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Small Steeple Chase

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History

The small steeple is one of the oldest courses at FFF.

Created By

It has passed out of living memory, who created the Small Steeple.

Description

The Small Steeples consists of 15 jumps, arranged in 3 loops and is a good introduction to Steeple Chases. The course has one water jump that can appear intimidating to new ponies however when properly trained there are ways to mitigate it’s difficulty. Unlike it’s larger course the Small steeples is built entirely on the flat. Some people believe that this makes it significantly easier, however, the Small Steeple has it’s own challenges and to achieve the required TB time is not as easy as it may first appear.

Tips

  • Keep to the edge of the gates when jumping.
  • Add ‘false’ jumps to minimise the number of steps required.
  • Always aim for the next gate whilst jumping (Turn in the air)

Location

The Small Steeple Chase is located in the South East corner of the farm.

Chasing the Unicorn

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History

The second course that Lila ever created at FFF.

Created By

Lila (Liviana Benelli)

Description

Chasing the Unicorn, is a pure Slalom. Again, this is considered to be one of the hardest courses at Frilly Filly Farm.

Set in a magical land of green pastures, there are unicorns resting and grazing beneath trees covered with pink and white blossoms.

The course consists of path leading into a canyon and spiralling up around one of cliff faces.

Once at the top, a flat plateau contains a few more slalom gates before the pony must jump across the canyon to the adjacent plateau. The route then spirals down behind to a turning point to repeat the process in reverse.

One frustration when learning this course is; at the turning point you are so close to the finish line, but to complete the course you must return to the plateau and jump back before descending into the canyon.
Once mastered it can be both fun and challenging to maintain consistency.

Tips

Location

Alice in Wonderland

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History

Alice in Wonderland was created by Lila (Liviana Benelli) it was the first course she ever created at FFF. Built using the entire build platform it consists of 31 gates and includes both slalom and steeple chase elements. The aim of the course is to be a lot of fun and whimsical, akin to a toy box.

Created By

Lila (Liviana Benelli)

Description

The course covers a massive 16,394 square meters, or a quarter of a region, and consists of 31 elements both slalom and steeple. Set on a checker board of grass, it Includes many elements from Alice in wonderland story, including Alice herself.

When starting the course you pass through a water portal and it suddenly feels like you are passing through into another dimension. A dimension where the mad hatter makes the rules.
There are a number of corner gates some where you must jump individually and some where you can jump multiple gates simultaneously.  To begin with the gates must be jumped individually then onto a short slalom of pleached trees before the Dog Gates.
Dog Gates require exceptional accuracy to clear and are almost as high as a PonyGirl can jump. Once this part is passed there are more corner gates before arriving at the Card Bridge.

When the course was created the card bridge was unique and there was nothing quite like it in Pony Play. it was such a novel creation it was featured on Chianna’s Pony Girl Website.

Alice In Wonderland is extremely difficult to master, but it is incredibly rewarding once you get the timings right. To begin with it is many peoples nemesis, however once mastered it often becomes peoples favourite course.

The successive gates make you feel like a gazelle bouncing over them.

Tips

  • Learn section by section.
  • Practice the timing for the dog gates.
  • First corner gates can not be jumped diagonally, later corner gates can.

Location

Flower Dressage

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History

Dewia (biatch.adamiczyk), who was a pony at FFF and owned by Trina Varriale, created the version that is now know as Classic Flower Dressage. From Dewia’s idea, Trina developed the version that is now known as Standard Flower Dressage. This caused a lot of drama with in the pony community.
Ultimately, Trina’s version of Flower Dressage won out as the Standard and unfortunately, Dewia quit SecondLife soon after. In memory of Dewia and her work at FFF, both Standard Flower Dressage and Dewia’s Classic Flower Dressage are taught and are requirements of the Thoroughbred Training programme at FFF.

Description

Flower dressage is a discipline where upto 4 Ponies navigate a field following the lines to a predetermined pattern. The field itself consists of 4 large circles surrounding the centre circle. Around the outside is a further 4 small circles with various lines passing through the middle and the outer circles.  Each circle is defined by a letter, usually placed in the middle of the circle. Ponies move around the circles following a pattern.

There are two set’s of rules in Flower dressage

Both of theses set’s of rules are well defined, however it is generally thought that Standard Flower Dressage is easier to learn.

Tips

  • Do not try to learn Classic Flower Dressage and Standard Flower Dressage at the same time
  • Ensure you fully understand your first discipline before changing, then do not switch back and forth

Location

The FFF Flower Dressage Field is located on the South-East ring road, just North of the Small Steeple Chase

Slalom Small (Straight)

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History

The Slalom is the original Slalom Challenge and can be found in many PonyGirl facilities. It is sometimes even packaged.

Created By

Chianna Nozaki

Description

One of the first courses taught to a new PonyGirl. It helps to train how to use Butt-Grab or Mouse-look techniques. Once the mechanics of motion are understood it can quickly be learned and is often one of the first sign offs a PonyGirl will get on her Thoroughbred Checklist.

What makes it challenging, and is the goal of the course is, to get a feeling what your exact avatar sizes are, and get a better feeling over its control.

Thoroughbred requirement: 18 seconds or less with no faults

Tips

  • Avatar Hitboxes:
    in the `Developer` menu (Crtl + Alt + Q) go to `Render Metadata` and `Avatar Hitboxes`.
    This will show you the the size your Avatar has, and what is used to detect if you have hit the Barrel or not.
    except for the height, this box if for everyone the same size even if you have, for example, bat-wings.
  • Mouse-look & “buttgrab”
    Both control techniques have been used with different results, try for yourself what works best for you.

Location

Barrel Race

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History

The Barrels is the original Barrel Challenge and can be found in many PonyGirl facilities. It is sometimes even packaged.

Created By

Chianna Nozaki

Description

The Barrels is the original Barrel Challenge. It is a good starting course for a new PonyGirl. It is a simple exercise; run around the barrels in order without touching them. The challenging, and the main goal of the course is, to get a feeling for your exact avatar sizes is, and get a better feeling for its control.

Thoroughbred requirement: 18 seconds or less with no faults

Tips

  • Avatar Hitboxes:
    Activate the “Developer Menu”  by pressing CTRL + ALT + Q
    From the Developer Menu select “Render Metadata > Avatar Hitboxes”.
    This will show the the size of your Avatar and what is used to detect if you have hit the Barrel or not.
    Except for the height, the HitBox is the same size for everyone, even if you have, for example, bat-wings.
  • Mouse-look & Butt-Grab
    Both control techniques have been used with successfully, try for yourself what works best for you.

Location

Large Steeple Chase

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Also know as “Large Steeples

History

The Large Steeples has been a part of FFF since it first graced the land at Bulgogi in 2008. Desingned and built by Jo Gallindo, it has remained in the same location in the north west corner. Over the years it has gained an infamous reputation for being highly competitive. It is often one of the first courses that a new pony will attempt due to it’s reputation, however, attempting such a challenging course at a young age can be very disheartening to a young pony. On the FFF Thoroughbred Checklist, it is not a requirement until TB 15 and a pony is not expected to succeed at this course until they have achieved their thoroughbred status.

Description

The course consists of 25 gates set across an area 4250 square meters of undulating land. The up and down hills adds additional challenges to ponies attempting this course and a full understanding of SecondLife™ physics will help. Jumps started from rising land will experience a higher more powerful jump where as jumps started from falling land experience suppressed height. This physics quirk sometimes surprises ponies and it can take a long time to be fully understood.

Tips

  • To begin the course, take 3 steps before beginning to jump.
  • The first 13 gates can be done without taking any steps.

Location

Located on the ground level to the north west corner of Bulgogi.