Okay, Team Tucker did the trail trial.  We went in the schooling class as a novice in the 50 - 64 year old division.

I was up at 5am to make sure Tucker got his breakfast

Tucker did great.  I am exhausted.  We spent 4 1/2 hours in the saddle.  We spent part of that time waiting for others to complete their obstacle.  We waited quite awhile at the end to dismount.

One of my take aways was when you have a chance to get off where you can get back on using a tree stump, do it!   I didn't and I had to get off without a mounting block and then lead the horse into a ditch to get back on.  Also, I should have checked my cinch while I was on the ground. I did successfully mount without a mounting block and I am proud of that.

The first obstacle was a small bridge.  We got a 9 out of 10.
Second obstacle was the branding station where Tucker saw that pink rendition of a cow with boa feathers between its horns and said "Nope, not doing it."  We managed a 5 because he did let me pick up the pole with the chalk dauber on it and we did manage to return it to its bucket.  I told the people we were done after I tried to get Tucker near the pink monster several times.

Then   we did the steer drag.  The drag was really tough to pull but I didn't have to try to rope anything so that was good.  We got a 7.  We lost 3 points because I did check the cinch first :)

We tossed boots at a tic tac toe on the ground.  Tucker got an 8.5.

We opened a mail box and put in a pamphlet.  We got a 10 on that one.

We did a circle at a walk over several fat logs and then turned and did it the other way.  Tucker got a 10.

We did a tee-pee challenge where you walked up the path, stopped while someone asked you a trivia question and then we backed out straight.  10 for that.

We had to go cross country to get to the watering hole.  Tucker was in his element on the cross country portion.  We were going up and down hills and along ponds and through brush.  Tucker loved that!  At first he took me by surprise to trot up the hill but I asked him to walk after the first couple of times and he did!

We reached the water obstacle and Tucker went right into the lake and we did great. 9.5 for that.

Back across country a different route and through some mud and back onto the dirt road.

Once Tucker and I went across country and we were standing at the next obstacle, I swear Tucker looked back at me and said "You are doing great!"  His head dropped and he looked more relaxed and less lookey loo.

We did pole bending with a stop at the end and a back for 5 steps.  9.5

Finally, dismount and shoot an arrow at a target.  9.5  My friend said check your cinch.  I said I already did and it is way loose but I think I can still get off.  She came over and tightened for me.   There was no mounting block so the dismount was extra difficult.

Total 88 points out of 100.

The weather was beautiful and the people were nice.