Photo via Lianne Burgess
Well good Monday to you, Eventing Nation.
Roebke’s Run held their second recognized horse trial over the weekend. Let’s start with the fact that those of us there in July were ecstatic to not have mud! We have 30 mph straight line winds on Friday though… Still, way better than mud.
Friday was an interesting day with the wind. The Schweiss family had decorated the dressage arenas with lovely fall colored flowers and garlands, and covered them with plastic bags to keep them together. Plastic bags + 30 mph winds = perfectly calm, rideable dressage horses. Big shout out to Isabel Holden and her horse, Wild Delight for giving most of the other horses and riders a lead around the terrifying arena.
Competition started Saturday with dressage and cross country. Two or three people rode their dressage tests before the show was held due to lightning. Only about 30 minutes though. The wind had died down, and dressage was pretty uneventful.
Cross country was riding well for the big course. The Schweiss’ have made such good use of their field out back to hold the cross country. They have invested so much in to every level. It is so nice to have this caliber of course in the midwest. I can’t forget to mention the amazing decorations and thought that were put in to the jumps. There were skeletons, pumpkins, rats, cats, ghosts, everything halloween. It was a lot of fun. Some competitors were complaining about the decorations, but your horse doesn’t know the difference between a flowerpot on a jump, or a pumpkin, or a stuffed rat, or a skeleton, or a pile of rocks, or a pile of carrots or apples (okay, maybe the carrots and apples). If your horse is scared of a plastic spider in a tree, maybe you should switch to the hunter arena, or quit treating your horse like a dressage rider. My horse didn’t care about any of the lovely decorations, just the giant ditch sans decoration. Maybe if it had some we would have made it over …
Speaking of great courses, The Warners (of Otter Creek) came out in full force. Lena and Betsy (Jones) were the cross country starters. They were the best, giving all the riders a big “Go Rider!” send off out of the box. Mark, William, and Jenny were out volunteering as well.
The Schweiss’ held a costume contest. There were horse and human divisions as well as a stall decorating contest.
Photo via Maria Filsinger, MF Photography
Third place: Elvis! (And you all thought he was dead)
Photo via Maria Filsinger, MF Photography
Other entrants (they are ALL winners!): 
Photo via Maria Filsinger, MF Photography
Photo via Maria Filsinger, MF Photography
Photo via Maria Filsinger, MF Photography
Photo via Maria Filsinger, MF Photography
Photo via Maria Filsinger, MF Photography
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Photo via Maria Filsinger, MF Photography
Photo via Maria Filsinger, MF Photography
Photo via Lianne Burgess
Photo via Lianne Burgess
The winner(s) of the people contest: The Wizard of Oz ( You may recognize Dorothy as the lady proposed to at Otter Creek two weeks ago..)
Photo via Lianne Burgess
Second place: Pimp and his working ladies
Photo via Lianne Burgess
Third place: The bearded lady man. 
Photo via Lianne Burgess
And the rest of those cool enough to don a costume:
Of course there was a cross country jump table where the dancing took place as usual. The food was fabulous, the people were awesome, and it was an all around good time!
Show jumping on Saturday looked to be a fun course. Time was a bit of a factor as there was a lot of ground to cover. The show jumps were all decked out with black bats, ghosts and pumpkins. Liz Lund and Rhine Maiden won the North Country Eventing Challenge by having the lowest combined score at the five events: Otter Creek Spring, Summer, Fall, and Roebke’s Run Summer and Fall. Ann Bower was a close second on Prospero. 
Lena and Mark Warner, Liz Lund, Mike and Julie Schweiss Photo via MF Photography
Thank you so much to the Schweiss family, the volunteers, and everyone who made Roebke’s Run Fall HT a memorable one.
Go eventing.
