We have arrived!
Little dude looking out of the stall at little Everglades ranch. Paul is driving both Little Dude and Buddy at the spring fling HDT this weekend.
I haven’t driven Little Dude since black prong in march. He is just too much for me to handle driving. So, for the moment, I am Paul’s navigator for Buddy and LD’s groom.
Keep everyone posted on the show this weekend.
Long Road
Well, this season is going full force forward and it is interesting to see how the relations between our horses and the drivers has changed.
Buddy grew up a lot over the last 2 shows. At the Port Mayaka show, he was very scared of people. We did u-turns at almost every hazard before we even entered it because of the people at the in/out gates. But at the Nature Coast HDT, he never even thought about the people. He really seemed to enjoy the attention. They put us out between Advanced Ponies and the Advance Teams.
Little Dude and I are learning with each other. I think we have come a long way together this season. With the Port Mayaka Holiday HDT 2011, I learned how deal with his nervousness in dressage and his excitability in the hazards. He was a handful, but we did it. We had a lot of penalty points and we were 6 minutes early in the marathon portion, but we weren’t eliminated. Fast forward to the Nature Coast HDT in January. We improved our dressage score by 16 points and I managed to slow little dude down in the marathon (a little too slow). I have also decided that I am going to try to get Little Dude up on the snaffle portion of his bit for dressage for the May show at Port Mayaka. It a goal I hope to achieve with him.
Going forward, the barn where Little Dude and Buddy live is hosting a cones and hazards clinic on March 3 & 4 and we will be there. I hope to pick up speed and confidence. And then the following weekend is the Black Prong HDT. I hope that I will get even better with Little Dude at this show. Miss Anna and Bunny will be there as well.
We will see how everything goes….
show schedule
I have a show this coming weekend. I WILL be driving him!!!! Yes, I am! I have been driving him for a full week before the show and there have been NO issues. We have been practicing lots of circles. Something that we could not practice before the wreck without him getting very upset. He has gotten so much stronger over the summer. Paul has done a wonderful job of working with Little Dude and issues. I have a good feeling about the upcoming show.
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.
Short Update
Well, summer is coming to a close and the show season is about to start back up for the 2012 season. LD and I are still driving with each other and there has been no incidents with me or him to date. Paul has been doing a wonderful job in training LD. LD in turn has been learning patience with me.
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.