The show is at Port Mayaka in Okeechobee, FL. We are going with several people and horses. Paul is taking Buddy. He has been doing really well over the last couple weeks. and I think that he will do really well. I think he has gotten over his people fear.

Miss Anna and Bunny are competing at the Preliminary Level for the first time. They have been training really well over the summer and I think that they are also doing to do great.

Jan and Jack are also going to be competing. He should strut his stuff over the course of the show. They should have some fun.
 
Afterwards, Paul and Little Dude are going to be driving at the holiday horse fest in west palm beach on December 11, 2011. There is going to be a lot of people at this show and suspect that Little Dude is going to be in heaven. they are supposed to be over 5000 people. I’ll keep you informed about the shows on twitter, Google+, and Facebook.

As far as show go, Paul will be driving him in the hazards at the Wellington Fall Classic this weekend. I will be driving Bunny in Cones. Paul & Buddy are doing the pleasure classes + the cones.

On the Buddy front….. hopefully he has learned his lessons over the summer and he will behave. He is only 6 and he needed to learn the same lessons that LD had to learn a year ago.

I will keep everyone updated on the show via twitter.

Well, as for the job. I am going to give navigating a try. “gatoring” is the person who is on the back of the marathon carriage. Paul has been driving another pony named “buddy” & he has a marathon carriage. His official first show will be the Port Mayaka May Day HDT. So, we will how he does.

Little dude has done very well this past show. Paul and Little Dude did a very good dressage & cones. But was really cool was LD was very social & calm all weekend. He didn’t even want to be turned out. He was very happy just to hang out in his stall and the people that walked by. I will have some pictures soon of the water hazard at Little Everglades HDT. I think everybody will like the shots.

I couldn’t take any pictures because I got to navigate for a another driver. It was a blast! It was her first HDT & she needed a “gator”. I hope she will continue to do it, even when she get home to Michigan.

Write again soon!

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.

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.

Paul did wonderfully over there as well. He showed just how gifted he is with horses in general as well. He drove Miss Bunny (Anna’s pony) over there to a  2nd place finish. What is amazing is that he did it without any driving practice before hand. Miss Anna got sick the day of the show and Paul literally had only 30 mins to learn the Training Level Dressage test and go warm-up & drive bunny. He had not driven bunny in months and only once in the puddle jumper that miss anna uses with bunny. I thought that task was not going to have a the good outcome that it did. He has a gift for horses that I just can’t explain. I just wish I had that type of talent.

He has a gift. I don’t know if there is any more to be said than that.

Pictures are available of Paul driving both miss bunny  & Little Dude.  Just follow the links below for the pictures.
Paul Driving Miss Bunny (Jan Navigating in Hazards) & Paul Driving Little Dude

He is going to make a wonderful driving pony for me one day (if I can get my act together). I have started to drive him again, but only about once a week. I need to learn to trust him and he needs to learn to trust me too.  Paul is making sure that we are learning together in a safe manner that both of us can handle and not try to harm each other.  But, it looks like Paul will be driving Little Dude for the January’s Black Prong Event.  The closing date is just too close for me to say that Little Dude and I will be on the same page by then.

As far as the show season is concerned. Paul will be his driver. There first show together will be at the Port Mayaka Harvest Day HDT this weekend. I am hoping that they do well. They are going in Prelim VSE division. LD likes to canter thru cones and hazards and Paul is brave enough to let him do it.

Maybe after the show season is over, he’ll let me be his driver again, but I think I need to find something that can give me my confidence back for the time being. I had been driving teddy, but he is easy to deal with. He doesn’t run off or do anything crazy. He is just there. I have confidence that I can drive teddy. I need to drive a horse with a bit more fire, so I don’t know what I am going to do. Maybe, I am destined just to watch my horses compete with someone else.  I can at least say that they are mine.

This weekend, we are off to the carriage affiar at the florida carriage muesum & resort. 4 days of education, relaxation, & driving. LD & I have a couple of lessons setup with Muffy seaton & We have been practicing dressage a lot with Paul.

It is all in preparation for the port mayaka show in november. We are signed up for prelim VSE division. I think it is going to be interesting & challenging. As far as I can tell there has not been another VSE that has gone prelim in the state for awhile. (I looked back thru past results for all known shows in the state).

As for our last show, We did very good down in wellington. We got 2nd in the obstacles & 4th in the cones. It wasn’t bad for our first time in competition together. I was a little nervious (ok…. a lot)in the cones and I didn’t let LD go until near the end of the course. But, I did go much faster in the obstacles. It was a blast. Bob drove LD & teddy in tandem later & they got 3rd place (they got second but then later times were checked and they came in 3rd). Teddy was the one who wasn’t talking to anyone for a couple of days.

I had several people come out & cheer us on. It made me feel better knowing that all the hard work showed & that there was friends & family there showing their support. 

If you like pictures, There was a photographer there & they took some good shots of the day’s events. Click here to view pictures We were entry 113 & The tandem was 114

I found out, a little while ago, that LD can moved out at an ungodly speed of 30.94 kph (19.2252247 mph) when he thinks he needs to. I will not go into details on the spook, but lets just say, I don’t want to do that type of speed in a cart without asking for it first!

We have been working on the cones and obstacles lots & we are getting better. So, hopefully for the show, we will be up to speed and on target.  I seem to be more of the problem then he is. I keep looking at the cones as we pass them, but paul has been after me about sitting up and looking forward, so hopefully this all will hammered into my head by showtime.

I have a lot to learn and a very short time to learn it in. I don’t want disappoint myself. Wellington has always been on of those places of “One day, I’m going to show there” places, so, I have personal expectations for this show.  I got hooked on horses at this show ground & I always thought that I would get to be a dressage rider there, but that was not to be. So, to get to show there with Little Dude, I am thrilled and a little scared. I really hope that the experience will live up to what I have thought of the place.

By the way, the new cart is a godsend!!! It has stood up to anything that we have thrown at it so far, and believe me, we have tried it out hard! Also, on the equipment front, for the people who think that cheaper is good, please think on this point. We learned the hard way about the cheap nylon harnesses and novice horses. Believe me, get a good harness!!! If something goes bad, the harness is what might be what keeps you & your equine from being hurt.