Best's National Award Arrived

I have to say that the Standardbred Pleasure Horse Organization puts out some rather fancy end of the year prizes.  Thank you for Best's award!

Best wins his first national award

The Standardbred Pleasure Horse Association held their award banquet this past Sunday in NJ.  Against the Best won National Demo Horse for the year.  Best was a very busy boy in 2012.  He participated in demos at:

Lane Cove Dressage Open House
Equine Affaire
Carriage Round-up
The National Drive

At each of these events Best did multiple things.  For example at Equine Affaire he participated in the Breeds presentation 3 times, did four driving events, and ended up being a demo horse for a shoeing presentation.

In addition to the events Best did several parades including:

Owosso Glow Parade (MI)
Victorian Parade (KY)
Fireman's Parade (PA)
Memorial Day Parade (PA)

Congratulations to Best and all of the other year end winners!

Best and I would also like to offer our congratulations to fellow New Yorkers:

Maria Rice and Odee Ozar for their Reserve Championship in Roadster.  Here is a picture of the two from the National Show.

Denelle Stratton and her gelding Slip brought home National High Point Hunter, National High Point Novice Horse and Res. Champion for hunter paces!

Best participates in a driving clinic

The Best was out and about this past weekend, being a very good demo horse at the Carriage Driving 101 clinic that we put on at Tipperary Farms in McDonald, PA.  The USTA posted a little article about the clinic on their website - http://xwebapp.ustrotting.com/absolutenm/templates/article.aspx?articleid=52349&zoneid=63

Here are a few pictures from the event.

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.