EVERYONE NEEDS A PARTNER FOR THE ROAD AHEAD

AN AMERICAN SHETLAND LOOK AT CDE

Come with me on a journey of exploring and searching for more excitement, better health, great learning and challenges not only for yourself but for your Shetland. Come along as I venture into a world of possibility;  a passionate pony gal introduced into a whole new realm of opportunities geared towards days, weeks and years of partnering with my driving ponies in a fun, self challenging venue like nothing I have ever seen before. 

My invitation and introduction to the world of Combined Driving Events (CDE) began with Miniature Horse friends asking me to pay my entry, bring a pony and come along to an Intro to CDE Clinic at Happ's, located in Ethel, Washington.  First, I had never heard of the place nor could I imagine a private facility dedicated to cross country events of the size and scope I was hearing about.  With little coercion, these friends convinced me I would have a great time and it would get me out of the rut I was stuck in.  I had no idea what to expect, but I decided to set aside old habits and GO.

The magic began; but the familiarity and security of the breed shows was nowhere to be found.  I felt isolated with my American Shetland, Flip, since everyone else was driving Miniatures, Haflingers, or Friesans.  Something was wrong with this picture.  I just didn't know what it was at the time.  Flip had, up to this point, a spectacular breed show career as a Classic Open Pleasure pony.  He knew the shiny, black, pinstriped Jerald show cart with pneumatic tires and he knew well the upheaded, collected, extended pleasure trot with the overcheck rein and bit.  We were proud that he had nice "action" for a Classic.  What more was there?  That is what I was hoping this clinic would begin to unravel in my mind.  

During the clinic, the verbiage I was familiar with over all my years in horses and ponies disappeared.   Instead, new words like dressage, counter bent, cones, meters, kilometers, carriages, sections, marathon, penalties, obstacles, hazards, speeds, times, and the most ominous word of all, NAVIGATOR, crowded my brain.  It felt like overload at times, particularly when the clinician at that first Intro clinic emphasized Dressage and we actually had to memorize a pattern, perform it the next day and be judged.  Although I came home discouraged, I could not shake my curiosity, and kept asking myself, what is a Navigator?   My Miniature friends had never mentioned Navigator and I didn't see them having to load a second person on their cart.  But then, they were Mini's and their division was called Very Small Equine (VSE).  I kept asking myself; how was this all going to work?  Reading about it made even less sense, but I persisted. 

In the summer of 2009, I figured it would be fun to be a spectator at a bona fide CDE.  A friend was visiting and we made the trek to Beaver Creek, Oregon on Marathon Day.  We were both excited and ready to absorb as much knowledge as possible,  especially to figure out this Navigator thing where it concerned our Shetlands;  and we did.  We saw first hand that a Navigator either sat next to the driver of a 2 wheeled cart or stood on a low ledge on the back of a 4 wheeled carriage coaching and assisting the driver during the Marathon portion of the competition.    

In CDE, Shetlands are part of the PONY family, albeit Small Pony, along with Haflingers, Welsh, Fjords and others.   Even though our guys are a third the size of some of them, a Shetland or any pony over 39", is required to carry a Navigator.  Someone with far more knowledge than I,  must know the Shetland's capabilities, but my reservations were mounting.  

The next event I attended was as a volunteer at a Happ's Driving Trial.  I learned first hand what more of the different competitions looked like, how the people managed their time, and the performance levels of the horses, still with great reservations of stepping into a foreign, highly athletic world of equines.  Maybe WE were too old.

By early winter, someone suggested to me I bring my pony and attend an Arena Driving Trial.  It is allegedly a much reduced version of "some" of the things you encounter at a CDE performed inside a covered arena.  Weather is not an issue and some of the rigid rules are modified at the discretion of the organizer.  The attendance is open to everyone, low key, and very much geared towards newcomers.  We loaded up our stuff, an everyday harness, our easy entry cart and off we went to see if participating answered more questions.  Once again, here were my Mini friends driving their darling, snappy little equines around solo.  I couldn't imagine why we weren't part of the Very Small Equine group; after all, our Shetlands only weighed maybe 75-150 pounds more than they did and in some cases were only a couple of inches taller.  Miraculously, I memorized the Dressage Pattern although my presentation wasn't pretty.  I managed to WIN the Cone Killer award which was a very nice award but came with the dubious honor of knocking  the most tennis balls off the top of the cones as we passed between sets of two.  We couldn't have been off to a worse start.  We still loved our great American Shetland, Flip, and knew there had to be better days ahead but the puzzle pieces just didn't seem to be falling into place.  Home was looking mighty good.  

We managed to make it to one more Arena Driving Trial in the winter.  With an extremely high score (a low score is much sought after--like golf) and an expensive flat tire on our way home, our Discourage Meter needle was tilted to the far right.  Maybe this wasn't all it was cracked up to be, for US.  The attraction was there,  and the curiosity persisted.  I knew there were hundreds of new people to the sport having a ball and everyone was unbelievably helpful.  It seemed like they all knew so much and we would never catch up.  

The next step was to get rid of some of the jitters and apprehension as well as figure out what was going so wrong when asking my pony to make the tight turns around obstacles and thru the cones course.  Even though it didn't seem to be working, the pace and action was still very invigorating.  A private training session with Terri Jones was fabulous.  I felt it cemented the possibilities in my mind.  The problem was that this was way too new for Flip and my expectations were too high.  But my resolve faded and I didn't make any more of the series of ADT's.  The nagging issue of the Navigator wasn't coming to any resolution and I resigned myself to few possibilities in CDE.  

Many months later, I got an email from Maureen Harkcom, owner and organizer of all of the spectacular events at Happ's.  She had taken on the task of assembling a roster of Breed Stewards within the American Driving Society (ADS) to create co-partnerships with the various breed organizations.  Her inquiry was soliciting either my interest or a referral to someone to act on behalf of the American Shetland.  Without hesitation, I imagined myself fulfilling that role since my passion for these ponies consumes me and without hesitation,  I raised my hand and accepted the challenge.  Immediately I went to work contacting the necessary people within ASPC who could facilitate this mutually beneficial union between the two organizations.  I could see such exciting possibilities for all Shetland enthusiasts and a bright future for ponies whose breed show careers had either ended or never started.  This was going to reignite the spark that made our ponies the great little animals they are and embrace a whole segment of the population all over the country. 

Flip, Frances & Diane at Happ's Septemeber 2010

This spark is coming full circle.  Since that unexpected email, I have attended another CDE as a spectator, feeling bold enough to venture around the course and observe the vet checks.  I have participated in my "second" Intro to CDE clinic under the tutelage of Robert Griswold.  The repetition has been as good for me as it has been for a pony in training.  Having the good fortune of Laura Hill sharing her advice and riding in the cart with me at Happ's and Linda Thomas being kind enough to help Flip go thru the creek were momentous experiences.  Getting hundreds of questions answered by Merridy Hance has been the prescription for looking at new horizons.  But the best fun was having Carol Bowersock take Flip's heart rate and then conning Frances Bowersock to go on the marathon course with me, discovering after long trots over bridges, thru creeks, and gullies, and up embankments, that a Shetland CAN and will haul a driver and a Navigator all over the countryside, maintain a perfect heart rate and be ready to go again. 

 This is exciting stuff, open to all who seek a higher level of excitement, achievement and fun.  Presently, I have set aside the Navigator concerns, am researching some of the lighter carriages available and am looking forward to meeting all the people who give the greatest care to their animals and embrace this sport.  Come join us.  You'll never look back.  

                                               Our friends, Duchess, Bev White and Gabe Garnica

                                                     

By Diane Zmolek

ADS Breed Steward/American Shetland Pony

August 18, 2010

WILDFLOWERS AT OVERLOOK