare when an event draws so many long faces having so much fun.

Among Valley horse enthusiasts, the annual Lazy Mountain Horse Trials provides a unique opportunity in Alaska for riders and horses to compete. Organized by the Honour Bound Pony Club of Palmer, Saturday’s event brought young riders to Ben and Virginia Crawford’s 40-acre spread to test their skills in the trials, which can best be described as an equestrian triathlon.

At the cross-country course, which this year features a new water jump, families and riders ate boxed lunches and chatted while watching the horses and riders negotiate the jumps. For Pony Club members, it was a chance to put their hours of practice to the test.

“I really enjoy coming out and galloping and jumping the fences,” said Lindsey Dreese, a 17-year-old competitor from Wasilla.

Dreese and her 12-year-old horse Woodrow have developed a camaraderie that’s like a friendship, she said.

“It’s the trust that the horse has in the rider, and the trust I have in the horse,” she said. “I love the harmony you can get by working together. I can go out in his paddock and he comes up and nuzzles me. And the horse loves it. He loves running out here and the jumping and the galloping.”

It’s that relationship Valley veterinarian Sandi Farris developed growing up with horses. It was her idea to bring a horse trials event to the Valley, now in its third year.

“There are no other horse trials up here,” she said. “The Pony Club is such a good program for the kids.”

Farris is also impressed with the animals and their athleticism.

“They’re so athletic, beautiful, agile and smart,” she said. “It’s just fun and it’s challenging too.”

Virginia Crawford has been so moved by riding and the Pony Club’s influence on the Valley’s youth that she volunteered her property to be used for the trials.

Watching the children and teens as they jump, cantor and gallop through the competition “is extremely special,” she said. “When someone rides well enough, it becomes a harmony. … Horses are prey animals, so someone has to be the leader. So, if a rider doesn’t step up to the plate, the horse will. But, that’s the challenge, to (earn) that trust.”

Another challenge away from the arena is for parents watching their children on the backs of large, powerful animals. Asked if she worries about her daughter’s safety while riding, Lorrie Dreese admitted she does.

“Yes, you can’t help it as a mother, I think,” she said. “But she could get hurt doing anything.”

CeCe Miller is the district commissioner for the Honour Bound Pony Club of Palmer and cheered her 11-year-old daughter Sophie as she ran the cross-country course.

“I love watching Sophie ride,” she said, adding she doesn’t fear for her daughter’s safety because, competing in the elementary division, the jumps are not too high. “I don’t feel the height, 2 feet, is particularly scary. When the heights of the jumps get taller, that’s a different story.”

About 20 local youths and their horses participated in the trials, Miller said.

“The kids love it,” she said. “And, the horses love it. They get to be a horse. Really, it’s a partnership, and when it goes well, it’s wonderful.”

Another benefit for riders is the bold fashion statements they can make, Lindsey Dreese said, pointing to her green knee-high stockings with white polka-dots. “It’s all in the socks.”

Contact Greg Johnson at greg.johnson@frontiersman.com or 352-2269.

DETAILS

Horse trials are a combination of dressage, cross-country jumping and stadium jumping.

• Dressage: Precision and obedience to show off the horse’s gymnastic development. Scored on each movement to demonstrate the intense training a horse and rider have achieved to perform each movement.

• Cross-country: Jumps that are solid, differing in styles and themes and of varying types of materials. Riders use different paces and is a test of stamina for the horses.

• Jumping arena: A series of fences in an enclosed ring that have to be negotiated. This tests stamina and recovery of the horse and shows it is fit enough to continue to work.