Ashemont
Oct. 28, 2007, 07:55 PM
It's all over but the shouting and what a blast!!!! Maggie and I have now successfully completed our very first CDE and she was wonderful! I learned SO much this weekend that my head is spinning. I again was impressed by the kindness and willingness to share that is found in the driving world.
This was Laurel (Driving Tidbits) and Jack's first CDE, too, and so we held each other's hands. We walked hazards and cones, and then walked them all again. Her navigator, Abby Schultis, was a wealth of information and good advice, as was Price Story. They never made us feel dumb and never openly corrected our decisions.... they just gave us the facts and a gentle nudge in the right direction, letting us figure some things out on our own - teaching us how to think CDE.
Maggie was a different pony when I unloaded her the first day. She was much quieter and not what I'm used to dealing with. Then there was some confusion between the arena steward and the warmup steward and the announcer resulting in the latter two yelling for me while the warmup steward, who was correct, was holding me until my assigned time. Dressage had to be finessed and we finished 4th as Maggie didn't want to go near the chain arena fence. Jack didn't seem to have a problem with the fencing but just knew there were horse eating gremlins in the judge's box and behind the hay bales and flowers that lined the ring. He did some interesting moves and Laurel did a superb job of reassuring him, but in tough company she finished last.
However cones was another story and Laurel and Jack were at the top of the heap - double clean and in first place! :D Maggie and I had the fastest time but took out one ball :uhoh: Lesson Learned: ALWAYS walk the course within an hour of competition; they had changed one gate making my planned turn too tight and that's the one that I nailed :( That put me 5th in cones.
Joe wanted to head home right away but wanted to watch some others compete. Then I wanted to drive Maggie around a bit and after finally putting her up needed a cooling drink. We were about to head for the trailer and home when the announcer called me. After over an hour following cones it seems someone thought Maggie was lame :( so I was sent for a vet check. The TD was most kind and Laurel went with me for support (Thank You dear lady!). I was near tears. I KNEW Maggie wasn't lame but I was also concerned that it took so long for the issue to be raised. I mean, if she HAD been off I certainly would've not wanted to run cones with her! The vet easily gave her a 'pass'. :) He was great and made what could've been a bad experience a learning one. Whew!
That afternoon Kelly Valdes did a Section E course walk with all of the Training Level drivers. She reinforced information Laurel and I had gotten from Abby and Price, and then added to it. It was such a generous thing for her to do considering she was one of the organizers and was constantly running in 20 different directions. Consequently I changed my route on 3 of the 4 hazards... but since I had walked the hazards with my 'gator on Friday I had to rely on his experience to handle the changes.
Marathon day started out chilly but clear, promising welcome sunshine again. I was glad that I had gone out and put my Halloween decorations and time charts on the carriage early in the morning.... VERY early.... like 2 am when I couldn't sleep! I must've walked every hazard a dozen times in my dream with the words of Abby, and Price, and Kelly reverberating in my head. My 'gator showed up and was helping me hitch when my daughter, SIL and grand-daughter arrived! What a treat!! It was so nice to have their support. I hadn't planned on much warmup - just figured we'd do a slow trot over to the safety check and then walk a bit until our time to go, so it wasn't long before we were off on our very first marathon course.
The trot section was blind (we had a map and it was well-marked but no one was allowed to walk or drive it prior). Fortunately for me my 'gator, Manuel, knew the area well and kept me laughing and on-course. He also did a fabulous job of keeping track of time, letting me know how many seconds we were over or under at each km. Good thing, too, because in all of my excitement I forgot to start MY watch.... TWICE! The trot and walk went off without a hitch. We came in right in the middle of the max and min time on the trot; two minutes under on the walk and arrived at the vet check with good vitals and a respiration of 24! Offered Maggie a drink and Manuel petted and praised her and then we were sent to the start of E as soon as our rest time was up :yes: :)
Marathon. What a RUSH! Again Manuel kept us on track and followed the time carefully. We were laughing and having a ball with Maggie just trucking along like she had done it all of her life. The much larger pony in front of us wasn't doing so well and we ended up with THREE holds: 30 seconds, one minute, and two minutes! Another learning experience ;) It was thrilling to have people applauding us as we completed hazards and Maggie knew she was a star! :yes: We finished right in the middle of the max and min times again and entered the vet box with great vitals - and an even lower temperature than when we started! Laurel sailed through marathon too as Jack chugged along eagerly.
We ended our experience in 3rd place with Laurel right behind us in 4th. We both had a great time with our lovely little ponies. I now have a good idea of where we need to improve and am anxiously looking forward to our next outing. Maggie? Well she came home and got turned out in the big pasture with the horses where she ran and bucked and played before settling down to catch up on her grazing :)
Oh and it was nice to see some old and new COTH and CD-L friends. I enjoyed putting faces to the names :) Zella with Kandi Cline looked super with her new blue marathon carriage. She made her debut at Pine Tree last year in a road cart and this year tore it up at Prelim. Great fun!
This was Laurel (Driving Tidbits) and Jack's first CDE, too, and so we held each other's hands. We walked hazards and cones, and then walked them all again. Her navigator, Abby Schultis, was a wealth of information and good advice, as was Price Story. They never made us feel dumb and never openly corrected our decisions.... they just gave us the facts and a gentle nudge in the right direction, letting us figure some things out on our own - teaching us how to think CDE.
Maggie was a different pony when I unloaded her the first day. She was much quieter and not what I'm used to dealing with. Then there was some confusion between the arena steward and the warmup steward and the announcer resulting in the latter two yelling for me while the warmup steward, who was correct, was holding me until my assigned time. Dressage had to be finessed and we finished 4th as Maggie didn't want to go near the chain arena fence. Jack didn't seem to have a problem with the fencing but just knew there were horse eating gremlins in the judge's box and behind the hay bales and flowers that lined the ring. He did some interesting moves and Laurel did a superb job of reassuring him, but in tough company she finished last.
However cones was another story and Laurel and Jack were at the top of the heap - double clean and in first place! :D Maggie and I had the fastest time but took out one ball :uhoh: Lesson Learned: ALWAYS walk the course within an hour of competition; they had changed one gate making my planned turn too tight and that's the one that I nailed :( That put me 5th in cones.
Joe wanted to head home right away but wanted to watch some others compete. Then I wanted to drive Maggie around a bit and after finally putting her up needed a cooling drink. We were about to head for the trailer and home when the announcer called me. After over an hour following cones it seems someone thought Maggie was lame :( so I was sent for a vet check. The TD was most kind and Laurel went with me for support (Thank You dear lady!). I was near tears. I KNEW Maggie wasn't lame but I was also concerned that it took so long for the issue to be raised. I mean, if she HAD been off I certainly would've not wanted to run cones with her! The vet easily gave her a 'pass'. :) He was great and made what could've been a bad experience a learning one. Whew!
That afternoon Kelly Valdes did a Section E course walk with all of the Training Level drivers. She reinforced information Laurel and I had gotten from Abby and Price, and then added to it. It was such a generous thing for her to do considering she was one of the organizers and was constantly running in 20 different directions. Consequently I changed my route on 3 of the 4 hazards... but since I had walked the hazards with my 'gator on Friday I had to rely on his experience to handle the changes.
Marathon day started out chilly but clear, promising welcome sunshine again. I was glad that I had gone out and put my Halloween decorations and time charts on the carriage early in the morning.... VERY early.... like 2 am when I couldn't sleep! I must've walked every hazard a dozen times in my dream with the words of Abby, and Price, and Kelly reverberating in my head. My 'gator showed up and was helping me hitch when my daughter, SIL and grand-daughter arrived! What a treat!! It was so nice to have their support. I hadn't planned on much warmup - just figured we'd do a slow trot over to the safety check and then walk a bit until our time to go, so it wasn't long before we were off on our very first marathon course.
The trot section was blind (we had a map and it was well-marked but no one was allowed to walk or drive it prior). Fortunately for me my 'gator, Manuel, knew the area well and kept me laughing and on-course. He also did a fabulous job of keeping track of time, letting me know how many seconds we were over or under at each km. Good thing, too, because in all of my excitement I forgot to start MY watch.... TWICE! The trot and walk went off without a hitch. We came in right in the middle of the max and min time on the trot; two minutes under on the walk and arrived at the vet check with good vitals and a respiration of 24! Offered Maggie a drink and Manuel petted and praised her and then we were sent to the start of E as soon as our rest time was up :yes: :)
Marathon. What a RUSH! Again Manuel kept us on track and followed the time carefully. We were laughing and having a ball with Maggie just trucking along like she had done it all of her life. The much larger pony in front of us wasn't doing so well and we ended up with THREE holds: 30 seconds, one minute, and two minutes! Another learning experience ;) It was thrilling to have people applauding us as we completed hazards and Maggie knew she was a star! :yes: We finished right in the middle of the max and min times again and entered the vet box with great vitals - and an even lower temperature than when we started! Laurel sailed through marathon too as Jack chugged along eagerly.
We ended our experience in 3rd place with Laurel right behind us in 4th. We both had a great time with our lovely little ponies. I now have a good idea of where we need to improve and am anxiously looking forward to our next outing. Maggie? Well she came home and got turned out in the big pasture with the horses where she ran and bucked and played before settling down to catch up on her grazing :)
Oh and it was nice to see some old and new COTH and CD-L friends. I enjoyed putting faces to the names :) Zella with Kandi Cline looked super with her new blue marathon carriage. She made her debut at Pine Tree last year in a road cart and this year tore it up at Prelim. Great fun!