Ms. Nikki's Pony Palooza Day

The first Pony Palooza was held at Centaur Stables - Ms. Nikki's place in CT on Saturday October 18th. Ponies from all over gathered with their trainers for a woodland hike and games. Some had been to Ms. Nikki's Pony Perfection Day earlier this year and so knew what to expect. I had to miss that first event, so I was a newbie in the neighborhood.

I had spent the previous night at my friend Ponyboy Fuzzy's place. He lives only a couple hours from East Haddam compared to my seven, so it was a welcomed crash spot for me. We headed out in the frost at 6 in the morning with our tack bags, food and Northern Belle's pony cart on the car. The sun was rising by the time we got to Ms. Nikki's house, but it was still pretty cool out. Buck was in the yard futzing with a cart that would be used as a chuck wagon on the hike, and being a mechanic by trade, Fuzzy went right to work helping him. I'm no use at all on such things, so I headed in to say hello.

Ms. Nikki met me outside the house with a hug and told me to go in and get warmed up. I brought my tack bag in and found a place to start putting myself together. I had to take a few minutes out to pet the cat, an irresistible little fluff ball who like most cats could not get enough attention. There were the usual things to get out of the way - model releases for the photographer, introductions for people who had not yet met and such - and then I decided to go out and see how Buck and Fuzzy were doing.

That's when I discovered that my stable pal Stormy had arrived. I hadn't seen Stormy since Camp Crucible in May, which is an awful long time to go without seeing your best friend. Phone conversations are great, but they just aren't the same. We hugged until I thought someone was going to have to pull us apart and then started acting with a little more decorum. Just a little more.

By this time. more ponies and trainers had arrived and things really got going. Stormy and I were without our owner and trainer for that day although we had her permission to be at the event. La Dresseuse is working on her MA in classics through Harvard and is currently reading some 500 pages per week. I think she also had some other course work due as well. So you can imagine she has little time to spare. All the same, there were plenty of people at the event that we knew and trusted.

Once assembled and tacked up, we divided up into groups for the brief trek to the park where we would do our trail ride. The path in this park is an old train line. The tracks had long since been pulled up and the resulting trail is nice and flat. Stormy and I were the lead ponies in a four-horse team pulling one of the carts. Belle pulled her cart, and the other ponies rotated around, some pulling with Stormy and I, some pulling the chuck wagon and other carts. There always seem to be more ponies than carts at events, so it's necessary to take turns.

We followed the trail out for about a mile and a half, crossing a road (and stopping traffic in the process - believe me) and then turned back, trekking to a large field where the chuck wagon had been diverted and a large picnic lunch laid out. We stayed at the field for about an hour eating lunch, having pictures taken, talking and generally having a good time. I shared my sandwich with Stormy and ate some of the fantastic cookies that Fuzzy had brought. Fuzzy bakes great cookies.

When it came time to resume our trail ride, I discovered that my mouth was really sore. Remember what your mother told you about not licking your lips when you are outside on a cold day? It's true. My bit causes me to slobber quite a bit, and my mouth had gotten a little soggy at the corners. Now those corners were raw.

Oh well. This is S&M after all, right? In went the bit and away we went.

We finished the ride on the park trails in the early afternoon. Once the carts were loaded onto the trailers and various ponies and handlers were in the vehicles, we headed back to Ms. Nikki's.

If anyone thought that it was over at that point, they were in for a surprise. We no sooner got back to base when Ms. Nikki started setting up barrels for the barrel race. The paddock was large and the surface was soft dirt so this was going to call for some small amount of skill to avoid taking a header and nose diving into the ground, but it was all in fun and would soon prove to be a blast.

Each pony went through the barrel course with a handler. Stormy and I did not have our usual handler, of course, but there were ample volunteers to take care of that. It was clear from the outset that the competition would be pretty tight. One of the first ponies to run the course had only been at it since Floating World in August. This guy was what Mistress refers to as a "go fast" pony. He belongs to Ms. Nikki and it's obvious that she has put some serious time into his training. He took the barrels in jig time and it was clear that he would run away with the prize for that event.

No problem. That took the pressure off. If you know someone else is going to place first, why worry about it?

Still, that rush of adrenaline at the starting line does get the blood pumping, and when I ran, I went all out. Mistress requires that and the fact that she wasn't there meant nothing. Owners talk and she would know if I had shirked. The soft dirt made speed a challenge, but I did my best.

Once we were finished with the barrel racing, out came the poles for the pole bending competition. In this, poles are set up a short distance apart. The pony has to run to the end, weave back and forth through the poles in both directions and then run back and cross the finish line. The tighter you can make the passes between poles, the faster you can finish the course. Or at least that's the theory. Each pony took it in turns, again working with either their usual handler or a volunteer. I got a bit of a jolt this time as my handler for this event was none other than go fast pony I mentioned above. Ponies can also be handlers, so this was an interesting experience to say the least. Again, I did my level best and even surprised myself at how well I managed the course.

But there was yet another competition ahead. This was the talent competition. Basically, it was open dressage during which anything was possible. Ponies and handlers could do whatever they wished to showcase their talents. Some ponies worked with carts, so on hoof. but each of us gave it his or her all. My handler for this event was Ms. Belle - also known as Ponygirl NorthernBelle. Belle is a stick of dynamite with a lit fuse. Her energy is infectious and her ability to just plain have a good time catches on pretty quickly. Although I had never worked with her in this way before, I knew what I could do. We quickly put together a sequence and then went out and just did what felt right. No pressure. I just did all I could to look graceful on the soft dirt, which by now had been thoroughly stirred up by all the activity.

And all the time we played that afternoon, Ms. Nikki's horses (the real bio-horses that she keeps) watched with a somewhat cynical affect. You sometimes have to wonder what horses think - if anything - when they see humans carrying on like this. But for us, it was a bunch of friends just having fun.

But even then, the afternoon wasn't over. Now it was time for the game. In this round, Stormy and I had to decide which one of us was the trainer and which was the pony. I don't think either of us has a dominant bone in our bodies, but I volunteered to be the trainer. Each trainer had to lead his pony to a spot at the edge of the paddock and blindfold him or her. Then we had to go to the center and pick a spot facing away from the pony. On a signal, we each had to call our pony to us. Once the pony got to where we were, they had to give us a kiss on the cheek and then we could raise our hand. Obviously, the first pair to do this would win. I think Stormy and I would have done better if I hadn't taken a calculated risk that resulted in his collision with another pony. Oh well. No injuries. But like I said, I'm no trainer.

Once that half of the game was done, we switched roles. The ponies led the trainers to the edge of the paddock and blindfolded them. Then the ponies went to the center. When the signal came for them to start calling us, all I heard was a lot of noise that made no sense. I just sort of aimed at the center of it and somehow picked up on Stormy's voice telling me to go left or right. He sounded odd, though. Not clear at all. When I reached him and gave him a kiss on the cheek (something I did not mind doing at all), he removed my blindfold and I discovered that all the ponies had their bits in their mouths. That explained the noise.

Devious, these people. Devious and delicious.

That brought the games to a close as we needed to get back into vanilla clothing and head out for our catered dinner. The festivities were wonderful and the food not at all bad. I was greatly surprised to get ribbons in both the barrel racing and pole bending competitions. By no means had I come in first, but getting a ribbon on your first try isn't too shabby. The photographs of the event were also displayed on a computer in a slide show and proved very nice indeed. I bought pictures of myself and will post some when I get them.

Once dinner was over, it was time to head back to Fuzzy's. I said my goodbyes to everyone and then turned to Stormy. There were a lot of hugs involved here and once again I thought someone was going to have to rip us apart. It had been so long since I saw him last and I didn't really want to let go just yet. But it was time to go and after all, I'll be seeing him soon at the CTK Jamboree in Texas.

Keeping my eyes open on the trip back to Fuzzy's was a real challenge that I failed on a few times. When we got back, I had all I could do to get to the bed before collapsing entirely. A very good night's sleep ended when I smelled waffles being cooked and heard the coffee maker. Fuzzy had made breakfast for me and a wonderful breakfast it was. Once finished, I helped him take the cart down from his car and put it away. We talked for a while, but inevitably, I had to get into my car for the long drive home.

So there it is. Pony Pallooza 2008 - or at least, my part of it. I'm sure each and every pony and handler saw it in their own way and could tell a good story. I hope this event happens again. I'll be there.