KellyS
May. 14, 2009, 11:02 AM
It's been fairly quiet on the driving forum lately, so I thought I'd share a happy story with you all. :)
Many of you may remember our roany pony Merlin; I shared his exploits the past 3 years on this board. We'd bought him as an unbroke 5 year old and brought him up the combined driving ranks, culminating last fall in a 2nd place finish at The Laurels and 1st place finish at Gladstone in Intermediate Single Pony.
In October we found out he had a condition called pharyngeal collapse. When I was riding him, I noticed he would tire quickly at the canter, and while he was typically fine driving, we'd also noticed that he would tire quickly the faster he went in the hazards. We had him evaluated on the high-speed treadmill at New Bolton and received the diagnosis of pharyngeal collapse--his pharynx was collapsing during intense work and he was not able to breathe properly.
As you can imagine, we were devastated. Both Aaron and I enjoy combined driving so much and, to us, Merlin was the perfect combined driving pony. We resigned ourselves to focusing on doing some pleasure shows this year (Merlin can still do low intensity work such as pleasure driving).
In January we got a call from Sara Schmitt. She'd heard about Merlin and had a pony that needed a good home. This is how Dutch came to live with us. He's a 14.1 hand Hackney cross pony, but even though he is taller than Merlin, his close-coupled stature and naturally svelte figure fit perfectly in our harness and equipment.
We've both worked hard the past few months to bring him along, combining riding, ground work such as long lining, and many miles of driving down the road. Once we had the opportunity to take him to a local horse park and do some hazard schooling, we figured out very quickly that he loved it!
So the first weekend of May we took him to Lord Stirling Stable's schooling driving event. We just did the marathon schooling portion, which was a 5K marathon with 4 hazards. We all had a blast! And enjoyed the new carriage that had arrived the week prior. :)
I've been having a lot of health problems lately (again); I've had one surgery done in April and another is scheduled for mid June. Getting out and about in the carriage with Aaron and Dutch just puts a smile on my face. I haven't always believed in happy endings, but thanks to Sara and a special pony named Dutch, I think this is one of them.
Pics from Lord Stirling:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2024096&id=1059684218&l=ee7a904d57
Many of you may remember our roany pony Merlin; I shared his exploits the past 3 years on this board. We'd bought him as an unbroke 5 year old and brought him up the combined driving ranks, culminating last fall in a 2nd place finish at The Laurels and 1st place finish at Gladstone in Intermediate Single Pony.
In October we found out he had a condition called pharyngeal collapse. When I was riding him, I noticed he would tire quickly at the canter, and while he was typically fine driving, we'd also noticed that he would tire quickly the faster he went in the hazards. We had him evaluated on the high-speed treadmill at New Bolton and received the diagnosis of pharyngeal collapse--his pharynx was collapsing during intense work and he was not able to breathe properly.
As you can imagine, we were devastated. Both Aaron and I enjoy combined driving so much and, to us, Merlin was the perfect combined driving pony. We resigned ourselves to focusing on doing some pleasure shows this year (Merlin can still do low intensity work such as pleasure driving).
In January we got a call from Sara Schmitt. She'd heard about Merlin and had a pony that needed a good home. This is how Dutch came to live with us. He's a 14.1 hand Hackney cross pony, but even though he is taller than Merlin, his close-coupled stature and naturally svelte figure fit perfectly in our harness and equipment.
We've both worked hard the past few months to bring him along, combining riding, ground work such as long lining, and many miles of driving down the road. Once we had the opportunity to take him to a local horse park and do some hazard schooling, we figured out very quickly that he loved it!
So the first weekend of May we took him to Lord Stirling Stable's schooling driving event. We just did the marathon schooling portion, which was a 5K marathon with 4 hazards. We all had a blast! And enjoyed the new carriage that had arrived the week prior. :)
I've been having a lot of health problems lately (again); I've had one surgery done in April and another is scheduled for mid June. Getting out and about in the carriage with Aaron and Dutch just puts a smile on my face. I haven't always believed in happy endings, but thanks to Sara and a special pony named Dutch, I think this is one of them.
Pics from Lord Stirling:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2024096&id=1059684218&l=ee7a904d57