First, a few words about our innovative new product!
The Rockin’ Riders quadrille is now in its third year. It was time to up our game a little, so our team leader (who is responsible for mainly our entire existence since she choreographed the movements, arranged the music, and designed the costumes) added some lovely new moves this time around.
Also this year, for reasons pertaining to pursuing those expensive blue ribbons, we entered our first show a month ahead of our previous schedule. Which meant we had less time to perfect an entirely new routine. So, of course, it has not been quite perfected yet.
We made our 2016 debut at Reins of Life in South Bend, Indiana. Long-time readers of this blog will know that I have been to Reins of Life in South Bend (they also have an over-the-top facility in Michigan City) many times as a vendor, but this was my first time as a competitor in South Bend. Our horses decided to make our lives a little bit harder this year, as if getting four people and animals together in synchronization weren’t hard enough without some snarkiness on the animals’ part.
The performance you are about to see was on last Saturday. We nailed it except for the entrance halt and the final halt. Everything in between was great. On Sunday, the two halts were perfect and everything in between was a little bobble-y. Since I am a video editor but not a miracle maker, I had to choose which version to show you. I went with the one that had the preponderance of good stuff.
For the curious, I am on my chestnut mare, Charm, who is third as we enter the ring and last if we are in a line doing anything else in the ring. She is also the chestnut with the very crooked blaze that creeps down the left side of her nose. When we enter the ring, the horse behind me is my horse’s mom, Lucky, and Lucky is the one in front of me in the rest of the routine. The chestnut gelding who decided he just wasn’t into standing still for the entrance, and was about to break out as we did the final salute, should not be mistaken for Charm, as she would be deeply offended if you did this. She had her awful moments the next day…
Alli Farkas Artist Adventures 
Ahh! Look how fun! Impressive turnouts and mane flair 🙂 Can tell you guys have an absolute blast with this! And your girl is gorgeous too!
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I will pass along your compliments to my girl. Next show I hope to do her braided mane more like this style (hope you can see this) https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http%3A%2F%2Fi1187.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fz394%2Fedieleman%2F205808_1037216723589_1020612223_122774_3041_n.jpg&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fforum.horsetopia.com%2Fshows%2F139022-aqha-long-mane-pretty.html&docid=aGgXO8odhPwwsM&tbnid=UQ-gakKxRHv2rM%3A&w=600&h=399&bih=955&biw=1920&ved=0ahUKEwjcpsL74JvNAhUMOj4KHesgCskQMwjKAShfMF8&iact=mrc&uact=8#h=399&imgdii=UQ-gakKxRHv2rM%3A%3BUQ-gakKxRHv2rM%3A%3B3Q2iAxcSPgVXGM%3A&w=600
On Sunday I think I braided it too tight (an Andalusian double dragon style, since she has enough mane for 2 1/2 horses) and I think I got some hairs twisted somewhere which annoyed The Princess. She was violently shaking her head throughout every test. Not to mention calling continuously to any strange horse tied to a trailer nearby. I chalk up all the calling to her being in season. Get a grip, mare (as I have often repeated when things go south).
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This is so cool, Alli. I can’t imagine how much time went into creating and rehearsing this routine. My memory may be failing me but it seems so much more complex than the poodle skirt quadrille. How did you finish?
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It is more complex, which is why we’re still working on it! We also didn’t help ourselves by showing a month earlier than we usually do. In spite of all that, the judge on Saturday and the judge on Sunday gave us the exact same scores, down to the third decimal…81.731%. Our highest score ever was 84.615% and the lowest ever was 76.754%–I personally think the judges just get carried away by the music and reward us with Olympic level scores! There’s an old dressage joke which goes something like, If you choose a disco theme for your dressage to music test then the judge will be more than 90 years of age and Swiss. So far we have not suffered that fate…
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glad to know you had such great results!
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