Archive for the ‘Paul’ Category

I guess it’s about time I updated everyone on Little Dude and I. I am not driving LD at the Black Prong HDT March 12-3, 2011. I can’t keep my hands or my nerves quiet enough to be able to drive him. Paul will be taking over ALL LD’s driving. He will keep the same schedule that we originally laid out for him for the show season. I just am going to be his groom.  I just don’t have the talent or the confidence any more to do anything more with horses. I am just going to have to come to terms with it.

In other news, Paul’s other driving horse in training, Buddy, is coming along well. he’s getting his own 4-wheel CDE carriage at the end of the month. Buddy is a 14.2 hand Welch/TB cross gelding. He is as cute as a button. I hope to get some decent pictures of him and Paul at the clinic this weekend.

Paul’s Dressage Horse, Ben, did well at his last schooling show. he got a 62.400%. He’ll be heading to the 2 shows in Venice, FL on April 9-10, 2011.

Our current schedule is going to keep Paul hopping. Between Driving and Dressage, Paul wont have a break until the 3rd weekend in April. I will try to keep everyone updated as the event proceed.

Just a short note, little dude and Paul did extremely well at the nature coast HDT. Paul got 1st place in the preliminary VSE division. Now, it is my turn to drive him.

Well, I did it. I had LD all to my self for one entire weekend. Last weekend to specific. We drove cones down at wind chase on Saturday and then went over to the Little everglades ranch and drove in the continuous fun drive on Sunday. We didn’t get mad at each other. Plus, we had fun.

I learned some stuff at wind chase. LD had never given me any type of speed at a competition before, so I excepted him to be slow. Quite the opposite, we had speed. I screwed up the pattern by the way I had walked the course before we went. I had walked the course WAY too tight for any type of speed, but LD didn’t get mad at me at all.   He went about his business and cantered most of the cones. He was wonderful.

On Sunday, we went over to the Little everglades Continuous Fun Drive. What a blast! First I need to say that the facility is BEAUTIFUL! The hazards (games) were both fun & interesting.  I even got LD + carriage + harness + Me weighed.  He weighs a lot less then I thought he did.  Overall, the “NO CANTERING” rule was the hardest thing for us to follow.

For one thing, LD HATES the color white. I don’t know why. He doesn’t like to be near new things that are white. One hazard was all white + very low to the ground. We got eliminated in that hazard because we cantered the entire thing.  He was very drivable but it was funny to drive. We had to spell words by using the dressage ring letter. That one was the best one for us. I couldn’t stop laughing because how LD was acting regarding the painted white circles around each letter.

I am hoping to find out if there will be any pictures available from the Little everglades event. There were plenty of people taking pictures. For our first weekend driving together in competition, I think we did very well. We didn’t win anything but I got the confidence.  I think I needed it in order for me to go ahead and fill out the Black Prong HDT Paperwork with me as his driver. Paul is his driver for the Nature Coast HDT at Black Prong in 2 weeks.  After the january BP event, LD and I will start working together on getting our act together for BP in March.

Well, the holidays are over and we survived it. All the family and such. It has been unseasonably cold here recently., but Paul just keeps on going and driving LD first thing every morning. LD got a new blanket and he got to spend the the weekend over at FCMR with 2 donkey in his pasture with him.  We had gone over there with some friends for the Christmas parade and the dressage & cones the following day. LD was not in the parade, but our friends were. I had a blast (& I think Paul did too!).  Paul and LD turned out the fastest time in cones overall. it was amazing to watch. Of course, my video camera decided that it was going to have battery issues that weekend, so no pictures or video of it.

LD is improving by leaps and bounds with me. I was able to drive him last weekend a couple times and we didn’t frustrate each other. I was so happy. He was doing so good one day that a short workout went a little bit longer then Paul wanted it to because I lost all track of time. I am actually looking forward to the Fun Drive at Little Everglades now. From there, we will see if I can drive Black Prong in March! Here’s to hoping that we can get along with each other.

We did decide that it was time to sell Lookie’s harness. I wanted to hold onto it, but I don’t think Lookie would have wanted it that way.  Plus,  Paul doesn’t want to watch it degrade over time. It is the first time I have been able to agree that it is time to start moving on.  I don’t know if or when we might have a full size horse again. Paul has so many horses to work with right now, that I don’t see the need for one. I don’t ride anymore & LD was bought for me to drive, not Paul. So, time will tell.

On to the next event!