evedex
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This past weekend my navagator, Monika, and I took my pair Rocky and Dezi up to Checkmate in Ontario for the OCDA Combined Driving Show. What a blast.
Originally, the organizers felt that they needed 5 VSE entries to run the division, setting up a smaller dressage ring, etc. Unfortunately I was the only VSE entry since the others who contacted them had wire wheels and these are not allowed for safety reasons. Well, since I indicated that I didn't mind the larger dressage ring, the show let us compete anyway. In order to make it better for the boys, they did cut out the trot and walk sections (A & D) and had us only run the hazard section (E) on Sunday....it was almost 7 km, and long enough.
Well we got there on Friday around noon, got organized and passed the vet check presentation around 5pm. Then we went off to town with some friends for a lovely dinner. I always camp onsite at overnight shows, so after dinner, Monika and I set up the inside of the trailer into what would be Home Sweet Home for the next few days.
Saturday morning arrived and we polished up the presentation vehicle, brushed off the boys and ourselves and drove down the hill to the dressage ring. We sure got a lot of smiles from the competitors and audiences....Minis are always a hit <G>. Dressage went fairly well and I got a respectable 54 points for it...and I actually got a 9 in presentation from one judge so all the cleaning and organizing of outfits was worth it!
Next came cones. The course was on a hill and the boys did scramble into a bit of a canter to get to one gate so we lost a few points there and we had 1 ball down too but that was just 3.5 penalty points total for us, so the day was a success, in my books...only 57.4 penalty points going into the marathon...whoo hoo.
We had taken the ATV around the marathon course Friday afternoon, but with my poor sense of direction and the accompanying nerves, we took the opportunity to drive around two more times to get it all in my head. The course was well marked, it was just the hazards that I needed to be sure of. At 4 pm, there was an official course walk, so we took a 4th trip around....after that, I felt I was ready.
Saturday night was a nice pizza and salads buffet set up by the organizers and lots of visiting with all the other drivers. It made for a fun evening.
Well, before I knew it, it was Sunday morning. We put on our matching outfits and trotted over to the safety check at the start of A and then down to the start of E for our turn. We had to wait about 1 hour for all of the other hitches to get to the start of E, but I had known that and had decided to give the boys a lesson in 'stand' rather than unhitch and then re-hitch for the drive. They were stars. They stood so well that we got a few good comments from people about their manners....sure made me proud! And then it was our turn.
As they counted down, I forgot to turn on the stop watch at the right time so had to guess our progress with a 10-15 second window <sigh>. The boys were stellar. There were some steep long hills, but we had gotten permission under the rules, to have my groom step down and run behind in steep going. I think the poor girl ran about 2 km in total...all up hill <G>. Anyway, I wasn't going to try and keep the boys moving at the 10 kph required for the time, I was more interested in their enjoying the competition. There was a water crossing that was over their bellies in depth, but they trucked through that without even looking at it. I think the cool water on their tummes felt good since we got a second wind and a good burst of speed shortly after the crossing.
Well, all said and done, the marathon went really well and we actually came in 1 second under the maximum time <G> At the final vet check, the boys passed as soon as we came in, no need to recheck after 10 minutes of cooling down like many of the other competitors. So, with no penalties for the day....a really fun drive....I consdered the whole experience a wonderful success.
The best part of the whole thing was that the organizers, who were conserned about the suitability of local VSE's for CDE compteitions, realized that our breed can do it and hopefully, next year, we will have a full division. Rocky and Dezi were perfect little ambassadors for our breed on the weekend....Minis Rock!!!
I would like to thank the OCDA club and especially those who went to bat to get us accepeted to drive. Can't wait until next year.
Originally, the organizers felt that they needed 5 VSE entries to run the division, setting up a smaller dressage ring, etc. Unfortunately I was the only VSE entry since the others who contacted them had wire wheels and these are not allowed for safety reasons. Well, since I indicated that I didn't mind the larger dressage ring, the show let us compete anyway. In order to make it better for the boys, they did cut out the trot and walk sections (A & D) and had us only run the hazard section (E) on Sunday....it was almost 7 km, and long enough.
Well we got there on Friday around noon, got organized and passed the vet check presentation around 5pm. Then we went off to town with some friends for a lovely dinner. I always camp onsite at overnight shows, so after dinner, Monika and I set up the inside of the trailer into what would be Home Sweet Home for the next few days.
Saturday morning arrived and we polished up the presentation vehicle, brushed off the boys and ourselves and drove down the hill to the dressage ring. We sure got a lot of smiles from the competitors and audiences....Minis are always a hit <G>. Dressage went fairly well and I got a respectable 54 points for it...and I actually got a 9 in presentation from one judge so all the cleaning and organizing of outfits was worth it!
Next came cones. The course was on a hill and the boys did scramble into a bit of a canter to get to one gate so we lost a few points there and we had 1 ball down too but that was just 3.5 penalty points total for us, so the day was a success, in my books...only 57.4 penalty points going into the marathon...whoo hoo.
We had taken the ATV around the marathon course Friday afternoon, but with my poor sense of direction and the accompanying nerves, we took the opportunity to drive around two more times to get it all in my head. The course was well marked, it was just the hazards that I needed to be sure of. At 4 pm, there was an official course walk, so we took a 4th trip around....after that, I felt I was ready.
Saturday night was a nice pizza and salads buffet set up by the organizers and lots of visiting with all the other drivers. It made for a fun evening.
Well, before I knew it, it was Sunday morning. We put on our matching outfits and trotted over to the safety check at the start of A and then down to the start of E for our turn. We had to wait about 1 hour for all of the other hitches to get to the start of E, but I had known that and had decided to give the boys a lesson in 'stand' rather than unhitch and then re-hitch for the drive. They were stars. They stood so well that we got a few good comments from people about their manners....sure made me proud! And then it was our turn.
As they counted down, I forgot to turn on the stop watch at the right time so had to guess our progress with a 10-15 second window <sigh>. The boys were stellar. There were some steep long hills, but we had gotten permission under the rules, to have my groom step down and run behind in steep going. I think the poor girl ran about 2 km in total...all up hill <G>. Anyway, I wasn't going to try and keep the boys moving at the 10 kph required for the time, I was more interested in their enjoying the competition. There was a water crossing that was over their bellies in depth, but they trucked through that without even looking at it. I think the cool water on their tummes felt good since we got a second wind and a good burst of speed shortly after the crossing.
Well, all said and done, the marathon went really well and we actually came in 1 second under the maximum time <G> At the final vet check, the boys passed as soon as we came in, no need to recheck after 10 minutes of cooling down like many of the other competitors. So, with no penalties for the day....a really fun drive....I consdered the whole experience a wonderful success.
The best part of the whole thing was that the organizers, who were conserned about the suitability of local VSE's for CDE compteitions, realized that our breed can do it and hopefully, next year, we will have a full division. Rocky and Dezi were perfect little ambassadors for our breed on the weekend....Minis Rock!!!
I would like to thank the OCDA club and especially those who went to bat to get us accepeted to drive. Can't wait until next year.
