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| Pleasure Driving Clubs | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Dec 6 2007, 09:04 AM (456 Views) | |
| Riggs | Dec 6 2007, 09:04 AM Post #1 |
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Shunnnnn the unbeliever. Shunnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn.
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Okay, please bear with my stupid questions while I continue my research. :lol: PLEASURE DRIVING The driving clinic I took was sponsored by a Pleasure Driving Club. Besides putting on clinics, what other activities take place for members of these clubs? Are there competition divisions for pleasure driving type horses? Or are they really gaited horses that you would not use for pleasure. Please forgive me if I sound really stupid. I'm not but my knowledge level in this discipline is worse than neophyte. |
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| goodhors | Dec 6 2007, 10:10 AM Post #2 |
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We're on a bridge, Chaaaaaaaaarlie!
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Pleasure Driving may include breed showing. This could be carriage driving (antiques, slower gaits) or Roadsters (speedy with racing silks like Standardbreds), may be seperated by gaits as in Fine Harness (flashy and high stepping with a viceroy) and Country Pleasure doing more pleasure speeds, with antiques or carts again. QH breed class expectations are very different than Arabs, Morgans or Saddlebreds at a show. Driving Clubs can be focused on showing or just having fun. Usually a mixture of both. They usually don't track competitions, do year-end things for the members. We have two working Clubs in Michigan. Both put on a Pleasure Show, Clinics, learning experiences with speakers. One puts on a CDE each year. They both sponsor social gatherings, with and without the horses. The other MI driving groups are more local gatherings, usually for picnic drives, fun gatherings. The driving shows have a variety of classes. Horse may be doing the same things in ring, but judged to different criteria each time the enter. One class most of the points would be judged on the driver skills, horse only gets a few point. Another class points are mostly on horse, gaits, skills, response to driver. Sometimes points are on how well you are presenting horse and vehicle to judge, Turnout Class. Do you present a correct look, well fitted CLEAN harness and vehicle, attractive driver appearance in color and apparel, as the overall appealing picture. Other classes are strictly performance, Dressage at various levels of difficulty. Obstacle classes, driven in a designated order. Gamblers Choice, obstacles have points, you choose which to drive, gaining the most points in time limit. Timed Pleasure Drives, often around the outside grounds of the show, thru trees, gentle obstacles. Poker Drives. These classes will be broken Pony and Horse if timed, and there are enough entries in the Pleasure sections. Most shows require wooden wheeled vehicles, no air-filled tires because the ground surface may be a field or rough ground. Breed shows seem to allow the light veheicles with air-filled tires, because everything is done in a prepared dirt ring. Local groups may have their own adaptations of classes, like spearing rings off a clip, trail type classes, ground driving thru obstacles with no vehicle, trading drivers when reveresed, in a class called Double Jeopardy. Joining the American Driving Society will get you a copy of the rulebook most Driving Clubs use. The details are helpful in telling you what to expect, how things are judged with the point focus in each class. The ADS is kind of the ruling body for American driving activities (not breeds), training and rating judges, Technical Delegates, so we know what to expect when we compete. You get a monthly newsletter, Quarterly Whip magazine and 2 Omnibus' that tell of any ADS approved competitions. You are also able to find local Driving Clubs from their lists. I think the membership is worth the price of joining. Here is their site: http://www.americandrivingsociety.org/ CDE is a whole different section of their activities. |
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| Riggs | Dec 6 2007, 10:17 AM Post #3 |
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Shunnnnn the unbeliever. Shunnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn.
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Thank you so much for your very informative post! Paragraph four would be the area I would be most interested in. What is the most common breed in this area? Are warmblood crosses successful? I am a TB lover but was thinking maybe a TB/Warmblood cross..... |
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| dancing lawn | Dec 7 2007, 10:13 AM Post #4 |
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We're on a bridge, Chaaaaaaaaarlie!
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Here, Riggs, try this: http://www.driveontario.ca/copda/ |
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| Riggs | Dec 10 2007, 09:08 AM Post #5 |
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Shunnnnn the unbeliever. Shunnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn.
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Thanks DL! |
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| goodhors | Dec 10 2007, 08:55 PM Post #6 |
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We're on a bridge, Chaaaaaaaaarlie!
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Riggs, I would think a medium size horse, in the 15h range, might be the best choice for driven Performance classes. With everything in a ring, contained area, you don't need a taller, long-legged horse. Smaller animals are very bendable, for turns in obstacles, changes of route, still big enough to manage vehicle in sandy footing. There really is no "best" driving breed or cross. So much depends on the driver, what you are asking of the animal, individual animals. Lots of good performers out there from all the breeds, crosses, backyard horses and ponies. We drive half TBs crosses. They would much rather go down the road, Marathon, even Dressage over Pleasure driving. Maybe because we enjoy that better?? As big as they are, you have to be really skillful to get around those little obstacles in a speedy time. Sometimes you just can't fit them thru those little holes quickly!! Smaller animals can make us look VERY SLOW. They do well in CDE, Cones, natural hazards. Again, other TB crosses may be different. Not sure where you are located, but here are some more Driving club sites, to see the variety a club may contain in driving interests. http://www.metamoracarriagedriving.org/ http://016f785.netsolhost.com/calendar.htm http://www.wrcarriageassociation.org/history http://www.iwwi.org/ |
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