Monday, June 11, 2012

Tandem (aka I thought I was retired?)

Draken recently made a trip to the KY Horse Park for Carriage Round-up.  While our family has been going off and on for over 10 years now, Draken hasn't been to the park since WEG.  In fact, I think it was his first trailer trip in 2 years!  While Joyce (my Mom) drives him a couple times a month it's mainly just down the road or around the back pasture so he was really relaxed this trip.

My brother, Brian, driving Draken with his son in the back seat of a carriage once owned by our grandparents.  Not looking too bad for a 21 year old, is he?

We had a bit of rain to cool things off on Thursday but it made for nice driving weather, if a bit damp. Draken and Mom with the marathon vehicle.

On Saturday, Clay Maier was nice enough to come over and help us drive tandem.  Here he is working with Draken before we hitch.  While Draken taught a lot of people how to drive while at Morrisville, he's not always the easiest horse to drive (he always gives you 110% whether you want it or not) and he doesn't really appreciate being lunged so I wasn't sure how he'd do with Clay.  They got along just fine!  Clay mentioned twice that he was a really nice horse and you can tell by Draken's attitude that he liked the way Clay drove him.

This is it, the moment you've all been waiting for!  Draken and Against the Best together in Tandem!

Many thanks to the Jerry and Nancy Bedinghaus for their help getting hooked.  Also, thanks to Charlie Poppe for loaning us the equipment.

Clay definitely makes driving tandem look easier than it is.  Both horses were doing well enough that I was able to take the lines for a few minutes and what an experience that was!  That top line really needs to be able to slide while the bottom line stays steady.  As we practice and become more comfortable we'll be working on my rein handling skills, getting Best more collected and forward, and getting the boys more in step.  All in all, it was a great experience.  Many, many thanks to all those who helped make it possible!