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Corn Maze Course

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History

The corn maze came from the need for a fall and Halloween themed course.

Created by

The maze was created by Gedeon (gedeon.hawkes), with the gate slaloms and steeple jumps added by Lila (liviana.benelli)

Description

Although this is a relatively small course at only 2852 square meters, it’s quite a complex maze and easy to get lost in it. Inside the maze are 19 obstacles, either hay bales that need jumping or slalom gates that need to be passed through. These obstacles serve two purposes. Firstly they are there to get in your way and slow you down, but secondly, when you find one, you at least know you are on the right track.

Tips

  • Be careful when you fault on a hay bale jump you can easily get boosted over a wall, skipping several gates in the process
  • If you look carefully, every so often, previous generations of ponies have scratched makers into the dirt to help you get through the maze….. probably in blood…… from frustration. A clue

Location

Canyon Ranch Steeple

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History

This course was a gift from Sammy Palletier (AKA pony Kupkake). It was originally at K’Bar Ranch but when it was moved to FFF the name changed to Canyon Ranch Steeples. Kupkake transferred it to FFF and did most of the landscaping.

Created by

Sammy Palletier (AKA pony Kupkake)

Description

A fun but challenging mix of 32 tree trunks, gates and slalom gates on a western landscape. On this run only walking and jumping is allowed.

The course starts with seven wooden gates in a zigzag line on flat ground. Then, a single gate is mounted on a small hillock, followed by a double gate further down.

The next obstacle, yet another double gate, hidden behind the canyon wall on the right. Once that is surmounted, continue down the slope over a gate on the left and a sharp turn further to the left over wooden tree trunks.

Through the canyon, reach the single gate at the end, and continue to the left with the raised double gate.

Then, three tree trunks in 180 degree emplacement lead around to the top of the canyon over yet another tree trunk gate. Don’t jump this too early as you need to clear the gap across the canyon.

Down the top, a series of 5 double slalom gates lead to a double gate and a tree trunk gate on top of the last hill. Down that hill, five more slalom gates take you around a pond and over a short ridge all the way to a last double barrier, a final slalom gate and across the finish line.

Tips

  • Don’t get distracted by whinnying or mooing. The animals will be fed shortly.
  • Most gates can be negotiated without walking steps in between. Even some uphill barriers are best jumped directly.
  • Jump instead of walk over larger distances between obstacles.
  • Watch out for the sheer drop after gate 25. It’s the perfect point for a pony to throw a shoe or sprain an ankle.

Location

 

Hooves On Fire

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History

The third course ever built at Frill Filly Farm by Lila and assisted by Gedeon. Initially it was thought that this would be an interesting project built around a volcano, however, do to the sculpted nature of the model, every level had to be backed up with solid prims to prevent falling through.

Created By

Lila (Liviana Benelli)
Gedeon (Gedeon.Hawks)

Description

This massive course covers 4340 sqm and is built into the side of an active volcano.

The course starts with dodging back and forth over the active lava streams before mounting the volcano proper. This is the point when the pony must channel their inner Mountain Goat and jump from ledge to ledge until they reach the pinnacle of the volcano.

Once false move will send thme back to the ground or even worse falling in and getting trapped inside the volcano itself. At the top, follow the slalom zig zagging in and out of the posts before taking the plunge and jump blindly into an active chimney.

Some quick footwork will avoid burnt hooves then its back to zipping in and out of more gate slaloms to the start line.

Tips

  • Get ready for the landing on the lava flow a the bottom of the chimney
  • Jumping between gates will speed things up.
  • Contrary to what you may think, landing in the Lava does not cause a fault.
  • At Gate 12, there is no need to loop behind it, pass between gate 12 and 13 for speed.
  • Youtube Video

Location

Telra’s Tiny Slalom

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History

Created By

Telra Huntress

Description

Squeezed into a minuscule 260 Square Meters, Telra’s Tiny Slalom is sandwiched between the small steeple and the straight slalom. Its small size presents unique challenges with fast turns in the fun unique course.

The course consists of 10 slalom gates and a turn about post, meaning that once you’ve swung back and forth to get to the end, you need to turn around and do all the same tiny gates in reverse.

Tips

Location

Telra’s Tiny Slalom is sandwiched between the Small Steeple Chase and the Straight Slalom

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.

Silent Dressage

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History

The first rules were from 2006 and 2007 from the Black Rose Stables, Miri Macabre and Sasaya Rothschild, who were both still active in SecondLife recently and Mel Melville who sadly has passed away since then.
2007 there were Silent Dressage rules in the Alikat Ponyplay Manual, which diverged on some points.
2008 FFF came out with their first rule variant, that again had some minor differences.

Katinka (leashcandy)

Currently FFF teaches two sets of Silent Dressage rules:

  • Standard Silent Dressage
  • Traver Silent Dressage

Created By

  • Miri Macabre
  • Sasaya Rothschild
  • Mel Melville

Description

The Silent Dressage field consists of five separate elements; a figure eight, a circle, two 10-meter lines, and slalom with 6 poles. The field is rectangular, the figure eight course is on one end and the slalom course will be on the opposite end. In the middle will be the two lines, bordering the rectangular length wise with the circle in the middle.

Silent Dressage is the opportunity for a pony to shine. The aim is to show judges how well the pony knows their trainer and can work together using nothing more than silent communication. The trainer will be passed a note card by the judges telling them in what order to perform the sections of the course. The pony will be expected to by in sync with the trainer and move seamlessly with them.

The course consists of 5 individual elements that must be completed by the pony. The trainer will indicate to the pony the order and way the pony will perform each of the sections by the position that they stand adjacent to the section. The pony following the cues from the trainer will perform each section as directed.

The goal of Silent dressage are as follows:

  • Gives the pony a chance to show off. Often involving elaborate tack and enhanced movements.
  • Show how they can adapt to a changing situation. Prior to the start of the event neither the pony nor the trainer will know the sequence of the sections.
  • Show their knowledge of pony skills. The event will test many of the pony skills and it is necessary that the pony is skilled in all areas prior to showing.
  • Know their trainers quirks and habits. Silent Dressage relies on non verbal cues from the trainer to the pony. It is essential that the pony and trainer have worked together for some time in order to understand the trainers no verbal cues.

Tips

  • Work extensively with your trainer in order to establish a relationship where you can understand each other without words.
  • Ensure you can stop abruptly on the spot.
  • Ensure that walking backwards functions correctly.

Location

The Silent Dressage field can be found on the East Side of the farm, North of the Small Steeple Chase and Flower Dressage fields and South of the Clinic.

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

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.