This is the story of how Natalie got started in Tandem Driving.
After the State Harness Driving Show in 2002, Diane Londrigan and I toyed with the idea of putting our 2 horses together and driving a tandem. Luckily for me this was just as Uni holidays were approaching, so I had a bit of spare time. So it was decided, we would have a go and see how it went, if it went well we would enter them in the Show Driving Nationals at Caboolture.
Luckily for me, Diane had done this sort of thing many times before and so had her horse, because Shadow and I had completely no idea about where to even start, talk about chalk and cheese. So the process started. I took Shadow around to her place (about an hour away) and dropped him off so that the boys could get to know each other and become good mates. NOT. The hated each other and Shadow just kept kicking poor little Sovereign. After 2 days this had not improved (both had only been gelded in the last 12 months. I am not sure if that had anything to do with it or if it was just Shadow’s pig headedness). Oh dear, great start. Oh well we thought, I will still come over and see what happens when we start working them. So, I packed my bag and went to Diane’s.
On the first afternoon, we put them both in long reins and just worked them near each other, 2 drivers, 2 horses. Then we started longreining them one behind the other. Shadow was always going to be the wheeler horse (the one between the shafts, at the back). The first time we did this Shadow tried to bite Sovereign on the rump. Oh no, not a good thing to have happen. So we did the nose band up a bit tighter so he couldn’t open his mouth wide enough to bite, because that could have been quite dangerous. After a few more laps we (well, Diane) felt confident to give the reins to me. All FOUR of them. I had ponies going in all sorts of directions; suddenly steering became 3-dimensional. I had to keep halting them to regain my composure and my mind, as it was spinning. Soon after we actually hooked their traces together. Now they were actually connected, this could cause carnage if something was to go wrong now.
The boys were very well behaved as we did lap after lap of me trying to sort out how those darn reins worked. It was actually quite funny because Shadow would only listen to me and Sovereign to Diane. One driver with 2 voices (great until Diane lost her voice on the Saturday).
After a while Diane says, right we will put them in the vehicle now. Glad one of us was so confident. This process went well though. Short go with the vehicle and then we had had enough for one day. Good nights sleep and we’ll have another go in the morning. Diane’s hospitality was great, it saved me the 2 hour round trip and we were into again the next day. By now it was Wednesday, only a couple of days before Saturday’s show. Nothing like great preparation. This time I drove Shadow around in the vehicle a bit first and then we connected Sovereign up to the front. All went well. The four reins were even starting to make sense and I only had to stop a few times to regain my head. Lots to think about though, hold the first horse out, bring the lead horse around, take him out of draft on the corners, push them on, use the whip, use their names. I couldn’t remember all of this. But, luckily for me Diane quickly reminded me as she shouted out one error after another. My head was spinning, but I was hooked. This was so much more fun that a single. The mental challenge was stimulating.
Anyway, it was decided, off to the Nationals we would go, with that much preparation. Although, Diane had given me some homework for Shadow in the next few days, but pretty much that was it. Glad she new what she was doing. We drove singles first, then it was tandem time. We ended up being the only multiple entry (Billy Lark must have got wind of us and was running scared, just joking). The boys were a huge success with the crowd and they went really well. I was very proud of our efforts. We had a minor hiccup during the judging for supreme, when the whip got caught in the trace quick release and the lead horse trace fell to the ground when we tried to release it while working out. A quick stop to fix it and we were on our way. We didn’t win Supreme, but we did have a great time.
After this experience, for which I am forever grateful to Diane for, I decide that this would be my goal. To get my own tandem going in harness. Unfortunately, this meant that I would have to sell the buckskin, as I can only keep 2 minis on my block. I did find him a great home. Then my next mission began: to find a suitable mini to match Shadow.
After much searching I found a lovely, bold temperament, chestnut pinto to match Shadow (who is also a chestnut pinto). She is only 2 years old, so I have some work to do, but the goal is on the horizon.