OHA Fun Days
Submitted by Mae Yoder Saturday August 19th the OHA Fun Days were held at Andrew & Linda Yoder's in Apple Creek, OH. The day welcomed us with chilly temperatures and cloudy skies, with a short rain shower before we departed for our morning drive. Typical Ohio weather though, the sun was brightly shining an hour later and we set out for a lovely stroll through the woods, farms and back roads of Wayne County. We had 7 driving turnouts, 3 singles along with 4 teams and 7 riders, arriving back at Twin Maple Farm around noon. After all the horses were settled in, everyone had brought their own lunch so after some noontime R&R the real fun began!
40 Fall 2017 • Haflinger Horse
The games began with the riding obstacle course complete with pole bending maneuvers, a wooden bridge to cross over, going through a rope gate, transporting a tennis ball from the top of a cone to the other without getting off the horse (this is where a small, short horse came in handy!) a water hole and some speed to the finish line! All the final times were very close with only a few seconds between 1st and 5th place! In the end a clean course by Robert Eicher and 15 year old Fascara WSF his Gold classified mare came out on top! Next up was the cart obstacle. Every year this is probably the most competitive course at Fun Day. This year we had 15 entries, everyone giving it their
all for bragging rights for the next year! If you would classify a “skilled driver” as a driver who will basically stop at nothing to go faster and outwit the other competitors to win, then there is a great deal of skill involved in the cart obstacle. To the rest of the people, you might just call them crazy. The funny thing is the horses seem to have the exact same mindset as the drivers do. They dig the speed and competition every bit as much as their driver does, which makes it all that much more fun to compete as well as watch! The course started with a full out gallop around the perimeter of the course then a few poles to weave in and out of, crossing the wooden bridge, a back up and the most exciting water pit!
