Last weekend a friend of mine and I went over to Austin with the ponies and had a driving clinic/ playdate. Dinner on Saturday night was at a pleasant little place and the food was really good. The gentleman doing the clinic Tom O'Caroll, was with us and quite a pleasant man. When I asked how long he had been driving and how he got started? He chuckled and said he can't remember a time when he didn't drive. He had grown up in Ireland and drove the horse to town once a week- 20 miles away- to deliver the produce raised on the family farm. While he was there he would pick up whatever supplies they needed and drive the horse the 20 miles back home again. I can't even imagine. I'm sure at the time it was just what you do. I think it would just be so cool and definitely life at a slower pace.
Sunday was a clinic of sorts where a few of us were invited to bring our ponies and give the local pony club members a chance to try driving. Of course Kat was a perfect gentleman for the harnessing demo and was a little wound since he hasn't driven in a while. A few of the kids were so excited to drive him and he handled it really well considering nobody else has ever really driven him. A few of the kids were thrilled to take the reins and talk about how their horse should do this Really well.
Luckily before the trip I had checked the weather forecast. While it wasn't bad here at home, overnight in Austin it was down to 38° which was quite cold for the ponies. We brought their blankets along so they were fine and thankfully there was also no wind which I was told by the facility owner that typically there is. Some places just have a lot of wind and with it blowing as a constant, it gets old fast.
We brought my friends pony along just for the experience. While she didn't exactly handle the trip very well, she did fine once we were there. She traveled with her nose to the floor and at one point when she brought her head up she had watery blood running from both nostrils. Poor baby was stressing. I would tell Kat to reassure her and tell her it would be fine. Once she was off the trailer and walked around she seemed to be ok.
Towards the end of the morning I could tell Kat was Starting to wear down and it looked like he needed to pee. Seem like a good idea so I took him back to the trailer to unhitch so we could both use the bathroom. At that point there was discussion of putting to the other pony and it seemed like a good idea. As I got her out and started to harness up the group started to trickle back over to the arena where the trailers were parked and lunch was being served. This was good since her pony was getting used to people and everything going on around her. Earlier they had a PA system too so she got used to that too.
By the time I had her put to the cart everyone else had come back over and the dressage arena we were using was clear. This worked to our advantage as her pony had seen the carriages going around from her stall and now she was getting to go out into the field where we could work. This pony is super talented and rather green but she has a really good mind to her. I used her Liverpool bit for just a little extra control should I need it and it was perfect for the occasion. We headed out to the field and I could tell she was feeling a little up, but she managed to hold it all together as we walked around so she could loosen up before getting to work.
The dressage arena was a big open field and quite lovely. We walked both directions did a lot of circles and some serpentine's. When she started to relax I asked the pony to trot and we got a lot of really good work in. Again we did a lot of big circles, smaller circles and serpentine's going both directions and she was really working nicely. She was still looking around at the horses in the other field and the arena where the stalls were, but that's ok. Horses do that when they are in new places. As she worked and started to blow off steam she really settled in and was moving quite nicely. We did some working trot and some extended trot, brought it back down to a walk and let her relax a little before doing some more trotting work. She's quite a lovely mare and when we found a good place to stop, I let her have a little rest and then headed back to unhitch.
By this time all of the kids and their parents were gone and it was just the event organizers left. They were all sitting in the stands talking and as I came into the arena they motioned for me to come over there. As I drove her up and stopped, they were all saying how they had been watching us work and she is a Really, Really nice moving pony. They had Lots of compliments and questions so I took her over to unhitch.
While we were talking I explained that this pony has had less than 20 drives on her and how at one point she had not been driven for almost a year, but I was able to just harness up and put her to the cart and she worked to fine. When the discussion of two major driving shows came up, everyone agreed that this pony could certainly hold her own and do well at either one. She's That. Good. I finally asked the group if there was anything we needed to work on? Tom spoke up and said, "What you're doing with her, keep doing That." Again I asked- Any suggestions? Tips? Things to do? Things to leave alone and not worry about??? There's always something to work on.... Again Tom said "She looks really good with what you're doing. Just keep doing That."
My mind was blown. Such good things to hear about a pony I have been bringing along and teaching to drive. Funny thing is, she was supposed to be a hunter pony and while she loves to jump, she enjoys driving more. Now she just needs to travel more and we need to find or arrange more play dates she can go to, to put miles on her.
