2015 A Drive in the Park: Day 1

Friday June 19 2015

Last weekend, I got to shoot "A Drive in the Park," an American Driving Society-sanctioned 2-day Horse Driving Trial and Combined Test in Nampa put on by the Treasure Valley Whips Carriage Driving Club.

This Combined Driving Event consisted of 3 competitions: Day 1's Dressage and Obstacles/Cones, and Day 2's Marathon.

Driving dressage takes place in an arena, testing the skills and obedience of the driver and horse over specific patterns and gaits. Obstacles/Cones is a timed course through course where drivers steer their horses through cones in a specific pattern. The more advanced levels have smaller gaps, and some of the steeds speed handily through this course.

Day 2's Marathon course (this one under a mile), wound in and around the horse park through different obstacles, weaving through gates in the correct sequences, up and down ramps, and at all but the training level, the water obstacle.

What I love about the driving is that people of all shapes and sizes and colors and ages drive horses of all shapes and sizes and colors and ages, in singles or doubles or teams of 4, pulling wagons, carriage, and carts of all shapes and colors and sizes. As one friend said, "In endurance you see… Arabians. And Arabians. And maybe an Arabian cross. Here, you see everything."

Everything from Arabians to Miniatures to Morgans to Fjords to Saddlebreds to Irish Draft crosses to Hackneys to Standardbreds to Thoroughbreds to Connemaras. (An amusing but apt classification is "VSE" - Very Small Equine). The Minis think they are monsters. I can time my shots to a certain stride at the trot, but when these business-like Very Small Equines cruise through the cones courses and their little legs spin like egg-beaters, it's time to just hold your finger on the shutter. Some of the ponies were proud high-steppers, the Standardbreds and Thoroughbreds ground-eating trotters, the bigger teams smart and athletic, and oh, so impressive-looking when they moved in step together.

The whole gallery can be seen here:
http://theequestrianvagabond.smugmug.com/2015-Drive-in-the-Park-Day-1/

Following are a few shots from Day 1's Dressage and Cones/Obstacles.


A smart team!


My friends Jan and Strider. I specifically went to A Drive in the Park last year to watch them.
Today Strider was very excited to be in the spotlight. Sometimes he had a hard time trotting. He wanted to canter or gait, wiggling around all over like a wet noodle. He had fun, and so did Jan!


All business!


I loved this handsome fellow


Loved these Fjords too


A colorful duo


One of those high-steppers!


A talented matched pair


The Irish draft crosses in step (the light one is half Andalusian; the bay half Quarter Horse)


Another smart team of Connemaras


Handsome horse, big wheels!

A Drive in the Park

Wednesday June 11 2014

"He's like a big goofy kid," Jan McEnroe said of her 10-year-old, 17-plus-hand Saddlebred named Strider, as he pulled us along in the cart. "He's always looking and thinking. Which isn't always a good thing!"

You could feel Strider's enthusiasm, and power, as he pulled us around the arena. The enthusiasm was contagious. I used to drive a carriage in Seattle over two Christmases - it brought back some fond memories of my great partner-in-harness Slim.

Jan and John are members of the Treasure Valley Whips Carriage Driving Club, which sponsored this driving competition at the Idaho Horse Park in Nampa.

Got a 17-hand horse? Got a mule? Got a miniature? All you need is a cart, and you can have some fun. (But make your equid is bomb-proofed first!)

Drivers and their horses performed in dressage, cones, and the marathon. Some drivers took it very seriously, some looked very elegant, some had a great deal of fun. One driver and her 'navigator' were giggling all the way through the water obstacle in the marathon portion. Jan and John and Strider just plain had fun.

Here are a few shots from the fun 2 days.

Strider and Jan. Isn't he terribly handsome?


Strider and Jan driving the cones.


Jan and John headed out on the marathon.




Navigator John pointing the way!


This lady and her horse were so elegant. I took lots of pictures of them!




This awesome hackney pony caught my eye both days. All business, but you could tell she was having fun too! Her driver and navigator were grinning the whole time.




A handsome pair in hand


Just terribly cute


These ponies are awesome. If I ever get into driving, it will be a horse this size!


This mini would not go in the water!


Well done!


Double the fun!


Who wouldn't like to drive this lovely pair of Fjords?


A gorgeous pair of warmbloods (Dutch and German). They were often in perfect synchronized step.




More photos are here:

https://picasaweb.google.com/113618720621188031303/ADriveInTheParkJune672014

Don't Shoot Me: I Drove a Horse Carriage

Sunday January 12 2014

'Slim' was his name. He was a well-cared-for, well-treated draft horse in his late teens that I drove in Seattle over a Christmas holiday many years ago.

Slim was not abused. He did not work every day, and when he was finished at night, and on his days off, his owner hauled him home (an hour or so away) and turned him out in his pasture with his herd-mates.

His 'beat' was approximately a 20-minute route in downtown Seattle, from Fourth street to First street near the Pike Place Market and back. He didn't work on steep hills; he didn't gallop along the streets till he was lathered up; he didn't pull 20 people in his carriage at a time. He was offered water between his rides (which he only rarely accepted). 

He's one of the best-trained horses I've ever worked with, regardless of discipline. He was utterly unafraid of traffic, or street people who sometimes got in his space. He was very willing (no, I never had to use a whip on him), and he was smart enough to read the traffic lights that told him when to go and whoa.

He'd stand between his rides parked at a curb at rest, with his head lowered, hind leg cocked - the same way our horses in the pasture stand at rest, when they aren't doing anything. Horses spend most of their resting and sleeping time standing up due to the handy locking mechanism in their legs (horses don't lie down to sleep much, because they don't need as much REM - rapid eye movement - sleep as other species, and because lying down for long periods of time will interfere with their blood flow because of their weight). Slim wasn't hanging his head from exhaustion, or cocking his leg from lameness. He was dozing, like horses do between periods of activity.


Horse abuse does exist, in every discipline, and in no disciplines. It can exist in a neglected horse in a pasture. One might argue it even exists in the wild when a wild horse starves to death. But abuse also exists in other animals: dogs, cats, rabbits, whether they are working animals or pets. Abuse exists among humans.

Horse abuse itself can be subjective. Most abuse is obvious: the soring practices in Tennessee Walker show horses; positive dopings in endurance horses in international races that have come to light of late, rollkur in the show ring when taken to extremes, among many other disciplines.

Some people say that making a horse do anything outside letting him exist is abuse. The converse of that is: letting a horse exist, stand in a pen and eat all he wants, and not asking him to work, could be considered abuse.

Using a horse for "work" does not automatically mean the horse is abused. There is no reason a horse can't be put to work, whether it be riding, competition, carriage pulling, ranch or farm work. In fact, I say that work is good for a horse, physically and mentally. Yes, abuse exists, but work does not always equal abuse. A real horse person can look at a horse and see the difference between 'work' and 'abuse'.

I haven't laid eyes on the carriage horses in New York whose fate appears soon to be determined by politicians. Therefore, I can't say if each or any of those horses are abused. If the horses and carriage drivers are like any of those I worked with in Seattle, it's very possible the New York horses are working horses that are not abused.

From personal experience, and as a horse person, I can say with certainty, that just because a working horse is pulling a carriage does not mean it is abused. Just because a carriage horse is standing with his head down, eyes closed, leg cocked, it does not mean it is abused.

Slim was a working carriage horse who was not abused, and who acted like a horse - while pulling his carriage, and in between his routes. Slim was an awesome carriage horse I was proud to learn from and drive.

My next post will give you a completely different perspective on carriage horses: two working horses in Egypt, a country where animals are used daily as a means of existence in the lives of the fellahin.