This week we have a Pony training session in Aiken with Koos De Ronde, a Dutch four in hand driver who is one of the top marathon drivers in the world, and much sought after for marathon training. Koos first made a stop in Pennsylvania where he worked with Suzy Stafford and Lisa Stroud, then he made his way to Aiken and worked with Wendy O'Brien, Jennifer Matheson, me, and Keady Cadwell brought her sister Randy's pony. Randy is competing this weekend in Europe with a pair of ponies and could not be here for the clinic.
The first day we had a challenging cones course, complete with a pony sized 'box' obstacle and two zig-zags. Today we did four hazards, working on each one several times to adjust our routes and driving for faster times. It's been quite hot here in Aiken so we started very early and finished just as the weather grew blistering. Cooper is not at full fitness yet after a month off from driving (he was not completely on vacation as I rode him) and a gradual return to driving. He is looking and feeling good and I'm quite pleased with how he has done at the clinic thus far. I was very happy to get the practice and some good pointers from Koos. Tomorrow is cones again, I'm sure we can look forward to a very tough course on the last day.
