Presidential Active Lifestyle Award (PALA)

It's been so hot out that it is hard to drive, so Best and I have been working on our Presidential Active Lifestyle Award (PALA).  Well, it might be more accurate to say that I have been and Best has been along for the walk.

The Presidential Active Lifestyle Award (PALA) challenge helps add an activity, in my case walking, to your daily life, and then rewards you when you do. As a very results oriented person this is a good challenge for me.  Last year I did the 3-Day Walk for the Cure (60 miles in 3 days) which was fun but I ended up with a nasty case of tendinitis which doesn't want to go away and then last December I blew out my calf muscle.  I spent New Years Eve in a hot tub trying to get my leg muscles to relax after they had contracted to the point were the right leg was nearly a 1/4 of an inch shorter than the left.  It took a long time to get that straightened out but I'm definitely making progress (have to keep up with Best when he walks) and this gives me an extra incentive to get out there again.

What do you have to do?  For adults, you need to be active 30 minutes a day, at least 5 days a week, for 6 out of 8 weeks.  Horseback riding is one of the recognized activities so if you're riding feel free to join up.

What do you get? Presidential Active Lifestyle Award.  You can also get a t-shirt, stickers, etc.  You do have to pay a small fee to get them mailed to you but it's still cheaper than signing up for a 5K.  There is no fee to sign up.

It's too bad they don't have an award for all the pets that walk along with their people, I'd bet they'd have a lot of them sign up.  I thought of signing Best up some how but thought they might notice someone named "Against the Best."  :)

Priceless

When starting a new horse after driving a champion driving horse there are bound to be comparisons.  Tonight "Best" showed that even if he never wins a blue ribbon he's still an outstanding representative for Standardbreds.  We had three 'priceless' moments tonight.

Today was the open house at the Deer Creek Stable where I board.  I'm the only driving horse there and they don't do driving lessons so I hadn't planned on driving today.  I put my ribbon wall hanging on Best's door and made sure the cart looked good but that was the extent of my planned participation.  Oh, and I braided Best's mane and tail.  While I had him out, brushing on him, two young girls came by.  They had driven a mini once and were interested in driving a horse.  I wasn't going to hook but I thought, what the heck, I'll tack him up and let them line drive him.  As an extra precaution I hooked a lounge line to him so that if something went wrong I'd have a back up, after all this is a horse that was racing just 50 days ago. 

That was when we had our first priceless moment - he was perfect.  Both girls line drove him several times around the ring and had a blast.  They thanked me several times and gave Best a good petting.  One remarked that she was going to consider doing some more driving.

The second priceless moment came when I was walking around with Best.  We ended up near my car and I thought I'd save myself a walk later by grabbing the lawn chair then.  All was well until I took a bad step. Down I went!  Chair went one way, glasses went another, and I did a landing that included multiple location grass stains! As I was falling I thought, CRUD!  There goes the horse!  How wrong was I?  He just stopped and patiently waited until I got up (which took a couple of minutes).  Anyone else would have been gone!

The third priceless moment was the result of several people asking me about hooking Best.  I finally decided I would and immediately had a line of people wanting rides.  None of them had ever had a driving experience before.  One little girl, when asked if she had ever been in a cart before, replied "Only in the grocery store!"  Another little girl who might have been 2 or 3 years old rode with her Mom with a smile and loved trotting.  Later she came up to me and asked if she could have another ride.  I promised that the next time she came I'd be happy to take her for another ride.

I loved driving Draken and wouldn't change the experiences I had with him for the world but he never would have done what Best did today.  And so I can say with all seriousness that even if he never wins a blue ribbon he's providing me with priceless experiences all the same.