Ride Recap:The Pacemaker 2017

This past weekend John and I went to our first paper chase of the season along with my wonderful friend from work and her sweet mare. Usually we start going to paper chases in April but almost all of them were rained out this year (it has been raining every weekend for the past six weeks here in PA!) We were so lucky that the weather was perfect for this event.
The Pacemaker is one of my favorite paper chase/pace events to go to, it is hosted by the Susquehanna Equestrian Club and the volunteers are always super friendly and helpful and the course is very well marked. The scoring works by averaging all the rider's times at the end and then dividing the times into two groups fast and slow. The placings are determined by who is closest to the average times in each group.

Frosty's hair is always on point

The course was really varied and took us over a variety of terrain and obstacles including bridges, narrow/rocky trails, water, and open fields with optional jumps. This was probably Frosty's best paper chase ever! She was very calm and she jumped everything I asked her to. I was also SO impressed with my friend's mare on her first paper chase ever, she took all the new things in stride and was just a champ overall!

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Course map

 Perhaps the most exciting part (besides all of us making it back to the trailer smiling and in one piece!) is that we got first place (closest to average time) in the slow time division and will be getting ribbons. This will be the first blue ribbon I have won as an adult and with Frosty.

Happy team photo :)