Arena le trec. Such fun!!

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blodwyn1

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We did our second arena le trec yesterday and had a great time! My old pony who had been retired for two years , has come back in to work to help my recovery after my back injury, had an absolute ball! She could canter on the spot and get good marks and put her nose in the air and it didn't matter! She says it's much more fun than dressage!
 
Fab :) I really want to do a bit of TREC with my youngster but at the moment there's nothing scheduled nearby - I think we're in a TREC blackspot! :(
What sort of obstacles did you do?
 
You have to do the control of paces first where you canter a set distance as slowly as possible and then walk back as fast as possible. The obstacles were an s bend of poles, a bridge, neck rein a figure of 8 around cones, a clover leaf around cones,maypole, low branches, immobility, bending and a corridor. You get points for the pace you do it in eg top marks for canter and lower marks for walk. The photographer at the event was ards photographic so you could look and see the obstacles. I am just so glad to be back out competing and I wouldn't manage a dressage test yet! Another thanks to the Shelley RDA who did a series of therapy sessions for me on their mechanical horse Ebony!
 
blodwyn1 said:
You have to do the control of paces first where you canter a set distance as slowly as possible and then walk back as fast as possible. The obstacles were an s bend of poles, a bridge, neck rein a figure of 8 around cones, a clover leaf around cones,maypole, low branches, immobility, bending and a corridor. You get points for the pace you do it in eg top marks for canter and lower marks for walk. The photographer at the event was ards photographic so you could look and see the obstacles. I am just so glad to be back out competing and I wouldn't manage a dressage test yet! Another thanks to the Shelley RDA who did a series of therapy sessions for me on their mechanical horse Ebony!
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I was at that event! We did the Top Score class.
 
Totally agree - arena trec is great fun! Suits my horse to the ground; he doesn't 'do' dressage ("canter an imaginary circle? Why should I?"), jumping is a bit too exciting ("jump, buckety-buck, canter, jump, buckety buck") but the different trec obstacles keep him focused and many of them have to be done in a slower pace which keeps him from getting over excited. We were due a trec training session at our yard this week but he's currently transitioning to barefoot and is not quite right yet so we've had to miss it (sad face).
 
Enfys said:
Seems like fun. It sounds a little like the Working Equitation that we do:

This is a speed class.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxT4HvYGupY
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Not nearly as fast and fun as working eq :p


eta, I would've been there with the superhighland myself, but "life" (by which I mean tedious efforts to sell this damnable house) got in the way. Oh well. When I move, I'll be nearer Pine Lodge to do some working eq instead :D
 
It's sounds so much fun and about the level that I hope to be at by the summer. I think my youngster would really benefit from going and doing something like this and I'd be able to cope as its not too much pressure, and I could walk if I wanted to.
 
Just watched some videos of working equitation! In my dreams we looked like that, alas in reality it was a long way off!! What an amazing sport! Next time I am in the forest of dean on holiday we will have to practice spearing a wild boar!
 
I also just did an indoor trec (different event) this weekend, and had a grand time. And as much as I admire people doing working equitation, one aspect I really love about Trec is that it is very inclusive. No special type of horse required. Working equitation on the other hand is already pretty specialized, and unless you own a horse that is suited to the sport (I can tell you right now that my hairy gaited pony wouldn't stand snowflake's chance in hell) you wouldn't get very far. In trec, the obstacles are usually varied enough that the playing field is reasonably level, sometimes favouring small horses, sometimes big, sometimes the keen types, other times the listening and concentrating types.
 
I did my first one last weekend too! Was really different from the usual SJ etc. Horse was most horrified in the first class as to what I was asking her to do (number 1 was walking over pallets!) but in the second class she really got it and enjoyed it. The control of paces we need to improve on though since her canter is like the wall of death still (trust me we're working on it!). Hoping to try a proper outdoor Trec competition next few months :)
 
Well we finally got a rosette for finishing 4th at the last event of the series! I am thrilled! I was also told it is now called TREC so apologies for calling it le trec.
 
I heard a few moans from new competitiors who discovered you can get 0 even when tackling an obstacle, which they thought a bit unfair. I have some sympathy and it may put them off altogether.
 
I love Le Trec, its really cool. My horse is 17.1hh and I remember struggling to get under the bamboo cane straddle over the top of a pair of wings, I took the bamboo cane with me, and it ended up stuck under my bum between that and the saddle. We jumped a little log with it sticking out of my saddle on both sides, everyone was killing themselves laughing.
 
I do TREC (and I also occasionally lapse and call it le trec so don't worry lol) on my little 14.3 and he loves it... so much so that we tend to do rather a lot of the course with his head in the air getting excited (next target it to try and make things look a little prettier which could be interesting on a tense, spooky welshie!) We've mainly done the indoor stuff but hoping to get cracking with some outdoor events this Summer.

Re the person thinking they are in a bit of a blackspot if you look on the TREC GB website you should be able to find all planned events in your are. We're just about at the end of the indoor season so if you can only see the outdoor events right now / not many in your area that could be why.

Re the 0 scores I think as long as comments are constructive and explain WHY the score was given then there shouldn't be a need for it to put people off (eg you get faults for poles down or refusals when jumping regardless of level and if you royally stuff up a dressage test / forget to do a movement then you can incur a 0 score for a movement there too) and if people are genuinely confused by their score then there should be someone about to take it up with that can hopefully explain. I've gotten myself eliminated and scored 0 for daft technicalities a few times... I make sure I actually read the rules properly now :)
 
Boulty said:
Re the 0 scores I think as long as comments are constructive and explain WHY the score was given then there shouldn't be a need for it to put people off (eg you get faults for poles down or refusals when jumping regardless of level and if you royally stuff up a dressage test / forget to do a movement then you can incur a 0 score for a movement there too) and if people are genuinely confused by their score then there should be someone about to take it up with that can hopefully explain. I've gotten myself eliminated and scored 0 for daft technicalities a few times... I make sure I actually read the rules properly now :)
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Agree with this. At the venue I've done TREC (which was same as the OP) they put up a printout from the rule book for each obstacle and it tells you what will be classed as a fault. It was a bit overwhelming at first trying to remember everything (you can't just crack on with it!).
 
I've been doing it for a couple of years and absolutely love it. I love the way that kids, oldies, scruffy ponies, ex racers, western riders (me) - everyone and anyone can have a go and nobody will criticise - it's very supportive in my experience. I particularly love the POR (orienteering) phase of the full TREC events. It's a great way to discover new areas and I have been on some really fabulous jaunts across country.
 
My horse can no longer jump and doesn't really enjoy dressage but is really quite good at TREC. Considering he's 16.3 and quite highly strung I never thought he'd do well at it, but it turns out he's just a giant handy pony and thinks nothing of ducking (he actually seems to drop his knees) under a washing line. The line is always set at a height for the tallest horse in the competition (always mine) so all the others are at an advantage as most are about 14hh. He's still one of the few to go under it with no fuss. I've not been for a while, but the last one I went to, the number bibs were laminated pieces of paper so very firm and as I went under the washing line, the bib stuck up from my back and caught on one of the items of clothing. We were dragging the whole washing line behind us and he just carried on. This is the same horse who had a fit going into a dressage arena because there was a flower pot at A!
 
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