SEEMS LIKE FOREVER and a day since I rode horseback, yet when my desire to just get up and go kicked into high gear, that’s what I did — or close to it. At my age (I’m in my 60s), I felt I needed to sit on something a bit more secure than hair — which can feel quite slick and slippery — so I actually threw a bareback pad over Lacey’s back. A bareback pad is a pad held on the horse with a cinch and lacks stirrups.

Because it’s been more than a few decades since I’ve been able to jump off the ground and swing my leg over a horse’s back. I actually used a ladder to easily get my leg over Lacey’s back as she stood patient and still. Then we embarked on a leisurely hour-long evening stroll through the quiet streets of my neighborhood. Or, as my neighbor Kris Phillips likes to say, “cruised through the ’hood.”

It felt so freeing to just get up and go. A bonus came later that night when I checked my iPhone’s pedometer and discovered Lacey’s walking helped me reach my daily goal of 10,000 steps a day. I’m certain I can count them as mine since my hips were moving in sync with her steps.

State finals

Our gals from the Sequim and Port Angeles high school equestrian teams went to Moses Lake last weekend to compete against 200 riders from every corner of the state at the Washington State High School Equestrian Teams state finals.

PA coach Shannon Bishop said her team, along with daughter Haley Bishop, Sydney Hutton and Maggie Anderson, all had a great time and learned so much. Hutton’s silver-medal win in Hunt Seat Over Fences gained her a spot to compete at the interstate competition between Washington’s top 10 against Oregon’s best, which will be held next month in Moses Lake.

Kudos to Haley for her team spirit in going on to compete with her new horse April. It’s not easy to change horses midseason, but injuries and/or accidents can sideline horses.

Anderson did “great in Drill Team, and Haley took her new horse and did very well in poles,” Shannon Bishop said.

Sequim coach Katie Newton is always pleased with the hard work and spirit of cooperation put forth by her qualifying team members Libby Swanberg and Joanna Seelye.

State results

Hunt Seat Over Fences: Hutton, second.

Cow Sorting: Anderson and Swanberg, 15th.

Drill Freestyle Fours: Hutton, Anderson, Swanberg and Seelye, 12th.

Working Pairs: Swanberg and Hutton, 24th.

Versatility: Hutton, Anderson, Swanberg and Haley Bishop, 24th.

Birangle: Seelye and Swanberg, 28th.

Reining: Swanberg, 21st.

Hunt Seat Equitation: Hutton, 24th.

Working Rancher: Swanberg, 14th.

Pole Bending: Haley Bishop, 19th.

Individual Flags: Swanberg, 14th.

Figure 8: Swanberg, 32nd.

Steer Daubing: Swanberg, but results haven’t been posted yet.

District medals

End-of-season medals for District 4 were handed out as well.

Breakaway Roping: Libby Swanson, gold.

Jumping: Hutton, gold; Swanson, silver.

Reining: Swanson, silver.

Freestyle 4s Drill Team: Swanson, Seelye, Anderson and Hutton, silver.

Working Pairs: Swanson and Hutton, gold.

Team Versatility: Swanson, Haley Bishop, Hutton and Anderson, bronze.

Two-Man Birangle: Swanson and Seelye, bronze.

Team Sorting: Anderson and Swanson, silver.

Working Rancher: Swanson, silver.

Steer Daubing: Swanson, bronze.

Hunt Seat Equitation Over Fences: Hutton, bronze.

Figure 8: Swanson, silver.

Individual Flags: Swanson, silver.

Pole Bending: Haley Bishop, bronze.

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Karen Griffiths’ column, Peninsula Horseplay, appears the second and fourth Saturday of each month.

If you have a horse event, clinic or seminar you would like listed, please email Griffiths at kbg@olympus.net at least two weeks in advance. You can also call her at 360-460-6299.

Sydney Hutton and Ginger, with their silver medal, qualified to compete at the intestate competition between Washington and Oregon’s best in Hunt Seat Over Fences. (Courtesy Photo)