[drivingpairs] Texas Tidbits #5

    Helen Roeder
Sunshine Pony Farm,
  El Hasa Sport Ponies and
www.drivingpairs.com


----- Original Message ----- 
From: Jerry McLennan 



Greetings Friends!!!

In case you read this on Saturday, August 27, don't forget to look for Mars 
tonight!!! As I understand it will be as big as the moon tonight.

Seems hard to believe that it's been 2 weeks since I wrote to yall.  We have 
been busy working horses, sleeping late, and tring to stay dry.  2 weeks ago we 
moved into the "other"side of the chalet because it has a washing machine.  The 
young dirver Courtney MacGillivray went back to Canada to get ready for college 
and we moved into her spot.  It has been nice to wash a little at a time.  Hey 
gals, the washing maching takes 2 hours to complete its cycle.  It took me a 
while to figure this out.  I kept going to the machine to get the clothes and 
they were NEVER ready.  I finally timed it.  No dryer, though.  So it takes a 
couple of days for clothes to dry on the rack I've rigged up on top of the 
washer, balancing it on the top of the shower stall.  Works pretty good if I 
say so myself.

Last Sunday Lisa,and Allan dove dressage and Mike joined them for cones in 
Tillburg.  Tillburgwas a 2 day show and is 45 minutes from here.  Gerard and 
Saskia (our hosts) competed, so we went over on Friday to help set up and walk 
the cones course.  Then we came home and worked our horses like in a marathon.  
Had them good and "reved up".  There is a wonderful place for us to work horses 
here.  Lots of trees to use as turning points and make up our own hazards.  We 
wanted Tillburg to be a cones practice in its regular progression - after a 
marathon - not after dressage.  So on Saturday morning we loaded up and went to 
drive cones and watch the marathon.  Our time was good, but 3 balls down - and 
the last two were 2 of them.  We've all got to pray for Mike's concentration to 
last thru the last cone!!  

Day before yesterday, Thursday, it rained buckets!!!  It had been forcasted, 
so, since we worked them on cones on Wednesday, we decided to take the day off. 
 We went to the NORTH of Holland to visit Jacob Jan Kramer and his wife 
Herromonia.  They have 2 teenage boys - Carl will be a Junior in high school - 
he has a very nice jumping horse- and Herman is in college.  They own and 
operate a large dairy and have a few horses as well.  Jacob Jan and Herromonia 
compete CDEs with Friesians.  They have been very successful with them, usually 
placing high in dressage, good in marathon and cones.  They took us all over 
northern Holland looking a Friesians.  The best one we saw was a stallion 
raised in Canada, brought over here to put some different blood lines into the 
mares, then he did not pass the curring.  That was a shame because a lot of the 
horses have a lot the same blood lines and it is beginning to show up in legs 
and the way they travel.  Jacob Jan wants to go to "Salzburg" so has decided 
after 10 years of not getting to the top 3 in Holland, to look for other horses 
and sell this pair.  We've tried to talk them into coming to Texas for a visit 
- they are a wonderful couple!  I think that is one of the nicest things about 
being here longer - the people you meet.  Especially the ones you are able to 
see and visit with and get to know personally.  It's like camp in Tennessee!!!!

We've been to 2 or 3 tack shops to see the different stuff we don't see at 
home.  

Watching the farrier was an experience.  I thought everyone shoed horses the 
same way, but they don't.  They don't use nippers at all.  Instead they use a 
long knife and a small hammer and cut the hoof and frog away with the same 
knife.  The horses didn't mind the change at all.

Most of yesterday was spent getting all our "stuff" cleaned and back into some 
similance of order.  Today I'll start putting it all back into the trailer to 
head for the US Training Camp in Germany in the morning (about 5:30 am.)  It is 
about a 10 or 11 hour trip so we'll start early.  Camp is in Langstetten just 
south of Munich.  www.zeitlers-kutschbock.de/kutschbock.html is the website and 
I'm anxious to see the place.  We are staying a few kilometers away at Hotel 
Zurpost.  Each driver was asked to make their own reservations, so I don't 
think we are all staying at the same place.  That is dissappointing to me, but 
I'm a groupy!!  The drivers may enjoy having some time to themselves.  
Hopefully I'll be able to find a computer while we're there to let yall know 
how things are going.

We did work the boys - marathon style - yesterday and they did GREAT!!  A lot 
of time was spent "pole bending" between the trees.  They responded great.  So 
good that when we got home we wrote down ALL the setting for everything - bit 
positions on the bridle, curb chains dropped on each side, everything!!  it 
worked and we wanted to be sure we could replicate it after packing, unpacking 
and working on different things the next 2 weeks. TWO WEEKS FROM TODAY IS THE 
MARATHON!!   It's hard to believe its is just around the corner.

We sooooo appreciate all of you, your friendship, your prayers, your 
encouragement.  Thanks for being our friends.  You realize again, when you are 
far away from home, how important friends really are and we know how blessed 
indeed we are when we see how many of you are lifting us up and actually 
reading all this mess I'm writing!!!

We love you!!

Serving the Shepherd, Loving His Lambs,

Jerry McLennan

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