rara007
Well-Known Member
For a bit of a laugh 
I dragged my old driving pony, Pip, literally out of the field and off to our local TREC. Neither of us have done anything like it before but seeing as I've had him 10 years and made him do everything under the sun, he's pretty amenable to strange goings on.
First off the people were all friendly and helpful, answering all of our newbie questions. Running ahead of time so a super speedy warm up and we were ready to go in.
First up- slow canter. Full marks for this (he is only 14hh and it's not size rated so he really ought to have!)
Fast walk- he did try hard and we did our best but we were a way off the pace for 0 points (as far as I can tell barely anyone in our 'newcomers' class got any walk points.
Onto the obstacles- number 1 was low branches. Went for trot as we've literally never done them before. Nice 7 points to start us off. Next clover leaf- which is very like a driving trails obstacle- another solid 7
Seemed way too tight for anyone to even consider a canter but maybe the 'grown-ups' did!. Next up the tight S bend, which with him only being 14hh 
was tight but not horrendous= our first 10! Onto a maypole where you pick up the end of a rope, go around a circle with it and replace it back where it was. Only did this in walk as had no idea how it would go but secured the 5 points for this. Trot next time! Onto the narrow corridor which was only a few strides from the maypole and surprisingly narrow so trotted this for a nice 7. Rein back next, a standard driving move. But between two poles which he has decided he can't do and has to step out of the poles so we got a deserved 0 for that, only one step away from staying in though! Bending next and again played safe in trot (the things do seem tight!) followed by a led footbridge. No hesitation (again we've seen hundreds driving and he's put up with everything hacking for the last decade so he really shouldn't have done!). My reins were apparently a bit tight so we didn't quite get full here, know for next time Finally the last thing was to mount from a block. He took one step forwards to miss out on full points but was actually very good. (I usually mount him at walk to be honest as I feel conscious he's only small and I'm big!)
Overall a good laugh! Plenty of easy marks to pick up for next time now I know but very pleased for a first event! We finished 3rd/6 in our class which although is called newcomers you can stay in for a while so I don't think many were as new as us! If you have one locally I strongly recommend it as a good afternoon out!
I dragged my old driving pony, Pip, literally out of the field and off to our local TREC. Neither of us have done anything like it before but seeing as I've had him 10 years and made him do everything under the sun, he's pretty amenable to strange goings on. First off the people were all friendly and helpful, answering all of our newbie questions. Running ahead of time so a super speedy warm up and we were ready to go in.
First up- slow canter. Full marks for this (he is only 14hh and it's not size rated so he really ought to have!)
Fast walk- he did try hard and we did our best but we were a way off the pace for 0 points (as far as I can tell barely anyone in our 'newcomers' class got any walk points.
Onto the obstacles- number 1 was low branches. Went for trot as we've literally never done them before. Nice 7 points to start us off. Next clover leaf- which is very like a driving trails obstacle- another solid 7
Seemed way too tight for anyone to even consider a canter but maybe the 'grown-ups' did!. Next up the tight S bend, which with him only being 14hh was tight but not horrendous= our first 10! Onto a maypole where you pick up the end of a rope, go around a circle with it and replace it back where it was. Only did this in walk as had no idea how it would go but secured the 5 points for this. Trot next time! Onto the narrow corridor which was only a few strides from the maypole and surprisingly narrow so trotted this for a nice 7. Rein back next, a standard driving move. But between two poles which he has decided he can't do and has to step out of the poles so we got a deserved 0 for that, only one step away from staying in though! Bending next and again played safe in trot (the things do seem tight!) followed by a led footbridge. No hesitation (again we've seen hundreds driving and he's put up with everything hacking for the last decade so he really shouldn't have done!). My reins were apparently a bit tight so we didn't quite get full here, know for next time Finally the last thing was to mount from a block. He took one step forwards to miss out on full points but was actually very good. (I usually mount him at walk to be honest as I feel conscious he's only small and I'm big!)Overall a good laugh! Plenty of easy marks to pick up for next time now I know but very pleased for a first event! We finished 3rd/6 in our class which although is called newcomers you can stay in for a while so I don't think many were as new as us! If you have one locally I strongly recommend it as a good afternoon out!
