Nearly Christmas - Recap on the Year

It must have been a busy one, I haven't managed a single blog post since April. Here we are, nearly 8 months later. What happened this year? Let's see, April we hit up the Horse Expo in Red Deer. This was the first time I'd been down since Mane Event, so a few years - pre-COVID for sure. Ali and I took down Phillippe the donkey and her superstar Jasmine pony. We did daily demos for the Alberta Donkey and Mule Club as well as the Alberta Carriage Driving Association. It was a very busy few days running between the two organizations and I'm thrilled that a wonderful volunteer has stepped up to take over organizing the ACDA participation in 2025. Everything went really well and I developed a relationship with the new owners of Saddle Up Magazine! They were so smitten with Mr. Phillippe that they offered to publish a monthly feature: Adventures with Phillippe where we post a photo and talk about interesting things we got up to in the month. I understand they get great reviews on it! Horse Expo went so well that the ADMC was invited back to participate in Westerner Days so Jasmine and Phillippe came south again, this time my dear friend (and enabler) Jed took the lines of Jasmine for me for daily demos and parade walking.

Falcor had a brillint year of deveoopment. I started taking him with us in the spring. We started with Sparrowhawk Spring Fling in New Serepta where he stood at the trailer and ground drove the grounds on the practise day. I did not hitch him there, just got him to experience. He was a hot tamale but every time we went out, he felt better and better. At the ADMC/Northern Lights collaborative show, I showed him ground driving. He won some ribbons and, again, had a day of standing at the trailer experiencing everything in this new horse-show life. From there, we schooled Brown's property in Vimy, we schooled Minds Eye in Morinville, and we competed in our first derby! No ribbons there for him, but I was thrilled that he could handle all the elements - dressage, cones and a small derby course, and do it calmly and confidently! Regardless of ribbons, it was a huge win for us!

Phillippe competed in the ADMC/NL show weekend winning top driving long ears and overall champion longears (highest points from driving day and open show day) earning us 2 belt buckles! We'd also won top driving donkey from 2023 with the ADMC - a total of 3 belt buckles! Pretty impressive for a tiny beasty. Phillippe also competed in the Pace event and placed third! It was a format that we could be very successful in as he is not fast, but he is very consistent. We were only 20 seconds off our expected time. I was so impressed.

Jasmine and Ali didn't show a whole lot. They did show at the collaborative show in pleasure driving. There were enough juniors there that she did not win the junior high point! Although that pony did win the barrel race. Ali competed in the Harvest Moon derby with Jasmine too where they upped their game to preliminary level and won junior championship. That was enough for the pair of them to win ACDA junior high-point championship this year.

I drove enough that I earned my 100-hour pin! I think I'm actually half way to my 500-hour certificate! I got to teach some clinics with Jed, go on adventures, organize another show for Westlock, and made lots of new friends (read: enabled numerous more people into driving!) Ritchie also had a successful year with Tamara in para dressage. I got to visit him a few times in Red Deer as we were passing through. It was great to see him so loved. He has returned home now and will take a year off training. I'm going to do some preventative maintenance for him as there's an old injury that could potentially cuase some issues in the future. We will live cover him this summer and let him enjoy just being a horse. I'm not sure what it will look like following that, if I will have the ambition to climb back aboard and try showing dressage again, or if something else needs to be arranged... And last, but far from least, Uri has gone to North Carolina to pursue his show pony carrer as a sport horse. I sold him to a lovely lady there and she sends me regular updates. I'm confident it's an ideal match and I'm so excited for their future together. Ali did get to have the first "ride" on him about 2 weeks before he left (she sat on him in tack and walked about 6 steps forward - the most uneventful first ride ever!) I understand he grew on the road and now measured 16.1 hh. We've already paid for a re-breed.

And so, that's what it is! It was a great year and I'm looking forward to what 2025 is going to bring. Stay tuned and happy horseing!