Wheee! Driving hours 2023

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Finally had a cool down in the weather. 45 minutes for Billy today. I am not totally comfortable with him; he doesn't seem completely stable. Found my toes curling a couple of times. I have not allowed him to canter/lope yet in harness. We went over 2 miles and he could easily go more. I have no one to drive with at the moment; my sister took a job. He has not been in the cart since he acted up dangerously several months ago; I want to be with someone when we do the cart again. We've just been doing road work in the sulky. At least he is getting exercise.
 
Hello fellow drivers! It's been fun to read your adventures. Rest assured I haven't forgotten about you all and I will get hours caught up. We're running running trying to get the new house finished so we can get a barn up before winter (finally a barn!). Happy driving!
 
@MajorClementine, you have a very important priority!!! No worries. I really enjoy just posting along and reading other posts about driving. I haven't been able to put to either of my littles in over a week! We had a lot of rain, the weekend was crazy busy (I scribed for a dressage show where my stallion and his para rider won the musical freestyle!) and the mosquitoes have gotten insane!!! Yesterday we went out to just put fly sheets on everything that we could. I had one brand new fly sheet in mini size that fit Phillippe really well! Lord he's adorable. I just can't sometimes...

Parade on Friday, Open show on Sunday and we're back at it next week, properly!
 

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We got driving last night for a whopping 20 minutes. The mosquitoes were horrible! I've never seen them so bad. I was dowsed in bug spray, Phillippe was dowsed in bug spray and still they attacked! It is terrible of me to pray for an early frost? Kill those horrid things? The good news is Greenhawk had their fall sale start this morning and fly sheets are majorly discounted. I'm buying extras!
 
50 minutes with Billy today. We went 2.85 miles. Mostly at a pretty fast trot. We would have gone farther but when we came to the pasture where the longhorns are, one little dogie was outside the fence. Billy had a conniption. I wasn't sure if I was going to have to bail, but he settled down enough so we could get going again. And he came down to a walk pretty easily. What a silly boy.
 
50 minutes with Billy today. We went 2.85 miles. Mostly at a pretty fast trot. We would have gone farther but when we came to the pasture where the longhorns are, one little dogie was outside the fence. Billy had a conniption. I wasn't sure if I was going to have to bail, but he settled down enough so we could get going again. And he came down to a walk pretty easily. What a silly boy.
I'm afraid of longhorns too 🙂
 
We FINALLY got driving again yesterday. Lord, what a mad month it's been! We're registered for our first CDE in two weeks. My daughter hadn't been to the grounds yet to get herself orientated so we took Jasmine and Phillippe and away we went! It's probably been 3 weeks since either has been put to! I got new 6 ft ramps to put the vehicles up in my pickup, what a treat that is!!! We can load and unload everything in less than 15 minutes, including the littles.
Unfortunately Ali had forgotten to pack Jasmine's driving bridle and reins so she had to wait until I was finished with Phillippe before we could resize the bridle for Jasmine and they could have a go. They found the water hazard but Jazzy decided she could NOT go through. She's been through previously but I'm guessing Ali was worked up from the bridle situation and wasn't as patient as she could have been. It's ok, they won't have to go through the water for the CDE. For the record, Phillippe went through three times all by himself, even trotting through and out the last time! We got to encounter a wooden bridge for the first time. The area had been housing cattle the last time we were out. It was of little concern to my donkey. He's been hauled through our tack shed so many times that walking on wood doesn't give him any reason for concern. I was thrilled with him.

The BUGS! Oh I hate to do it but I'm wishing for an early frost. Just a couple nights, just to kill those horrid mosquitoes!! Terrible things.
Anyways, at the end of it, I think Phillippe and I drove for a half hour. Ali and Jasmine probably did the same. And it was great fun!
 
We FINALLY got driving again yesterday. Lord, what a mad month it's been! We're registered for our first CDE in two weeks. My daughter hadn't been to the grounds yet to get herself orientated so we took Jasmine and Phillippe and away we went! It's probably been 3 weeks since either has been put to! I got new 6 ft ramps to put the vehicles up in my pickup, what a treat that is!!! We can load and unload everything in less than 15 minutes, including the littles.
Unfortunately Ali had forgotten to pack Jasmine's driving bridle and reins so she had to wait until I was finished with Phillippe before we could resize the bridle for Jasmine and they could have a go. They found the water hazard but Jazzy decided she could NOT go through. She's been through previously but I'm guessing Ali was worked up from the bridle situation and wasn't as patient as she could have been. It's ok, they won't have to go through the water for the CDE. For the record, Phillippe went through three times all by himself, even trotting through and out the last time! We got to encounter a wooden bridge for the first time. The area had been housing cattle the last time we were out. It was of little concern to my donkey. He's been hauled through our tack shed so many times that walking on wood doesn't give him any reason for concern. I was thrilled with him.

The BUGS! Oh I hate to do it but I'm wishing for an early frost. Just a couple nights, just to kill those horrid mosquitoes!! Terrible things.
Anyways, at the end of it, I think Phillippe and I drove for a half hour. Ali and Jasmine probably did the same. And it was great fun!
I wanted to add a Love emoji AND a Wow, but decided to use the wow. What an amazing day for you.
 
Back at it this weekend. Phillippe and I spent a half hour out on the field Saturday, which was still soft and deeper than I'd expected. And, unfortunately, way more bugs than I'd expected too! Yesterday we did our 5 km alone. We would have been fairly close to ideal time but a new neighbor wanted to say hello to the donkey... we'll try again next time. We spent an hour driving. Then Ali wanted to try my K-bike as the bike. So I pulled off the foot basket for her, put the foot pegs on and was really impressed at how nimble little Jazzy is in it! They had a blast zipping all over the field and down to the neighbors' place. They spent a half hour driving.
Ali says to me that I really need to drive Phillippe that way, the bike is the best. I promptly put the basket back on. I am so glad she had fun, and I really appreciate that people who love the bikes, LOVE the bikes, it's just not for me.
 
I knew what that commercial was as soon as I saw the preview, and I LOVE it!!! I bet in a few years I could get Phillippe comfortable and consistent doing mark training, and some tricks, to do a commercial like that. I actually haven't done any trick training with him at all! My Standardbred horse does everything, lay down, rear, sit, bow, smile, touch targets, Spanish walk, and so much more, the stallion does the majority of them too - no rear! But I haven't taught the donkey. I think my aversion is that whatever I teach him could come back and bite me in the hind parts... Like if I taught him to lay down, his response to a stress stimulus could be to lay down, not safe in harness and vehicle. My standardbred, Jose, does have a stress response to rear. Not high or belligerent, but it's enough that I need to be conscious and careful.
Jasmine also doesn't do any tricks. Because we do care-home visits, I won't teach her to paw, wave, Spanish walk. Animals can get really into offering behaviors and that can get dangerous. It's something I preached when I taught trick-horse clinics.

Anyways, that commercial is the best and I love that Phillippe reminded you of it! ❤️
 
We made it! Our first CDE is in the books! What a great time, very welcoming people, lots of learning and I'm very proud to say Phillippe and I finished on a number (a big number!) and not a letter!
Saturday was dressage and cones, Sunday was marathon. Little donkey was a little less than confident going into dressage but didn't spook or park at all. He wasn't as relaxed as I would have really wanted but he was pretty accurate and moderately compliant with my requests. Now that he's been through the ring and test, I think he'll be far more confident next time.

New learning for me - eventing dressage scoring! I'm a dressage purist. My daughter came up and told me she beat me in dressage. In all fairness, pony Jasmine definitely has better, more consistent and freely forward movement than donkey, but I knew I'd driven a more accurate test than her. My score sheet said 55, hers 57. But that's penalty marks! Mine figured out to 65.6%, hers 64.4%. I did beat her! But that's the only thing I beat her in.

We headed straight to cones after dressage where Phillippe and I were clear and a mere 2 minutes (and change) over time... but we were clear!!!! Ali and Jasmine had 1 ball down and only 14 seconds over time. Good on them!!!!

So that calculates about an hour of driving for each of the kids on Saturday.

Sunday marathon day! I had surgery yesterday (Monday) so I'd asked if we could do our marathon in the morning so I could have the rest of the day to do surgery preparations. The organizers were very kind in accommodating. Realizing I'm driving a donkey and competitive ideal time was not going to be our focus, they put us out 1 minute after the first driver giving us 27 minutes before the next driver after us was to go. It worked out really well!
I'm glad to tell you that we made it through each and every obstacle correctly without errors!!! It was a lovely 6 km drive around the grounds, the weather was still cool and bugs were minimal, a nice wind too. Donkey felt game at the end. Like he'd worked, but not OVER worked. That was a huge win for me, we trotted the whole thing except for in between a few obstacles. We even went through the water hazard with little hesitation! In the end, we were 17 minutes and change over ideal time. I can't do much about speed, he's a donkey, but I can certainly make sure that we're accurate, and that we were!!

Ali and Jasmine were a couple hours after us and had 1 mistake going through a gate the wrong direction. But she came in only 2 minutes over ideal time! They won a prize for top junior competitor. She's also excited to try it again! I came in 7th out of 9 or so in training, but there were a couple of eliminations... We had the highest number of penalties to still finish on a number. I get a kick out of that. But we still finished!

I'm waiting for the professional pictures to get posted, but here's a couple of us that were snapped. I'll tell you, I'm pretty sure that donkey was the crowd favorite. So many people were out cheering us on. It was such a welcoming environment. I'm so glad I started this!

Oh, each another hour's time driving Sunday. 😁

Phillippe CDI.jpg
Jasmine CDI.jpg
 
50 minutes for Billy today. We went 2.4 miles. Tried to take Pepper at first but she was an *****, so got restrained behind. I am not totally comfortable with Billy; he has never done anything super silly, but I just feel as thought I need to be on my game the whole time we are driving. Maybe it is just me...
 
We made it! Our first CDE is in the books! What a great time, very welcoming people, lots of learning and I'm very proud to say Phillippe and I finished on a number (a big number!) and not a letter!
Saturday was dressage and cones, Sunday was marathon. Little donkey was a little less than confident going into dressage but didn't spook or park at all. He wasn't as relaxed as I would have really wanted but he was pretty accurate and moderately compliant with my requests. Now that he's been through the ring and test, I think he'll be far more confident next time.

New learning for me - eventing dressage scoring! I'm a dressage purist. My daughter came up and told me she beat me in dressage. In all fairness, pony Jasmine definitely has better, more consistent and freely forward movement than donkey, but I knew I'd driven a more accurate test than her. My score sheet said 55, hers 57. But that's penalty marks! Mine figured out to 65.6%, hers 64.4%. I did beat her! But that's the only thing I beat her in.

We headed straight to cones after dressage where Phillippe and I were clear and a mere 2 minutes (and change) over time... but we were clear!!!! Ali and Jasmine had 1 ball down and only 14 seconds over time. Good on them!!!!

So that calculates about an hour of driving for each of the kids on Saturday.

Sunday marathon day! I had surgery yesterday (Monday) so I'd asked if we could do our marathon in the morning so I could have the rest of the day to do surgery preparations. The organizers were very kind in accommodating. Realizing I'm driving a donkey and competitive ideal time was not going to be our focus, they put us out 1 minute after the first driver giving us 27 minutes before the next driver after us was to go. It worked out really well!
I'm glad to tell you that we made it through each and every obstacle correctly without errors!!! It was a lovely 6 km drive around the grounds, the weather was still cool and bugs were minimal, a nice wind too. Donkey felt game at the end. Like he'd worked, but not OVER worked. That was a huge win for me, we trotted the whole thing except for in between a few obstacles. We even went through the water hazard with little hesitation! In the end, we were 17 minutes and change over ideal time. I can't do much about speed, he's a donkey, but I can certainly make sure that we're accurate, and that we were!!

Ali and Jasmine were a couple hours after us and had 1 mistake going through a gate the wrong direction. But she came in only 2 minutes over ideal time! They won a prize for top junior competitor. She's also excited to try it again! I came in 7th out of 9 or so in training, but there were a couple of eliminations... We had the highest number of penalties to still finish on a number. I get a kick out of that. But we still finished!

I'm waiting for the professional pictures to get posted, but here's a couple of us that were snapped. I'll tell you, I'm pretty sure that donkey was the crowd favorite. So many people were out cheering us on. It was such a welcoming environment. I'm so glad I started this!

Oh, each another hour's time driving Sunday. 😁

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How wonderful! What a fun day. I was smiling all the time I was reading about your drives. Good job to all 4 of you
 
Thank you for sharing your terrific experience! It was so much fun to read and cheer you all on belatedly! I loved reading how accommodating and welcoming they were to little Phillippe.

Hope all went well with surgery and that you are soon up and about!
 

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