[drivingpairs] Hello
- From: "JOHN & ERIKA PORTER" <cypresskeep@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: drivingpairs@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 17 Feb 2003 20:14:21 -0500
Hello All,
I've been getting the list for a couple of
months and have enjoyed the comments. We are
from Texas have but have live in Florida for the
last 5 years . I used to ride Hunter/Jumpers and
3-day event, so when age and injury caught up
with me we stared looking at driving CDEs. We
have been showing our Welsh Cob/Thoroughbreds
crosses as single horses in Pleasure
and CDE for a couple of years. We put them
together as a pair for the first time the
weekend before Christmas this year. The boys
went to their first CDE as a pair Jan. 17th
at the Treasure Cost Event
(www.thecarriagehouse.com/CDE2003.htm) near Ft.
Pierce FL. My wife and I have had fun driving
singles but there is no question pairs are a
real kick.
We started our CDE driving with a use
single/pair vehicle, we extended the navigators
step, rebuilt the brakes, added seats over the
back wheels and guards to keep posts from
getting caught inside the back wheels. I am a
firm believer in making sure that the equipment
is well maintained and in working order. Sunday
morning we were at a local park that has trails
setup for horses and carriages. We have the
Black Prong CDE coming up and we like working
the horses on these trails to get ready for the
marathon. My wife was navigator on a friends
single horse carriages and another friend was on
the back of our carriage. We can to a creek
with a steep bank and the singe carriage slowed
to a walk, my younger horse started to act-up.
They ended up swinging around as far as they
could to the left. I pull them back around with
out to much trouble and started to go on though
the creek. I quickly checked the harness and
pole to make sure nothing was tangles, nothing
was tangled but the pole had bend in it where it
when into the socket at the splinter bar. As we
crossed the bank the pole broke and back hit the
ground, I stopped the boys and hit breaks and
called to my wife =93 I have no pole, and no
steering. The breaks just went out=94. The Horse
& Carriage Gods were smiling on me, the boys
stopped but were jumpy, the carriage rolled up
against a tree and did not hit them in the back
legs. Erika came back and headed the boys, Greg
and I un-hitched (quick release shackles are
great) them and we moved them forward away from
the carriage.
At this point I started breathing again!! It was
time to looked at what we had; a 675 pound 3
miles from the truck; a metal pole that had the
back 6 inched broken off. We pulled out the
spare parts kit to see what we could do. We
pull the broken section out the socket, used the
hammer to beat the pole so that it could go back
in the socket. Duck taped the pole so it could
not slide out the socket. Shorten the traces one
hole and put the boys to. We made sure that the
traces were short enough that the boys were not
pulling on the pole and drove back to the
parking lot. The trail is a loop so we did not
have to cross the creek again. We drove back
with no problem from the carriage or horses.
Lessons learned:
1)=09Make sure that your horses are well
trained and quite. If something goes wrong you
want them to listen to you and weight for you to
get them out of trouble.
2)=09Make sure that your carriage is well
maintained.
3)=09The spars parts list in the ADS rulebook
is a good start but add a few extras and always
take it with you.
4)=09The marathon vehicle that we have has a
pole made from square stock. It has been
reinforced for Black Prong this weekend. The
pole and splinter bar assembly will be replaced
with heaver gage round stock as soon as I can
fabricate one.
5)=09Remain calm Talk to your horse and help
in a calm and reasonable voice. If you are
calm, you can keep you horse calm and out of
trouble.
6)=09Taking your time training and not
rushing the groundwork will help when something
happens that is beyond your control.
John Porter & Erika Matulich
CYPRESS KEEP
www.cypresskeep.com
4909 Stanley Road
Plant City, FL 33565
(813) 982-2200 (H)
(813) 495-0070 (M)
(813) 982-9709 (fax)
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