Combined driving, we love it.

Combined driving.  Often when you talk about the sport that you absolutely love, nobody knows what you are talking about.  We spent this last weekend in 70 Mile House, B.C. with 35 other competitors having a wonderful time, driving our horses and feeling the adrenaline rush.  That's combined driving, a real adrenaline rush.  Whether you drive a mini (vse), a mule, a donkey, a horse, or two or three or four, it is all a great rush just to do it.  
Combined driving also known as Horse Driving Trials is an equestrian sport involving carriage driving. In this discipline the driver sits on a vehicle drawn by a single horse, a pair or a team of four. The sport has three phases: Dressage, Cross-country Marathon and Obstacle Cone Driving and is most similar to the mounted equestrian sport of eventing. It is one of the ten international equestrian sport horse disciplines recognized by the Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI). Driving became an FEI discipline in 1970.^[1]

We had a great time, and thought that we would share some of our pictures.  How we travel.  It takes two rigs to get us to our destination "in style".  This is our great old International that just gets better and better every trip.  Took awhile to blow the carbon out of it after we got it because it is an old Telus truck and had just idled alot down at the coast in its first life.  In order to put the carriages up there, we had to reinforce the box a little.  Don't do this at home ;-}.

Here are Ted and June after 10K of the marathon.  Fred on the lines and Bill as navigator.

Oh nnnnooooooo,  boss, last year these coyotes ate us, not again!!!!!!.   

Ted, protect me.  What do you mean, June, there's another one over here ttttttttooooooo!!!!!!

We're out of here!!!! What do you know, they completed the first obstacle successfully.  Yayyyyy.

OMG, we didn't have to do this one last year.   Atleast there aren't any moose here.

Round and round we go.

And again.

Let's get Bill's feet wet - to his knees!!!!

We'll take some of the water with us, so the mini's will atleast not drown, maybe.

Scary Huberville.   They look calm, but this hazard scared them more than any other.

Noooooooooo, that away!!!!!!!   The curse of navigators.  Drivers need eyes in the back of their heads.

A little tight, eh what.

Boring, didn't roll the dice this year.

Some of our friends.  Look closely, this is a four up.  Not much bigger than the coyotes.

This is why we tried to take some water out of the hazard.  The cut out is of Ray Cody, kicking water - long story from last year.

A unicorn hitch of even smaller vse's.

Charlie and the invincible fleas.

The team after 15 kilometers.


Thought you might enjoy the pictures.  Can you tell how much fun this is.  A real adrenaline rush, but at our level quite safe with lots of help from other competitors and officials.  Sorry no pictures yet of the dressage and cones day.  Will try to upload those later.