Halloween Haunt Driving Event

 This weekend I had the opportunity to navigate for a woman I know at a halloween driving event. It was fun! When we got there, we walked the Hazards course. Hazards are the driving version of cross country(called marathon usually). During this, the driver maneuvers around poles in the order marked, heading in the correct direction(red on the right), going as fast as they safely can since faster times are better There were three obstacles, each with a set of several poles, gates, and other things to weave between. They seemed to be tricky courses; if you went on the wrong side of a pole or stump, you would head through the wrong obstacle and thus get eliminated. After a long drive to get rid of Pistachio's extra energy, we began the hazards course. Other than a small rear, the course went fine. It was exciting driving and navigating. Yesterday I had even driven the mini Pistachio's owner has by myself!

Hazards.

Heading through obstacle B.

Exiting the hazards course.

After hazards was the costume pleasure class. Pistachio was dressed as poodle and looked very adorable! There was also a miniature horse dressed as a shark, another mini as a piñata, yet another mini as a hula dancer, and even a curly horse dressed with an Angry Birds theme! There was even a cute Belgian mule. All the costumes were cute. While showing off the costumes, everyone was participating in a pleasure class, which goes a lot like a flat class.  Everyone drives around  the arena at once, walking, trotting, and halting whenever they are told to. Pistachio did well and earned a third place ribbon! His owner let me keep the ribbon too for helping her out! Pistachio also won second place for the costume contest.

Watch out for the shark!

Pistachio, Myself(right) and my friend who is driving.

 Since it was a small show, people got ribbons for each individual event, not the whole thing, so ribbons were awarded for the Hazards that evening.We didn't get a ribbon for that, but received the pleasure class ribbon.

Piñata

Angry birds and a curly horse!

 The next day was the cones course and a poker run. We started with the poker run in the morning, driving along the trailers and collecting cards along the way. The trail was marked with signs telling us where to go, and along the way were five boxes with cards sealed in envelopes. Upon reaching each box, we would take one card out and move pin. Pistachio was frisky and full of go. It was very fun driving along the trails. We did miss one turn, but managed to find the correct after getting all the other cards. Unfortunately we did not win that, but it was fun anyways. It's a pretty neat idea to play poker by driving the trails and collecting the cards, then seeing who won afterwards.

Cones course.

 The final event was the cones course. The cones course is the driving version of stadium jumping and works much the same way. There are pairs of cones that you must go through, in this case 20, set up in a course that you must complete quickly. Knocking down a cone is worth 4 faults and is equivalent to knocking down a rail in stadium jumping. We had walked the course previously and the cones were number, so we knew the course. However since Pistachio is a small pony and was up against other ponies and a bigger horse, the curly, we had to speed through the course. It was a fun ours and we made pretty good time. It was going well until we passed the bridge(there is usually a water obstacle but not this time) and went through the third to last and second to last cones. As we headed to the last one, we weren't lined up to it correctly and ended up knocking down one of the cones. It was disappointing because our time was fast enough that we would have placed first, but it was just a small event and still fun. I can't wait to navigate again.