Trail Course of the Month 12/18

The Open Championship Classes at the Desert Classic Arabian in Scottsdale, AZ exemplified a "forward motion" course.  I designed the courses for this show and wanted to draw timely courses that tested a horse's ability to stay cool while being tested.

The first two obstacles showed off a horse's ability to stay careful and calm with three different tests; walk/overs, a bridge and a back.  Afterwards a horse must wake up and execute a hairpin right turn at the jog in obstacle 3 (jog/overs).  

After the hard right a left lead needs to be picked up to do the lope overs with a 1 - 2 - 1 - 2 - 1 stiding.  Another direction swing takes place at obstacle 5 with the jog/overs that swing right.  The horse then has minimum time to get into a right lead for lope overs at obstacle 6.  A lot happened here in a short time.

After a series of turns, gait changes, rhythm adjustments, direction swings and striding challenges a horse must maintain its calm by negotiating the gate at obstacle 7.  The course finishes up with another swing to the right with bow tie lope/overs at obstacle 8.

I thought this course had tempo and flow making it enjoyable to watch as well as ride.