Quiz Rally

Quiz rally was awesome.

Let's just say it went well, as I'm sure you can tell by the picture!

I was competing on a "catch team." There are 3 - 4 competitors on a team, and our club only fielded two members in the Senior D category. So we were rounded out by two other girls from two other clubs. Unfortunately, one of the girls was sick and wasn't there - this meant that we were a "short team," meaning that unlike the teams with 4 members, our lowest score would not be dropped.

First up was the Written Test. Oh, yay - I'm good at those! There were several questions about Polocrosse, Vaulting, and Dressage (for which sport do you not use a helmet? for which sport can you not cluck to your horse? for which sport will your horse need to wear boots?). Then came questions with numbers: how many holes above the buckle on each side should a tight girth have? How many bandages required in an equine first aid kit? How many beats in the trot? How high (inches) does a D2 jump at testing? Then came different types of safety and equipment questions. I only missed two of 25 - one of which was for a question that I knew the correct answer to, but accidentally circled the wrong one!

Next was Classroom, probably the most stressful phase because everyone is watching you. All teams are in a large room and you must stand up, state your name, club, and rating level, and ask for the level of question you want. You can be quizzed at your level for 5 points, one level up for 10, or two levels up for 15. I loved this phase because I have spent a lot of time reading the manuals, and that's where most of the questions come from. I took one 10-point question and the rest 15 pointers, and I didn't miss any! I did get a bit lucky, because some of the other girls got really hard questions that I wouldn't have been able to answer.

The rest of the day was more practical knowledge testing. We had to identify various items (sweat scraper, hoof pick, leather keepers, etc) inside socks by feel. We had to identify several Rally Kit items and say which kit they went in - it sounds easy, but when you have to remember whether the rubbing alcohol or the latex gloves go in the human or equine first aid kits, it gets difficult! (It's horse and human, respectively).

One section involved rapid identification of a huge table of items - 20 items, 3 minutes to identify them. One table had tack, another equipment, another farrier/hoof care things, and the last (and hardest, in my opinion!) was a table of horse feeds. There were many different types of hay and grain feeds as well as treats and supplements.

The Barn phase was fun because it involved hands-on knowledge. One of our team members had to demonstrate the correct method of blanketing a horse, on a very large stuffed horse. We also demonstrated how to measure feed correctly and showed what items to get first if your horse is bleeding.

When the day was done, our team won 1st of 4 Senior D teams, and I got Senior D High Point. You all knew I was a nerd, right? ;-)

That being said, I've begun writing a series of posts on the things I learned while studying for quiz rally. Here's a general overview:

Diseases - Communicable and Non-Communicable
Bits, Bridles, and Martingales
Poisonous Plants
and, just for fun, Foxhunting!

PS - a girl in my Pony Club is going to ride McKinna at the show jumping rally, since her mare is working through some training issues. She rode McKinna for the first time Thursday, then took her to a jumping lesson last night. They did awesome! I love that horse - she is such a great little mare. She acted like she'd been jumping with unfamiliar riders her whole life. What a star.
I'm excited to have both of my horses at the rally! I will only be riding one, but still...it's great to see McKinna getting some jumping in.