The fourth Wayne Bueker Memorial Trail Challenge took place Saturday, Aug. 1. The annual event, held in conjunction with the Moniteau County Fair, was hosted by the Moniteau Saddle Club and Moniteau County Farm Bureau.
The purpose of the trail Challenge is to promote good horsemanship skills and provide an educational venue. A trail challenge tests the horse and rider on the ability of the pair to work as a team when confronting obstacles which might be encountered on a trail.
To begin the event, the rider had to open the gate with one hand, ride through into the arena, then close the gate with the same hand.
The remaining 13 obstacles included the Ball Push (riding the horse between two rails while pushing a large inflated ball), Barrel Circle (involves picking up one end of a board, circle the barrel and place the end of the board back on the barrel), Noodle Gate (riding the horse through a "noodle gate"), Tee Pee (riding the horse through a Tee pee with hanging steamers, Backward Pole Weave (backing the horse through a series of poles) and Mailbox Side Pass (horse goes to end of pole laid on ground, side passes over pole to mailbox, opens the mailbox and shows the mail to the judge, then side passes back). The last obstacle consisted of dismounting, loading the horse in a trailer, then unloaded the horse.
Many of these require a well-trained and very trusting horse. There were seven youth registered, one with two horses. There were 12 adults, one with three horses entered, and another with a horse and a mule.