Sleighing with Best

Best is once again in New York for the sleighing season.  This picture of him appeared in one of the Carriage Association of America's newsletters.

Bruce Haak (Afton, NY) driving Against the Best (Standardbred) with Joyce Haak as passenger.  The sleigh was made by Dunn & Stalker from Meadville, PA.  The company was founded in 1856.  Their light carriages, buggies and sleighs were know for their beautiful designs as well as their durability.  

Driving a cones course

Pardon the driving, I need to tighten my lines.  However, if you've never driven a cones course before this is a decent example of one.  This was taken at the National Drive 2012.  They were great, every day they changed the two cones courses so there were lots of opportunites to practice cone driving.

Judged Trail Ride with Best

This is our new theme!

I recently had the opportunity to take Best in the woods, of course, we didn't just start out with a nice hack through the woods.  No, we tackled the Cal-U Equestrian Team's Judged Trail Ride in Mingo Park.  You could ride in teams and we were fortunate that an experienced friend let us trail along with her mare.  Best did very good overall.  He practiced leading and following as well as standing quietly while waiting for others to finish their obstacle.  Overall he finished 6th in the Best of the Rest category, not bad for his first outing.  

We were a bit over-matched by the terrain though, Mingo has some hills that were much steeper than we had tackled before.  We had some problems with the saddle slipping back but Best was very tolerant.  I'm still working on developing my seat and Best had several opportunities to dump me but he never took it.  At one point we were going up hill at a trot, with the saddle slid back, when my stirrup came out of the keeper, suddenly I'm grabbing mane, riding with one stirrup with the other stirrup dangling upside down from my toe.  Yes, he was very good for not trying anything at that point. 

Here are a few pictures from the event, they were taken by a Cal-U team member.

Here we go on a Jungle Cruise!  Going through the dangling cloth while walking down the tarp resulted in some dancing but he was more concerned about the noise then anything else.  He's very much a city boy - 21 gun salutes and firetrucks are no problem but rustling leaves are 'weird.'  He was much better on tarps as time went on though. 

We had to walk on the tarp and then do a 360 on the haunches.  Since Best has studs in his shoes we walked across the tarp and then did our 360 so we wouldn't tear it.

We jogged down this 'road' before stepping over the 'bumps.'

Best visits the Dark Side

Yes, it's true, Best and I have been visiting the Dark Side.  While I haven't seen any of the rumored cookies I have noticed that they have caramel apples, which is nearly as good.

Best and I went to our first riding show this weekend. He did great!  We came home with 2 blues, 1 second, a fifth and a sixth, out of seven classes.  We didn't place in the first class, Best was clearly a bit baffled by what we were doing (keyhole race) but never refused.  And then there was the jug race (you're give a milk jug, you ride down to a barrel, pop milk jug into bin, and then ride back) which his rider lost for him.  I was determined not to get my hand stuck and thus proceeded to drop it, bouncing it off my knee, toe and finally the barrel.  Good news though, Best couldn't have cared less. In other classes, especially those without a lot of turns, well, let's just say in walk/trot speed classes a STB can trot it out!

We won this team class called Twister.

His ears are up and he's trying to do his best.

Yup, he was really concerned about things.  Note the loose rein.  This was toward the end of the day.  He was concerned in the morning for about 10 mins. about the STBs working on the track but after that he was fine.  He still needs a bit more work on his social skills but by the end of the day he was weaving between horse on the way to the gate like a pro.

While it was great that Best placed it should also be noted that once again he was a great ambassador for Standardbreds.  Several people mentioned that they were impressed with his temperament.  One lady specifically mentioned that we inspired her.  She is about my size with a STB that she doesn't ride.  Hopefully she'll be able to get out there and start riding again.  I also talked to two ladies in the supermarket who had been at the show, they said that I should be very proud of Best.  I am.

Best makes a new friend

One of the hardest things for Best is making new horse friends. He's pretty independent, which is really nice when I go out by myself (no whinnies for barn buddies) but I also think he should be a horse.  Horses are meant to be herd animals.  I was delighted when he made friends with Red (in bridle), although I've never seen horses spend so much time rubbing heads and licking each other.

Ride and Drive Horse?

Best is turning out to be quite the riding horse.  When we came back from Kentucky I brought my saddle and bridle with us.  Since then, bit by bit, I've been getting on him more and more.  I haven't ridden with any consistency since 2003, primarily because I kept getting hurt.  Best is extremely patient with me.  I have a three-tier step stool that I use to just slide into the saddle.  When I'm getting off him, he'll stand patiently while I move the steps around to get better alignment.  While I don't think we're going to win any ridding classes anytime soon we are having fun, or at least I am.

Blinkers are Best's security blanket.  When I first started ridding him he was very hesitant about everything, if I rode him in his driving bridle then he was more confident.  So I started line driving him without blinkers and riding him just for short periods.  He's really coming along now and relaxing much more.  However, Best is definitely a city horse. Since we got my stirrups straightened out we've made a ton of progress and we did our first ride out to the very back hay field recently. Mailboxes, trash cans, flags are all okay, rabbits are tolerated, but frogs who croak suddenly, well, they're scary without blinkers.  He's very good about not spooking out from under me or trying to run but sometimes his body language just shouts OMG Nature!  

We'll continue to take it slow - building up his back muscles, my leg muscles and our overall confidence - but we're taken the first steps and I'd love to have him as a ride and drive horse for next year.

Cool Summer Treats

This summer has been very hot and I was looking for cool treats for Best.  I've tried a variety of options but the one he likes best is frozen apple juice.  I just fill the ice cube trays with apple juice, freeze overnight, and we're good to go.  I also tried ice cubes of honey water and carrots but the apple juice is preferred

To make a larger treat I cutting the top off a pop bottle, filling it with water before adding carrots and honey.  A round bottle works best, otherwise he uses the edges to eat if faster.  I also recommend using a smooth sided bottle (without grips) as that makes it much easier to remove from the container.

I have found that Best likes the treats better if they are just frozen overnight.  I think they don't freeze 100% through and that makes them easier for him to eat.