Bonanza, HDT, RCMP... Oh My!

I realize that "horse show season" is pretty short in Alberta, really. So I do try to cram as much into it as possible. Since last post, we made it through Bonanza in Millarville, which is a 4-day driving clinic. We then went north to our very first ACDA Summer Days Horse Driving Trials, and yesterday, we participated in a club driving demo at the Whitemud Equine Centre for their RCMP Musical Ride. Millarville Bonanza is hosted by High Country Driving Club. It has the reputation of being a fantastic, educational opportunity with great people and a good venue. It was absolutely an experience... I was told it's always HOT for Bonanza, so that's how I packed. I took Falcor to work, and Phillippe as a spare. It poured at least 7 cm our first day of learning. It caused a big change in how classes were run as 3 of 4 driving spaces were outdoors. Instead of 1-hour long lessons, solo, in each area, they changed to 30 minutes indoors sharing the arena with another driver and their clinician. Fire-breathing Falcor and I managed through the less-than-ideal situation; however, it was still a really good opporutnity to grow. My clinician, Suzy Stafford, was fantastic. 5*, highly recomended! She is very experienced with animals coming from fine harness and is very experienced with retraining Morgans. My hackney didn't give her any concerns and she was able to calmly coach me in directing him into focus and relaxation. We were able to get 2 additional lessons in outside in larger areas where we continued to grow with success over the following 2 days, but rain returned for the final day when the plan was for a "derby" run. I left Falcor out and took Phillippe indoors, with a borrowed cart, to play.

For the most part, Bonanza was good. But I was really disappointed at the way some long-standing, experienced members had treated some of the new participants. One couple are long-standing members in the province, well known and experienced, but not part of that club's board. I was very disappointed to hear their condescending remarks made to new pariticipants causing two to state they would not be returning next year. One of the executive members also made a very poor representation of the club by demonstrating a strong double standard with use of helmets and gave us (my travelling companion and I) the impression that we were being accused of inviting guests to meals who were not paid for. We travelled 5 hours from home, just us. No one was interested in making that trek to have lunch. There was also a situation where our electric fence was moved (with best of intentions!) which caused it to ground out and could have caused harm to my pony. All in all, I think Bonanza could be a great opportunity for new drivers to learn and grow, but bad weather played a major role in some adverse experiences this year for us.

Summer Days HDT was a brand-new competition this year that piggybacked off the Bonanza. It was a great opportunity for the 3 provincial driving entities to come together in collaboration and was the first real event that Falcor and I got to do. The marathon was full and mostly on trails through trees! That's something that we handn't been able to school before. Falcor seemed to really enjoy the experience though! Although he was stressed on Saturday for his dressage in the morning, we were clear and did well enough to come in 4th of 8 in training. Sunday, rain returned. We had a much improved performance in our dressage and cones in the morning, but I pulled him from the marathon as the rain picked up, we have a 2-wheel cart with no brakes, 2 of us in the vehicle and Falcor is barefoot. I wasn't interested in risking injury to him on a technical course and less-than-ideal footing. I do not have any negative things to say about the experience. It was a great learning opportunity, wonderful people, lots of fun, and a great venue. I do intend to go back next year. Yesterday we were at the Whitemud Equine Learning Centre Association's (WELCA) RCMP Musical Ride event. Northern Lights Driving Club was invited to participate in a half-hour demo before the ride. I took Falcor and Phillippe and my talented friend, Jed Howlett, joined me in piloting my donkey around the demo. We took the animals for a walk and look around before harnessing up. I'd driven Falcor the day before without lunging and he'd felt great. This time, again, no lunging, and we had a confident, relaxed, happy pony who did a great demo! I was even able to push and ask for a bit of "heat" during the demo. He did great and gave me a wonderful drive! There's loads of great photos. Phillippe and Jed were crowd favorite, as always. We also got to have a booth in the "vendor village" and I received great reviews from our volunteers and the public. All in all, a fantastic experience.

What's coming up next? That's a bit weather dependent, but I've registered Flacor in 2 shows in Olds for pleasure-driving classes, and we have one more CDE in September I'd like to catch. Hopefully we can get everything done. Until next time, Happy Horseing!