The Saguaro State Mini and Pony Club
Miniature horses are pretty popular in Arizona and there are two statewide clubs devoted to these little equines. The Saguaro State club is based in the Prescott area and we have become good friends with many of the members. There are less uses available for owners of miniature horses. You obviously can't throw a saddle on one and ride it towards the nearest mountain trail. But miniature people have all the variety of shows for their little equine, not much different than those for full size horses. Both clubs also sponsor drill teams which are very popular in parades and other events. And some people keep minis around the house just like pets.
For us, miniature horses, like their larger brethren, should be driven. You can take your mini on a pleasure drive, but the distance covered will be quite limited. The real fun when hitched to a carriage is in driving competitions. And many combined driving events now feature classes for mini's while the American Driving Society has recently adopted special rules for mini classes in CDE's. We have participated with the club by hosting clinics, usually hosted by Gary Gang, to teach the basics of driving to mini and pony owners who would like to get started in the sport. Then, we also host a one day combined drive, now run in the ADT format.
Ponies traditionally compete in regular CDE's, but for many mini owners, this is the first exposure to the fun and excitement of the sport of combined driving. Following are some shots of the 2004 Mini and Pony ADT we hosted this September.
Allen Funderburgh was our dressage judge and his wife, Carol, scribed for him. They are enjoying our recently completed observation car, er. judge's stand.
Left: Vickey Fueyo competed in her first event and is shown here during her dressage test. With completion of the judges stand, we moved the miniature dressage competitions to the end of the regular dressage field, so in this case, Allen felt more comfortable judging from the normal position in relation to the orientation of the field.
Right: Barbara Butterfield is driving her cones competition. At the training level, miniature horse competitors have a generous 40 cm extra spacing from their wheel width to the cones, but for Preliminary, it drops dramatically to only 20 cm, the same as Advanced level horse competitors must drive. Yet, all the mini driver made it through the course without a ball being knocked down.
Carol
Stearns is driving her mom's mini, Cottontail in the Fort Atonna hazard.
Joan Stearns is one of the original mini owners in Arizona who started competing
in driving events. Carol did very well and had the best overall score
of the day.
Joella Cheek has recently started driving a pair of Welsh ponies and is having a blast with them. We had just returned from Parker, CO where we both competed at the National Singles Championship CDE.
Left: Here is Barbara again driving in the water hazard. She is driving Cajun who she bought from Barb Sims. Barb was joking about how things simply move around the drivers in the area. In addition to driving the mini bought from Barb, the carriage and harness was originally owned by us and sold to Barb, who also sold them to Barbara.
Right: Tahna Maree is driving in the Paulden Forest hazard with her Welsh pony.
Jo Cheek is making a big splash in the water hazard
And finally, here is Jo again driving over our newly completed bridge which was a part of the route in the Paulden Forest hazard. It actually serves a purpose in that if we ever get rain again, the main wash through the property can now pass under it without inundating that part of the trail around the perimeter of the property.