The other day I came up with the first item for my bucket list: a trip to Spruce Meadows (in Canada) on Derby Day, which is pretty much the most challenging day of the event. Among many things, riders have to run their horses up a hill, jumping over small jumps on the way up, slide down a steep slope, and jump over another fence when they get to the bottom. Then they have to go through The Devil's Dyke, a "triple" which most often horses do not make it through without knocking something down. The first jump is downhill, the middle jump is over water and across, and the last jump is uphill. One time I watched a rider fall off his horse after the first jump. He landed in the water and then the rails fell on top of him. It was pretty comical. To me anyway. Probably not to him.
I love watching Spruce Meadows show jumping on tv, so much so I guess, that I had a dream about it the other night. Corey and I were in the arena before anyone was there, getting a private tour from a guide. We were actually walking through The Devil's Dyke. Even now when I think about the dream, it feels to me like I was actually there. I remember being surprised at how high the jump coming out was. It was above my head, but in real life it's shorter than that. Anyway, that was the heart of my dream.
Beezie Madden is my favorite rider, and she's won on Derby Day 3 times on her horse Judgement. This year was their last before his retirement, and unfortunately he knocked down a rail going in and coming out. Usually he clears it. I wanted for them to have a little Swan Song but it just didn't work out. He still looked amazing though. Especially for an 18 year old.
Thank you to unbridged77 for posting your Devil's Dyke picture on twitter. It was the only decent one I could find on the internet.
1 comment:
You know that guy you saw fall. His name is Ali and he rides nearby. It was a big joke around here as well haha. Thanks for giving me credit for the photo!
- unbridged77
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