Weekend Fun at the WEG Test Event Combined Driving Edition

This past weekend was a much enjoyed pony filled, spring weather, couple of days! It started out with my horsie friend EG coming into town on Friday after work and ended with a hunter pace with fellow blogger Sara and her Trainer (who is also my friend). But first off SATURDAY's adventures!!!!!

The first pony on course

In all the lead up to WEG in September, TIEC has to have various test events for each discipline, hopefully to iron out any and all kinks (b/c there are a fair amount!) This weekend was the test event for Dressage, Para-Dressage, and Combined Driving. I did not venture over to TIEC proper to watch the Dressage or the conclusion of the Combined Driving b/c Sunday was RVPC's hunter pace and I was working the HP and riding in it! But for Saturday we went over to the White Oak side of TIEC for the Marathon part of Combined Driving.

go little guy go!!!

OMG Combined Driving is so cool!!!!!! The test event had more than the 4 in hand driving (which is what is shown at WEG) so we got to see Single Ponies, Pony Pair, Single Horse, Horse Pairs, and the Team Driving (4 in hand). First up on Saturday was the single ponies and they were so cute!!!! Especially the little round halflinger!!! I don't remember what the other ponies were but they were some sort of cross with Dutch Driving Horses (I think).

The Gangsta' Ponies

Then came the Pony Pairs! There was only 1 pair entered and it happened to be a pair of buckskin pinto SHETLAND PONIES. They are the smallest driving ponies in the world? Or at least the smallest in the US and these little dudes were sassy and adorable!!!! They did not look like fat hairy beasts but instead like sleek, elegant, little critters that flipped their toes and pranced around like little sassy beauty queens. They even have a nickname and are called The Gangsta' Ponies and are very well known in the driving world (I mean seriously, how could you miss these tiny little shetland ponies?) I'm a bit bummed that my pictures of them didn't quite come out b/c I was having a bit of trouble figuring out a good setting for my camera. (I need some lessons on how to work my camera better. I do not pretend to be good at using it)

I would not want to sit this horse's trot!

After the ponies navigated the marathon part of the course, the single horses came next. A lot of the singles and the only horse pair ended up scratching so we had a long break between the final single horse and the Team. EG and I had ventured over to the 1st hazard on course and it ended up being one of the coolest spots to hang out. We got to stand on top of the bridge and look down as the horses crossed back and forth underneath us! There was also an official standing at the top that was so kind and helpful and explained the sport to all us standing there not having a clue what was going on. It's a lot to type out and explain but the general gist of it is The driver has a certain amount of time to complete the entire course, like optimum time on XC BUT at each of the hazards (there were 7 total at this event) you want to be the fastest. They have timers set up for when you start and when you finish and you have to go through a set pattern that is marked with A,B,C,D,E "flags" and you have to keep Red on the Right just like in eventing. If I understood correctly you can pick which direction you turn to them so if you have a better left turn you can turn left to some of them or right. But I don't think this works out for all of the hazards? Either way the fastest time through the hazard is the best and you incur penalty points for going to slow, knocking the ball off a cup, moving any of the obstacles, losing a person on your carriage, and not going through the flags in the correct order.

Finally it was time for the Team event and this was probably the most fascinating to watch. Honestly the skill level required to do this was completely mesmerizing and I'm in total awe of these horses, drivers, navigators, and grooms.

She's 70!!!!

The first driver of the Teams was this lady that is 70 years old and breeds her own horses. They are a cross between Russian Arabians and German Riding Ponies. She had a lovely team of all grays and I do not envy her having to keep all of them so clean!!!! Especially b/c there is a 5th horse back at the barn that is an extra in case one goes lame!!! Can you imagine keeping 5 gray horses clean??????? I can barely keep my 1 bay from looking like a mud ball!

coming to the finish of Obstacle 2

Either way she was first to the 1st hazard and it was pretty darn impressive. She messed up twice but was able to navigate her horses around and get them out of 2 pretty serious fixes. The first mess up was coming around a turn and her horses split the cement barrel thing. One of the horses bascailyl turned around in the harness and she was able to back the team up and the horse that was turned around fixed itself and off they went! Then towards the end of the 1st hazard she hooked her left wheel on the corner of D and basically spun the entire wooden triangle around and knocked it out of place. She calmly re-righted herself from the driver's seat and finished the hazard. Even though that wasn't ideal I was so impressed with how the horses just did their thing and listened to her to get out of the situation!!!!! Chimi would of freaked out a long time ago!!! HAHAAHAHA. (I don't think driving is in his future) They ended up having to get a tractor to come out to the 1st hazard and completely fix the obstacle she had moved and the team behind her ended up having an 11 minute hold.

Because of the hold we got to watch the next two teams come through pretty quickly b/c only the team of Friesians had been stopped. It was really funny b/c there were some older ladies standing on the bridge with us oohing and ahhing over these damn friesians. I hate friesians all b/c of one named G that was one of the NC State Dressage team's horses one year. I know Britt LOVED him but I thought he was an ass (even though he was kinda cool to ride. But I still thought he was an moron) So thanks G for being such a dumbass that I hate all of your kind now. HA. Anyways this one lady I thought was going to fall down in a fit of passion b/c she couldn't stop professing her love for the team of hairy black beasts coming our way. I did politely say "You know the breed is kinda stupid right?" and she laughed and said "I don't care, they are just so beautiful. It'd be like having a good looking man to look at all the time even if he's dumb as a box of rocks" I started laughing and thought touché!!!

Groom running after the carriage... Groom getting a hand back on the carriage...

After that we headed back towards Hazard 5 and 6 and watched the teams navigate through those obstacles. At the water one of the grooms (I think thats the correct term for the person on the back? I googled it so don't quote me!) fell off the back of the carriage and had to run through the water and jump on. There's definitely a reason everyone wears helmets and safety vests during the marathon phase!!!!

Finally the last driver of the day came through and we headed back. Overall it was such a cool experience and if I can score tickets to the driving at WEG I'm definitely going!!!! I highly recommend going to a driving competition if there is one in your area b/c it's quite fascinating and the amount of effort that goes into this event is insane!!!!! But honestly how many people can compete at the top of the level at 70 in their selected event of choice? I know there was a dressage person from Japan I think that was 70 at one of the Olympics but not many out there!