I'm off to The Laurels!  The trailer is packed to capacity with RH and a variety of products from the store as we'll be heading to The National Drive immediately following the conclusion of The Laurels.  What a busy month!

I will be available for both CAA Driver Proficiency Program Evaluations and Prep Sessions at The National Drive.  If you are interested in doing either, or anything else, drop Linda an email or give her a call at the store, Wednesday - Friday.  She's keeping the schedule. We already have several slots filled, so don't wait too long!

The store will be closed Tuesday September 14 through Saturday, Sept 18 (we're always closed on Sunday and Mondays) as Linda and I will both be at The National Drive.  We'll re-open as usual on Tuesday, Sept. 21. We will be returning emails and phone calls so do leave us a message if you have a question or order.  We'll get back to you!  

Tracking Time:

I think that it's a common experience for people who are new to combined driving to get a little lost and confused with all of the timing that goes on at a combined driving event.  Here's a little primer that you can use to make sense of it all, along with some tools.

What times are tracked at a combined driving event?
There are three basic times that are tracked while you are competing in a CDE.  There is the marathon course time, hazard times, and course time on the cones course.  Two of these times, hazard & cones times, you will need to be aware, but do not have to keep track of while you are actually driving.  However, the marathon course time, you'll want to know how to handle.

The marathon is segmented into sections A, D, and E.  At one time there was a section B & C, but those have fallen by the way side as the sport has developed. 

In each of these sections your time on course is tracked.  These times are a separate set of times from the timing with-in each hazard.  In the course time you'll need to be aware of three sets of numbers:

Time Allowed:                      This is most amount of time you can be out on a given section of the course without accruing penalties.

Minimum Time:                    This is the least amount of time you can take to complete a given section of the course without accruing penalties.

Time Limit:                            This is the most time you can take to complete the given section of a course without being eliminated.  This time is one that you should all but ignore since if you are up against this time, you are having a very bad day on the marathon and the penalties you'll receive for making it under this time, but over the time allowed will effectively put you well out of the running to place in the scoring.    >>Read More

I had written this Coachman's Guide installment earlier this year and based on the questions we've been getting via email and at the store in the past few weeks, it's time to pull it out again. There are always lots of questions about what is the best bit to use, and since no two horses' mouths are the same, it's not always an easy answer. This is why we have such a liberal bit buy back policy, because sometimes the answer is just to try it and see what the horse thinks! There are literally thousands of bits out there, and hundreds of applications for them. Almost everyday someone comes up with a new and "better" bit.  >>Read More