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Last weekend, I loaded up Allie, Bruno and Zoey and trekked up to Southern Pines for a driving clinic. The clinic was taught by Thorsten Zarembowicz, who is from Germany but spends the winter in Florida. Thorsten has competed and won at several World Championships. Thorsten actually did lessons with people in Aiken, but I had already signed up for lessons in North Carolina before I heard about them. This is typical for me!! So we went to Southern Pines for the weekend.

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For the two people reading this that follow my ponies, one of you might know that I have been showing Zoey and Bruno at all the driving shows for the past year. Allie has had some time off. Recently, I have been driving Allie with Bruno, but she is not as forgiving as princess pony Zoey. So I took all three, with plans to drive one pair on one day, and the other the following day.

So, Saturday dawned rainy and freezing cold. My favorite. At one point, I had to have Randy drive my ponies because my hands were numb! We drove Allie and Bruno that day. Thorsten has seen Bruno and Zoey go a number of times, and commented about how well matched Allie and Bruno are. They are more similar in height (Bruno is 12.3 and Allie 12.2, versus Zoey’s 13.2) and movement. Of course, Allie being Allie, had to throw in some naughty times when she said I was not driving as well as I could have been!!

After my drive, the rain conveniently stopped and the sun came out. We watched some of the other drivers go, and then Keady drove a pony with Thorsten (the owners couldn’t turn up until the following day) and I rode Zoey. Zoey was very proud of herself and was strutting around like the princess she is. That evening, one of the drivers in town hosted dinner for all the participants of the clinic.

Sunday, I totally changed my mind and drove Allie and Bruno again for our lesson. Zoey says she is perfect anyways. This time we decided to try my ponies on the opposite sides. Incidentally, Bruno had been driving on the right for the past months with Zoey, and had only been driving on the left with Allie. Bruno seemed happy to be back in his normal spot.

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We stuck around Monday and practiced cones with Allie and Randy’s pony, Toby. Toby is a multiple World Championship veteran and a schoolmaster at driving if there ever was one. I have been struggling with the speed in cones, because it is so much faster at the Advanced level. With Toby and Allie, hopefully I can get a better feel for my speed and setting up for the cones a little earlier. Twenty centimeters clearance is super tight. Eek!

The Kingdom of the Sun CDE (that’s a mouthful) takes place at the Florida Horse Park in Ocala, Florida the week of February 16th, 2015. Had been planning to go, but entering makes it all real! Now to see if Allie keeps progressing or if I will use the “easier” pair of Bruno and Zoey.