Archive for the ‘Paul’ Category
Adventures in Driving
Well, I have been Little Dude’s primary driver for about a month. I took the walking boot off shortly after we lost lookie. I have been trying to keep busy so that I don’t think about the loss of lookie. I miss him, but I know that he is not suffering any more. I know that he helped Little Dude find his passion for driving. Little dude is driving like a champ now.
Shortly after, We got a Pacific Smart Cart for him, becuase we REALLY needed a better cart. We got the marathon shafts as well for it becuase he wouldn’t realy bend to the right in the cart, but he would bend both ways long lining him. What a difference!!! He seems much happier in this cart then he has been driving. There has been such a change in his attitude towards driving. He seems to be enjoying it a lot.
We have taken him back to Black prong since losing Lookie and other than learning that he needs to be able to see other horses in when he is in a stall (otherwise, the humans in the appt in the barn don’t get any sleep) he was a good boy. He loves the hazards and we ARE fast!!!! We are going to be competing at Preliminary Level VSE this coming winter, so we will see what the competitions do with us. Around here (at least at the events that I can pull up the results for) when they allow a VSE to compete, they compete at the training level & this will just not work for me and little dude. We canter in the hazards. We will just have to see what they say.
Our first competition will be on Sept 18 in wellington. they are doing a trial event with carriages down at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center. This is the same place that they have the winter equestrian festival every year. They are going to be doing some pleasure classes and then in the afternoon, they are going to be running cones and obstacles. Little Dude will be doing the cones and obstacles as a single VSE.
But, I have a surprise for everyone, Little Dude will be pairing up with a mini named Teddy, do to the obstacles as a VSE tandem & Bob Giles will be driving them!!! Little dude and Teddy have been driven as a tandem once before, back in April (at the Bob Giles Clinic). Bob thought that they would be a good tandem pair and so, on a whim, we put them together …. The picture is from that clinic. Little Dude is the leader and Teddy is the wheeler. Bob is looking forward to this and I think it is going to be fun for little dude and teddy.
Looking back, Little dude has come such a long ways since that clinic. I took him to that clinic to see what I could do to get him to enjoy his job, and look at us now. I can’t believe that I have been working with him for over a year now. My how the time flys by!
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Lookie’s passing
I am sorry for the timing of this post,
but I just didn’t know where to start. I had to do some griefing & some rethinking about things.
So, let me begin. Lookie was put down on July 5th, 2010, after an almost 3 year fight with laminitis. I did what was best for him, not what was easiest for me. I loved him so much, it hurts. We had plans for the winter show season, but they were not meant to be.
We always dreaded the summer. Lookie’s feet were always at thier worst during this time of year. This year was no different. What began like an abcsess or an injury in his rear left leg, became the catalyst for that foot & his front feet. They just couldn’t hold together long enough.
We will carry on. Little dude will have To learn to show without his big brother & Port Mayaka will be emotional for me. I think about him everytime I’m around the barn.
Lookie is with us in spirit & I will never forget him. There will be other horses in our lives, but lookie will always be special in my eyes. I just hope we can live up to the expectations that lookie had for us, now that he is gone.
Driving Trials
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.
Updates & who knows what
Okay, so it’s been a while. I have been working with a mini, named reeses. He is only 38″ tall & cute as a button. I had to wait to start working with him because he was only gelded 2 months ago. He is doing really well & I hope to bring him home soon.
Paul has been working with Lookie a lot. I am going to post some videos of parts of his workout from today. I really do believe that Lookie & him are going to do great this winter. I think he might try to qualify for regionals. I don’t know. We will see.
Paul has been taking some lessons with lookie to work on his posture and Lookie’s relaxation. I believe that it is working. The pair is starting to look like a dressage pair.
I am hoping to post more often as I get back to being more active wth horses then I have been. I have been pretty sick since the end of July, but I am doing much better now, so let the horse games begin anew.
