[drivingpairs] Fw: Tandemania

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Anewton 
To: RECDRIVE ; Driving Pairs ; cd-l 
Sent: Monday, May 05, 2003 8:55 AM
Subject: Tandemania


    Yippee, yahoo, dancing around , doing back flips ( well wishing I could) 
singing loudly and big smile on my face!!! We just came back from 3 days of 
learning to drive Tandem at Rough Terrain Farm. The clinic was exceptionally 
organized by Hannah Polson and the farm beautifully run by Leslie Haynes. You 
absolutely could not meet a nicer group of people. Don't miss out on 
opportunities for Clinics there! Sterling Grayburn ( a man of infinite 
patience) gave the clinic. If anyone has a chance to do a lesson with him, he 
is an exceptional instructor. Kind, patient and very thorough in explaining 
things.
    The first day we hooked up the Standardbred sisters Katie and Foxie. Since 
they have never been in Tandem, Sterling drove them most of the first 90 
minutes. They did remarkably well, Katie thoroughly enjoyed just dancing out 
front and Foxie pulled three of us in the Glinkowski marathon carriage. I of 
course had Camptown Dave who is a very knowledgeable and capable groom. Thanks 
Dave for all your great help! Then it was my turn to drive in the indoors, 
YIKES. Having basically no multiples experience this was an incredible 
challenge for me. Trying to sort out the lines, remember the lengths, keep 
Katie out of draft, keep Foxie from falling in, take the loops...well it 
boggled this old mind. Then we got to take the STB sisters out on a race track. 
Boy , tandem on a racetrack, now that was a real blast!
    The 2nd day Sterling drove first then I drove about 90 minutes. We were 
doing circles and figure 8's in the indoors all at the trot of course. I can 
remember a few years back not even being able to drive single doing that in an 
indoor arena. Katie needed to be a bit more forward at times and Foxie was 
fussy sometimes but all in all they did great. There were a few times I was 
thankful that Camptown Dave was on the back as I fumbled my lines and Katie was 
turned around looking at me. No matter how mixed up I got they just calmly 
stood while with Sterlings and Daves help we sorted things out. I went a little 
brain dead at the end so we headed back outside to the track just to get them 
going straight for awhile. One of the funniest moments was when I said to Katie 
my leader to walk on but I forgot to say anything to Foxie my wheeler. Foxie 
stood fast as Katie hit the breast collar. Katie just turned and looked at me 
as to say get your act together!!
    We spent most of the third day out on the track doing small serpentines 
from side to side and working on different styles of driving. The "girlies" 
were round , relaxed and working in harmony together. Sterling commented that 
they were two of the most calm and forgiving horses he had ever seen. Nothing 
really phased them and they stood like rocks.
    This has been a dream of mine for 4 years and it finally came true!! I 
can't tell you how thrilling this was for me and how deeply I appreciate 
everyone who helped it come true. Ann McLure, Jay, Sterling, Mary Ruth, Hardy 
and many others who have answered all my hundreds of questions. Leslie, Hannah, 
Natalie, Chris and all the folks at Rough Terrain who provided the opportunity. 
Camptown Dave, Paula, Wendy and many others from the list who have cheered me 
on. A big thanks to all!!

Ansley and the Tandemaniacs (well they are from Maine) Katie and Foxie

_________________________________________________________
To Unsubscribe, change to Digest or Vacation mode go to: 
http://www.drivingpairs.com/dpmem.html
`````````````````````````````````````````````````````````

Other related posts: