So, I signed Paul & Lookie up for the Port Mayaka May Day HDT just a bit ago. I knew that it was that it was their first driving show & to be honest the events leading up to the show didn’t go well, to say the least. I didn’t think that they had a chance of being competitive. We were just going for the fun of it.

1st thing that went wrong leading up to the show was that I got hurt. I sprained my ankle stepping down off a hay bale (badly). This meant that I could not help Paul tack Lookie or be the groom Lookie needed, so I had call in some help.

The 2nd thing to happen was the Sunday before the show. they torqued the shafts of the cart very very badly. I ended up calling the cart maker to find out what to do. the shafts aren’t made any more for the cart & I needed to do something quickly. The cart maker gave us some insight on how to straighten the shafts of cart. The shafts got fixed and the show was on.

The 3rd thing was that Lookie decided that he was going to see if he could fit into the hay area of our trailer while it was moving. He is not the best traveler of the best of days. he is always moving and shaking, but I looked back to see what is was doing and I saw ALOT more horse then I should have. It took me another 1000 feet of Paul driving to tell him to pull over. We pulled over and went back to the trailer. I was right. HE WAS UP IN THE MANAGER!!!!! I could have shot him right there & He looked proud of himself!!! Paul got him down from there the same way he got up there. Lookie never panicked or thrashed. He was  a little sore the next day & we didn’t know if he was going to be able to go. He finally got his back popped back in on Thursday and we said we were going to go with him. (Little dude almost went instead)

We took Lookie over Friday afternoon. I couldn’t believe how much more stuff you have to take with you for driving. We ended up borrowing a trailer from a friend in order to carry the horse, carriage & so many other things (thank you, Anna) He settled right in like he had been there, done that. Nice & calm.

Saturday came. Paul & Lookie did their dressage test. They got a 58.91% & the leader got a 53.09%. The cones course was very difficult but They knocked one ball off & we over time by 2 seconds but they were in second place after dressage & cones in the training level horse division.
Driven Dressage Photos – http://www.flickr.com/photos/lookieloudressage/sets/72157623990620598/

Sunday was the hazards. Paul talked to Bob Giles and they decided to go thru all the gates instead of just the required A-B-C ones. It actually worked out to their advantage. Lookie REALLY likes the obstacles and Paul used the obstacles to slow him down a little bit. The came in on time & with no penalties.  We also got the photos from the photographer. Now, Paul’s Navigator was a gentleman named Jan Petri. I think he enjoyed the ride with Lookie and Paul for the Obstacle portion of the event.

Obstacle 1 – http://www.flickr.com/photos/lookieloudressage/sets/72157623990980134/
Obstacle 5 – http://www.flickr.com/photos/lookieloudressage/sets/72157623990667628/

Well, at the end of the day, Paul & Lookie Lou got overall Training Level Champion for the show. Not bad for his first time out. he got a very nice blanket. I didn’t get any video from the event because I really couldn’t get around as well as I would have liked to have been able to.

Lookie is going to still be ridden by Paul (as we did this weekend) once or twice a week, just to keep up his suppleness. We did take Lookie to a schooling dressage show this weekend & did rather well on him, considering that Lookie had only been ridden 2x in the last month. We had signed up for the show a couple months before and that show was cancelled because of weather and the entry rolled over to their may show. He did get a 63% on the TL4 test and a 62% on their first ever First Level 1 test.

I think we are going to take both of the boys to the Cypress Keep Schooling HDT at the end of may. Paul will be driving both boys. I can’t drive until I get my foot healed. It is not healing as fast I want it to, but it will be there.