Coach wanted!

Oh no!!! What disappointment! Heard yesterday that one of my trainers Ben Simonsén comes to Vaasa for training on a day that I can't participate :P Had so looked forward to train again under his supportive attityde and in fact would had surpriced him by driving pair instead of just Ivanhoe... Well, that plan did not work out! :) Took immediately plan B. in action and called my other trainer Leena Rimpiläinen at Laukanmäki Stable and asked if there was any driving times left for Andreas Hesse who would be there coaching the same week... We'll see how that plan goes, would be fun to show him, too, what we have learnt with Ivanhoe since last time we drove for him. If plan B. doesn't work - well, I'll just have to exercise by myself then!

The first touch to driving (except for trotters of course) I got already when I did my equine studies in Häme Polytechnic/Mustiala in 1999 as we had a driving course at Ypäjä Equine Collage with Hans Sidbäck as a teacher. I'll always member how unbeliveable it was to drive his pair of North Swedish coldblood stallions and how exactly perfect his stables and tack-room always was and should be kept!  But here a few words of my trainers then for whom I have been driving lately!

Leena Rimpiläinen is a colleague and friend of mine and equine teacher at Kiuruvesi Equine Collage, she is one of two certificated driving teachers in Finland and driving stable owner. She has competed at national level with her Finnhorses of which you can here see me driving Mäntymäen Velmu with - Leena as a groom. What a stallion! Leena is very exact of security and teaches with a firm attitude.

Ben Simonsén has won the Finnish Championships a few times with single and pair and has got a silver medal from World Championships, too. Ben is a relaxed and supportive trainer and a true professional from whom you learn A LOT every time! Ben is here driving Ivanhoe at regional training camp.

For Andreas Hesse I have driven only once and he of course has the most strict (german? :) ) attityde to driving, you will learn to drive exactly as it is traditionally ment with him, but he is still a very relaxed and fun trainer, too. Andreas is for example the former trainer of the Finnish national team and a well know trainer in several countries, both riders and drivers. Verano was trained long reins with Andreas this summer and I think he liked Verano a lot!

Flashback

Yes, had my friend over at Sunday to introduce her a bit to traditional driving instead of driving with trotters, and of course we took a short driving pass with the pair. A few days later she asked when we will drive again so if I now do this right I might get a groom for my pair... ;)

Wanted to share a few photos of all the ponies I've been driving since 2008 :)

Okana 3 years and I at Ylivieska Breed Show long rein class in 2011

Okana at a driving training with Leena Rimpiläinen as a coach in 2010

We bought this carrige from Sweden before even knowing if the ponies would work well as a pair...

... and of course they did! Swinghill's Paulette at right and Okana at left viewed from the drivers seat. Here for the first time driven in pair...

... and in the end of the summer participating at Seinäjoki breed show in performance classes, driving class easy - classwinners and Performance Champion of the day! This top moment happened in August 2011.

Ivanhoe av Friheten in the three photos above. First long reins in competition in Ylivieska (winner) and also chose to be the Performance classes Reserve Champion at the same show (photo in the middle). Last photo taken in Mustiala Shettis Cup  finals 2011 where we where third in both driving and long reins.

Verano Lee v.d. Zandkamp and me driving with Aksel above. The second photo is of Leena Rimpiläinen and Verano at a driving training at our stable in 2011.

Updates

So now for all you who are interested in who we and our ponies are, I made pages for each and every one as you can see here above. Now you can read a bit of our driving back ground.

As you all entusiast probably know, the worldchampionships in Pony Driving is competed in Pau this weekend, so don't miss the livefeed today of the marathon!

Pony Driving World Championships!

Blogin uusi elämä

Ainakin otsikko lupaa paljon mutta katsotaan miten käy! Piiiiitkä hiljaiselon jälkeen - tai pikemminkin kiireiselon jälkeen - olisi tarkoitus käyttää vähän aikaa blogin kirjoittamiseen jatkossa keskittyen poniemme valjakkoajoharjoituksiin ja puuhailuihin.

And the second point is starting to write this in English if some Shetland Pony drivers around the world would be interested in reading what we are doing up here in the cold North. Helps me to learn driving associated vocabulary also ;)

So, here is a short video of two of our ponies Ivanhoe av Friheten as leader and Swinghill's Paulette as second, first time ever driven long reins tandem! It was quite challenging = fun! Must practise a bit more before trying this with a carrige attached, security first and nicely working ponies before going on to the next step!

These two ponies have now been driven in pair (the normal way) twice, both though with another pony before this, and I'm now hoping of maybe even participate in driving trials next summer, lets see how it goes!

Uusi poni ja arkiaskareita

Kevätaurinko on herätellyt asiakaskuntaa joten viime viikkona on ollut kiitettävän kiireistä tallilla.

Helmikuun alkupuolella meille muutti vielä yksi poni lisää, nimittäin rautias tähtipää tamma Abelle! Abelle on osoittautunut oikein kiltiksi ja mukavaksi poniksi ja se onkin jo ollut jo monessa tallin touhussa mukana. Meillä säännöllisesti käyvä Liina on treenannut Abellen kanssa ratsastusta kovasti sillä tarkoituksena on osallistua Ruukin shettisnäyttelyssä keskivaikeaan ratsastusluokkaan! Abelle erottuu edukseen laumassa sillä kaikkien kommentti on suurinpiirtein ollut - jeeee ei-musta poni! :D

Tänään kävimme parin mustan eli Kukkan ja Ransun kanssa Himangalla talutusratsastuskeikalla Teboilin tapahtumassa. Kuvassa Kukka & Ransu tauolla Markon kanssa. Rekiajelua tapahtumassa tarjosi naapuritallin suomenhevosori Jänkä-Jussi jolla oli kovasti asiaa poneille, Jaska kertoi sen olleen varsana ponin kanssa samassa tarhassa ja että raveissakin ponit ovat ne mille se hirnui :) Kukka puolestaan hirnui kovasti Jussille sen lähtiessä kuljetusauton kyytiin.