Marathon drivers-yet another thing for your spares kit

[Quelah]

We are just home from Shady Oaks, another beautiful weekend at the Grupes, good friends, good horses. Got to meet Scott Monroe’s Shadow, AKA the Black Bullet, AKA Bethesda After Dark, you haven’t seen a horse fly in front of a vehicle until you’ve seen those two go through hazards! Also got to visit with a couple of “future Polish Warmbloods”, a pair of Mark Schmidt’s 4 who are going to scoot home from California (they hail from Montana I believe) and go direct to Kentucky where they with the rest of the 4 will be used at the WEG by a Polish driver. And of course, the rest of the competitors, and the Grupe’s own horses, who always rank very high on the eye candy meter.

My husband gators for Diane Kastama, and they had an interesting incident on the marathon. It was around the 4th or 5th hazard (the Hill or the Big Top for those who know Shady Oaks). Short version, one of the bolt holding the shafts to the carriage broke. I could see what had gone wrong as I was running across the Great Park (and I don’t run unless someone is chasing me with and axe so can I get a little credit for running that far?). I could also see the thought bubble over my husband’s head as he was leaning around Diane assessing the situation (and since the horse was safely stopped he was not stepping down until told to).

What he was thinking was “if we’ve got a spare bolt, I can walk the wheels and the rail, get to it, and fix it, without stepping down and getting the 20 point penalty”. I asked him later when all was said and done, if that was what he was thinking. He said yes and if they’d at least had a screw driver he could have shoved that through and gotten them out of the hazard for an easier repair.

But, as it turned out, not one but both bolts had broken. So under Diane’s direction I carefully led Rupert while Tony watched the carriage, until we were clear of the hazard. Diane being the good sport/class act that she is, knew that Scott and Shadow were coming behind her and wanted to clear the hazard so they wouldn’t have to hold on course.

So to the CDE’ers, spare shaft bolts in the spares kits, you just never know.

All ended well, horse was fine, Diane was fine, Tony was fine, I was tired since I led Rupert all the way back to the barn, you know those Advanced horses and their fast walks, whew! Carriage was fixed after a trip to the hardware store, and for a little redemption, Diane and Rupert beat Scott and Shadow in cones today, yahooey!

ETA-I also realized on Thursday that I should probably learn FEI test 9. Tony usually rides for Diane in dressage was well, but he couldn’t take the time, too busy with work. I rode for her (first time outside of clinics) and that halt on centerline coming across the arena the short way?! Did not see that one coming, thought I was going to do a faceplant in the back of her seat which probably would have resulted in a yelp, wouldn’t have helped the overall score though it would have given the judges a chuckle. Yes, must review that test before next year, lol!

[winfieldfarm]

ya know, you think you’ve packed everything you may need. Pretty soon, Marathon is going to be like pit crew at an Indy race. If there’s a problem in a hazard, five guys would jump out of the bushes with new tires, spare harness parts, water for the horses, snack for the driver and eye glass wash and dry shoes for the gator. As long as it gets done in 14 seconds or less, no penalties!!

[goodhors]

We carry a spare kingpin now because we once broke it in a hazard on course.

No you probably can’t fix the kingpin in the 5 minutes, but trying to drive out with “pretend steering” and no pole control was SO WEIRD. Horses were confused with the peculiar feel of pull, vehicle was not tracking behind them! We got clear of the hazard and called THAT off. Unharnessed the Team and walked back. Having a spare kingpin would allow you to put it in, have control of the vehicle to drag it back to stabling. Having a spare kingpin would allow you to continue competing on the next day and load the vehicle to get home!

I do find it interesting what folks carry as spares. We have the array from when spares on list were required, and found MANY of them quite helpful at times. The optional extras were specific to number of horses driving, from times they needed whatever peculiar item they carry now. Multiples had to carry spare shoes and horseshoe nails, farrier’s hammer, so we still do! Husband made a folding shoe, can fit 3 different shape hooves, from an antique shoe we saw. Our horses are all wearing shoes of similar size, so anyone could use the spare. We also carry spare springs for the self-supporting poles on Marathon vehicles. Broke those a couple times, but had spares after the first time!! Not a crisis like a kingpin, but best to have parts on hand. Might be gloves, duct tape, sunscreen, wrenches, tools, special kind of lead ropes that are useful in other situations.

When we drove a single, we always carried a spare breastcollar after breaking a hame! I had just heard that we should have a spare breastcollar at a talk, put it on the sleigh. Husband was quite surprised to find a breastcollar, while looking for a halter to lead horse home! So he was able to drive home instead of walking and then going back to pick up the sleigh.

[twofatponies]

Sounds like an exciting event!

Can you put a spare horse in the spares kit? LOL

[JoanR]

So sorry things did not go well for Diane. She is a class act! I had hoped to go watch this weekend but wew were too busy getting everything ready for the Draft Horse Clsssic. Some of my friends made it out and said it was awesomew to watch. We’re all at Training Level and still trying to understand even that level of conpetition. I noticed that a lot of placings changed in cones. Were the penallties mostly for knocking over cones fo time penalties? I sm actually a bit excited about cones “counting” so much at the higher levels since I am pretty good at cones and hope (someday) to be able to do Prelim. Also, a question for those in the know…are there also penalties in conces at HDTs or is it just CDEs. There is so much to learn…but I am liking the conbined driving more and more. Several of my friends and I have discovered we are no longer totally excited about the draft shows we are now headed for…the “roundy-rounds” just don’t seem very exciting once you’ve gotten to try dressage, cones and marathon! Hopefully I will get mnore excited when we get to Grass Valley. But being around people who are horrifed to learn your horses can and do canter while driving is getting old…

[Quelah]

Too bad you couldn’t make it, I saw Jeanne there on Thurs for the Advanced dressage. I’m jealous you got to have the weekend to get ready for GV We got home last night and I thought “I have waaay too much to get done in two days!” Allyn Carman was at Shady Oaks (she won Prelim Pony w/ her Clyde (yay!) x Hackney Pony) and she was talking about how much stuff they had already taken over to GV and how much work she had to do when she got home.

I thought of you the other night when I was driving and my horse broke to the canter, for four strides I thought wheeee! this is fun, and then ok, enough of that, stop it, lol! I hear ya on all that

Re cones and penalities, I’m not up on all the rules, Diane knows so much and I just take care of the horse. I think her philosophy in cones is that it’s better to go clean and a little slower, the balance of time penalties vs ball penalties works out better that way. OTOH, she hasn’t shown below Prelim since I’ve been helping her, rules might be different at Training, I don’t know.

[mares_tails]

[QUOTE=JoanR;5109359]
Were the penallties mostly for knocking over cones fo time penalties?[/QUOTE]
From the posted score sheet it was mostly balls down.

Under the columns labeled 1-20 you can see where the fault was, and the column “PNTS” is for time penalties (+ other penalties).

[CDE_Driver]

Speaking of spare parts to take on the marathon…an extra breast collar would have been nice to have along

[Quelah]

LOL! CDE, you guys home safe and sound? I can see how a truely “everything you need spares kit” could result in the gator standing on a footlocker strapped to the back step.

Although…

[QUOTE=winfieldfarm;5108353]
Pretty soon, Marathon is going to be like pit crew at an Indy race. If there’s a problem in a hazard, five guys would jump out of the bushes with new tires, spare harness parts, water for the horses, snack for the driver and eye glass wash and dry shoes for the gator. As long as it gets done in 14 seconds or less, no penalties!![/QUOTE]

I have to say, speaking from personal experience (hopefully never to repeat), had this happened at a draft show, the above is pretty much what would have happened. I broke a breast collar at a draft show, and in less than 5 minutes, was handed a breast collar from someone else’s harness that would fit the horse.

[JoanR]

Thanks, Mares Tails, for the link. Another bit of info to add to my education. Quelah–I really, really wanted to go watch at Shady Oaks, but I haven’t driven that hitch wagon since May and thought I needed to do the whole show-harness practice once before GV. You are right about people jumping in to help at the draft shows. Once helped to unhitch a
6-up that had bizarre equipment failure and ended up with the swing twam on the ground. Fortunanately they were in the warm-up and had just managed to depart the show ring. Don’t know if you were there at Clay Station when my bigger Clyde decided I had confused him so he laid down in the line-up. Four of our people jumped in the arena and we were unhooked and cart backed up (and horse kicked in the butt to get him up). Lots of the “light horse folk” were astonished at how quickly the “disaster” was resolved. It was totally my own fault, but it was sure nice to get “saved” so quickly. I do worry a bit about being out on the marathon course without my “pit crew” but I guess I am a spoiled brat!

[RMJacobs]

I read Diane’s account of this in the Equestrians with Disabilities forum. She sure was grateful for all the support.

Rebecca