This last Saturday was our first Horse Olympics and Chili Cookoff out at Hanaeleh! Our volunteers did an excellent job of working with the horses through four main events: On-ground Keyhole (where they would run from one side of the arena, turn around, then run back), moving through the cones (without knocking them over), walking over the poles (without touching them), and walking through the “car wash” (horses don’t like things touching their faces, so this was more difficult than it may seem at first). The volunteers have been working with the horses for the past month and a half, and it showed, as the horses did very well!
Many thanks to our events coordinator, Katie G., for putting this lovely event together! Everyone seemed to have a lot of fun, and we had a LOT of very delicious chili after our events! Also, special thanks to Francis who was our official timekeeper and giver-away of stuffed horsies. Many thanks to Dave S. for helping to set up the sound system and for donating yummy horse treats!
We thank all of those people who came out on Saturday and participated, and all of those individuals who helped make this a very fun event!
Many thanks to Kaitlin from Cricket Photography for all of the lovely pictures below!
Lori and Rio race back across the arena.
Melissa shows us her and Sapphire’s gold medal performance.
Katie… drags Sapphire across the arena.
Lino and Savannah
Misa and Lexie
Emily and Tamahome
Tamahome proves he doesn’t need a halter to chase people.
The winners of the Keyhole: 1st Place- Melissa, 2nd Place- Lori, 3rd Place- Katie
Lori believes she is in a real-live Olympics/McDonald’s commercial.
Kathi and Rio prove to be excellent spectators.
Lori and Rio navigate the cones.
Misa and Lexie pull an excellent time in the cones.
Lino and Savannah
Dee and Tamahome
Elizabeth and Gypsy
Katie and Sapphire
The winners of the cone weaving: 1st place- Katie, 2nd place- Lino, 3rd place- Misa
Brenden hangs with Savannah
Lino and Savannah relax when not competing.
Isn’t it always the case that the construction crew stands around gabbing?
Down time at the Olympics
Our third competition is set up!
Lori and Rio navigate the poles.
Lino and Savannah
Misa and Lexie
Katie and Sapphire
Elizabeth and Gypsy
Our winners of the poles: 1st place- Lino, 2nd place- Katie, 3rd place- Misa
Lino shows off the medals he and Savannah won.
Savannah
Other prizes included cute stuffed horses!
Rio displays his training in the car wash.
Look, Rio! It’s you!
Jenny and Sapphire look on.
Hanaeleh’s official Olympic t-shirt.
Dave S. watches the event.
The spectators wait with baited breath.
Dee and Tamahome go through the car wash after a short discussion.
Tamahome says, “You should pick the black one.”
Savannah and Lino discuss whether it is a good idea to go through the car wash.
Sapphire goes through the car wish with Katie.
Kaitlin and Rio race through the car wash!