I have my reasons (III)

I had a whole post typed out on this one. I was explaining about competing one level Under what you are training on at home. A lot of competitors do this. Looking at it, it sounds like a bunch of whining. I don't often whine so I figured I would spare you all of that. Put on my big girl pants, suck it up and move on sunshine. I have plenty of good, hard, solid, steadfast reasons for not entering the CDE this year. I was telling a friend of mine about half of this and they said, "You've already talked me out of it..." So at this point, what more is there to really say?


I was looking forward to it, but the money spent on this one event will just go for other things. I am planning on hitting the ADT's this year and since I won't be competing at the CDE, I can still volunteer and help out. I can still be involved and pitch in. Support the club, lend a hand and cheer everyone else on. No harm in that.


If anyone is interested in volunteering at the event- let me know and I will put you in touch with the right people. I did it before several years ago and I was and still am, impressed. Things are organized, run smoothly, they treat you very well and appreciate your time. I still have the t-shirt from that event and remember it well. Now that I have competed at the event and been involved with the club, been to the organizing meetings and seen everything that goes on months prior, leading up to the day of... Holy cow! There is a lot that goes into it. I'm still looking forward to the CDE this year, I will still be there, it's just that my pony won't. 


That all being said, I drove him this weekend and it has been one of our best drives in a long time. He was soft, responsive and just as awesome as his little bad self could get. He didn't give me much resistance and when he did, he quickly changed his tune back to the best pony ever. I'm still not sure I have the dressage test memorized yet. I have looked at it a few times and got out and walked it once... We have worked on a few of the different aspects of it, but not repetitively or even in the same order. He shouldn't be anticipating anything or bored with any of it either. Come 'Game Day' though, who knows what will happen in the ring.

I have my reasons (Part II)

The marathon- The distance is greater, there are usually one or two more hazards (Including the WATER hazard) and the times allowed are different. Your times IN the hazards COUNT!

In all fairness to my pony, I question if we are ready for it this year. He has had all summer off, we only worked a few times and here we are a month and a half away and haven't really done squat yet. He handles the water like a pro now, between our work at home and all the water at the event last year, but he hasn't been in or near the hazard they use for it at all, ever.

Since they also may use the covered wagons hazard and it has covers on the wagons, I took him through it from all angles at the Darby. He had no problems with that, so I hope the gazebo in the water wouldn't be a problem either, but you never know, until you try it. We all know, once you try it, you have to finish it no matter what, no matter how, you have to finish it and hopefully on a good note...

Since we haven't done any real 'work', is he really in shape to be out there, cruising along for X kilometers, without any bad effects later on. Training Pony is usually 5-7 miles overall. Section's A and D (D is walk only) is the same for all horses. Section E is he hazards and where he excels. He tries harder, goes faster, pushes for more and really enjoys it. I know he will try his hardest, give me his best effort and just go and go and go. He definitely has a lot of heart and is Always willing to give it, but is it fair to ask that of him on short notice? I have seen a horse 'pulled out' of competition because the horse was done. I don't ever want to be that horse.

This one is a whiny excuse- I need to get serious if I am to be taken seriously out there. I don't have a stopwatch yet to help calculate our times out on the course. I use my goofy old glow in the dark skeleton watch I bought at K-mart after Halloween, like 17-18 years ago on clearance for like $3. I know, it's time to move on. I'm not a good 'gator to myself that way. Small pony entries don't require 'gators, so it's all up to me.

Last year on section A, I just couldn't seem to figure out where we were at on time. I couldn't see the horse ahead of us to use them as a 'marker' like we did the year before, sooooo I just let my pony run. We ran almost the entire section and only came in within the time allowed by 3 seconds because he balked at the end, didn't want to approach the person standing there and was walking, swerving back and forth like a dork. We were 3 seconds over the Minimum time allowed. We b.a.r.e.l.y. missed getting any time penalties there.

I have my reasons

I mentioned in the last post about having concerns as far as entering the CDE at Prelim level. Here's one of them. Let me know what you think. I will stretch this out over a few posts, as there is a lot to consider going into all of this.

Dressage- It is a different dressage test with different movements being asked for. I get that. I can handle that and I think he can too, since most of his misbehaving moments in the ring come from boredom. He is bored with the same patterns. Although we do not do any pattern work at home, it is always the same one in the ring and he knows it. He anticipates it. He reacts to it and not always with his best behavior. He is really smart and picks things up quickly. Sometimes a bit too quickly and the anticipation begins again.

Some of the movements I understand if explained in a different way. I had asked a friend of mine about the circles trotting on a loosened rein yet, not an extended trot. What I got back was a long and detailed explanation that made little to no sense to me until the very last couple of lines. "It's like long and low work in hunters. Riding on the buckle and letting the horse stretch out and down to the bit." I've ridden hunters and that makes sense. Now the question I have is, how to get it in driving when you cannot use your legs? That's another thing altogether for me. I'm sure there is a comparison out there that will put it into different terms that make sense. Until then, you may as well be speaking another language.

Where to start?

Dang. Almost halfway into the first month of the new year and I haven't posted anything yet or gotten to drive ponyman. Yay me, huh?

After getting all the feedback last year at the CDE from 3 very well respected opinions that I need to move up to Prelim, I am staring at my entry forms and doubting myself. We all do that as competitors, right? I have good reason, or so I would like to think. I am going to enter the upcoming ADT at Prelim and give it a whirl. I have decided that already. I can stay at Prelim or drop back down after the first one depending on how we do. There is ALWAYS room for improvement though, at Any level.

Prelim for the CDE? It is far more costly. A couple hundred bucks more costly. It is a different dressage test, more hazards on the marathon including a longer course and I'm just not sure we are ready for that yet. Cones have only been a problem in the fact of keeping him under control, getting him lined up and through them while leaving the balls intact. Prelim he would be allowed to run. I'm not sure that will be a good thing, but who knows. The marathon is my main concern with the dressage test a close second.

I will follow this post with a few more to explain everything. There is also another matter of a more personal nature that adds to all of this. Isn't there always? That's really the big deciding factor in all of this. I should know more in the next few weeks and be in a better position to decide about proceeding then. I have some time before the closing date for entries...

Wrapping things up

With the driving club fun Darby and Christmas Party last weekend, things are done for the year for the most part. The party is usually also a club meeting and new things were discussed, new ideas and so on. It seems like things are on the up and up and hopefully there will be more ADTs to attend as well as some new events. 

Kat has been enjoying his time off and with three very well respected votes last year at the CDE to move him up to Prelim next year, I am hoping we can do it. Since he has been my first experience training a driving horse from start to ??? it will be unknown territory. How do you train a horse to do things, when you are barely learning it yourself?  This should be fun and it will truly be a learning experience for both of us.

With the past few months flying by and now here we are almost halfway through December, Christmas and New Years almost upon us and everything else that goes along with the crazy busy Holiday Season, my wish for you is a safe and peaceful time, spent with those you love and plenty of joy to go around.

Peace on earth, good will towards men...

Second drive around

Sunday I put Kat to the cart again and mostly just focused on walking. Because he has gotten a little pudgy, he was more than happy to start out slow and keep it that way. We worked on bending and softening for starters, and when he decided to jog, I let him. I also dropped my right rein for the most part. If I wasn't holding onto it, I couldn't hang onto him.

When going to the left, I had to pick up my right rein here and there, to keep Kat out on the rail or to keep him from cheating his circles, but he did pretty well without it to lean on. Fixing my mistakes is helping fix his habits.

We ended up working on his normal trot, extended trot, collected trot, the three variations of his walk, halts, backing up, large circles, small circles, pivoting the cart on one wheel, serpentines and anything else I could think of. We also sort of worked on the 'long and low' work as described in the prelim dressage tests for the ADT's. What I ended up using as the 'cue' for it was contact in the begining and slowly letting him have more rein as I eased him forward to find that same contact.

Maybe I will come up with a voice command to go along with it later on, but for now this seemed to work. He seemed to understand what I was asking of him or at least it felt that way in the cart. At least when you are riding, you have your legs to help you. You also have a buckle in your reins in a useful spot. If I were to drive 'on the buckle', he could literally stop and graze. There would be no control.

Overall Kat did really well and I am quite pleased with him. Maybe I will just keep his workouts to a minimum, his food a little on the large portion side and his weight a little heavy on the hoof. Then he won't be so inclined to get all wound up and misbehave.  Even if he does, he would be too out of shape to sustain it for long...  Of course the flip side of all of that would be him getting injured because he is out of shape and that's a road I just don't want to go down.  There's got to be a happy medium, right?

A La Carte

I drove over the weekend and while it has been some time since I did, little man rose to the occasion did not disappoint! He's just an awesome little guy that way.  Pulling him out of pasture and putting the harness on him on Saturday,  I could just tell he was excited about doing something again. Anything...

In case anyone didn't know- he has been the center of attention for the past two years and then since March, after the CDE, has been back to just hanging out doing nothing. He was turned out and brought in as usual, but we only drove maybe 3 times since then. The last time it wasn't all that good because he was excited and ready for action.

Saturday I put him in long lines before putting him to the cart. I also put him back in the snaffle bit. He has had plenty of time to forget the old ways of doing things and I want to bring him back around on a positive note.  I figured a quick ground driving 'refresher course' was in order before putting him to the cart, plus the work in long lines would let him blow off some steam so he wouldn't feel like racing around much.

We started with our bending and softening work and mostly I worked on letting go of the right rein. I have held it so long and so much, he leans on it as a crutch and doesn't seem to bend to the left as well. When we first started, he was soft to the left and the right side was the problem. Well I fixed that all right, but let the left side go. Now I am focusing a little more on the left and letting go of the right. Part of it is my own issue of holding onto him and not letting him do the work as asked.

When I let go of the right rein and had him trotting in a circle to the left, he kept ducking in on me. There was pressure on the left rein and nothing else to guide him so he drifted in closer unless I tugged the right rein, moved towards him and used my voice (get out there) to move him back out. He's getting the idea, but it may take him some time to get it etched solid in his brain.  Along the way I just have to remember to keep things steady and not let the right side get too stiff and unresponsive again. I have to remind myself NOT to hang on to the left rein all of the time like I did the right one. (I hope this carries over to my riding as well!)

When I was done with the long line work I put Kat to the cart and off we went at a walk. We went thru his paces and he did everything as he should. I didn't push for too much as I don't want him working up a sweat and needing to be rinsed. The weather has turned and I don't want to hose him off and leave him wet and cold. He has also gotten a bit pudgy too, so in all fairness, I let him ease back into it. He did try to canter once or twice, but wasn't getting crazy stupid about it and came right back down in a stride or two.  At the end I let him do a few 'victory laps' and he enjoyed it.  You could tell he was doing the "Happy Dance" in his head.