The Long Road to Calgary

The old Chinese proverb says: "A journey of 10,000 miles starts with but a single step." My journey to Calgary was altogether a mental, emotional, and physical journey, which started several years ago.

Our mule, Mariah Carry, and I had achieved some measure of success in my early driving career, and I, like most competitors, wondered how far we could go. But there were roadblocks ahead. The AHSA, which sanctions Intermediate and Advanced competitions, had an unwritten "mule rule" which prohibited mules from competing under their rulebook. My plan was simple and two-pronged: 1) join the AHSA so I had the right to propose rule changes; and 2) keep out there competing at the highest level I could (going HC whenever I had to). For three years I petitioned the Driving Committee of the AHSA to allow mules to compete at all levels of driving competition. I also kept competing with both Mariah Carry and Jeremiah all I could.

In August 2000 we were allowed to compete HC at the Intermediate level at the prestigious California Classic CDE. Mariah Carry posted the best Dressage score, she had the fastest hazard times in every hazard of all the Intermediate competitors, but we did knock down one ball in the cones. Nevertheless, we had by far the best overall Intermediate score, but because we competed HC, we were not eligible for any awards. Above all, Mariah Carry proved to the world that good mules were capable of competing at least at the Intermediate level.

In the meantime, despite widespread grassroots support from the driving community, for two years the AHSA Driving Committee idly turned down my proposed rule change to allow mules to compete. After last year's California Classic, however, I was privately e-mailed and encouraged by one high level driving official and member of the driving committee to "submit your rule-change proposal again, and this time expect a positive response from the Driving Committee."

In January 2001, the AHSA Driving Committee met and passed my proposal to allow mules to compete at all levels in driving competitions. The new rule did not however, take effect until December 1, 2001. The lesson to be learned from all this is what Winston Churchill roared in his passionate speech "Never give up."

Then another dilemma came up. I was competing with Jeremiah in the Zilco Pony Challenge, and in 2002, when the new rule takes effect, I would be driving Jeremiah at the Advanced level and shooting for a spot on the team that would go to France and compete in the upcoming World Pony Championship in 2003. For sentimental reasons, I felt that Mariah Carry should go down in history as the first mule to compete in advanced competition, since she was the mule that broke down the final barriers for all mules. For several years, I had been interested in the venue at Calgary because I had heard that it was a very challenging and demanding course, and Bill Long designed the world-class hazards. When Hardy Zantke competed there several years ago, I asked him to send me a copy of the marathon hazards, which he graciously did. In early summer, I e-mailed the Calgary officials and asked them if they would allow a mule to compete in the Advanced level, and they quickly responded that they would.

Then another dilemma came up. I was out of money, and Calgary was a long way to travel. But by this time, the momentum was rolling and these were pretty small bumps. I wrote an article for our local weekly paper about Mariah Carry and passed out an information sheet about Mariah's accomplishments and my dream of competing in Calgary. Local support and sponsorship started coming in: $100 from an old gentleman that I used to attend church with but had long ago lost touch, $25 from some firms that I do business with on a regular basis, $50 from my vet, and so on. I didn't get enough money to cover my whole trip, but just the idea that there were local folks supporting us and helping us financially gave me a big emotional boost.

So, I sent my entry to the High Country International CDE as a step of faith, and it was quickly accepted. I decided to break the trip up a little bit and enter the Lincoln Creek CDE in Washington on the way to Calgary as a warm-up. Then, while competing at the Beavercreek CDE in July, I saw a notice of a Bill Long clinic and practice the week before Lincoln Creek CDE, to be held in Carnation, Washington. As soon as I got home, I called the organizers of the clinic and was told that the clinic was booked up. Nevertheless, I filled out my application, sent my check in, and made arrangements to leave yet a week earlier. (Are you beginning to see a pattern here?) A few days before my departure, I was notified that I was indeed enrolled in the clinic and practice CDE.

I kissed my wife, Tamara, good-bye and punched the odometer as I pulled out of our yard about 6 pm on August 14. We found it better to travel the length of California at night to avoid the Central Valley heat and traffic. About 8 hours later, and 3 miles south of the Oregon border, I pulled the rig off I-5 and onto a gravel turnout on the banks of the Klamath River. I led Mariah Carry and Jeremiah down to the river for a drink, tied them out and gave them hay, then crawled in the trailer for a few hours rest. About daybreak we were on the Interstate again, and we arrived safe, but tired, around 4 pm at the McBride Farm in Carnation, Washington.

I had heard for a long time that Bill Long was one of the best driving instructors in the country, and I was not disappointed. At our first session he asked what I wanted to work on, and I told him that I had Mariah entered in the Advanced level at Calgary CDE in two weeks. He briefly made a funny face, and then said, "Let's get on with it." All levels of drivers were represented at the clinic, from nine-year old Parris Rice and her pony, to several of us "wanna-be" advanced drivers. In the meantime, a section E marathon course, complete with hazards, was marked; and a challenging cones course was set up and everyone was encouraged to practice on them any time. Little Parris Rice was having some trouble with her pony being resistant, and at the end of her session Bill asked me to ground drive the pony for another hour or so. Parris wanted so much to learn how to drive her pony.

On day two of the clinic, I offered to let Parris drive Mariah Carry after I did my advanced lesson. Mariah is pretty much "bombproof." Bill was skeptical, but Parris took her lesson with Mariah while I ground drove her pony some more. About half way through Parris's lesson, Bill turned to me and said, "David, this is quite a mule you have. It listens to you practicing your advanced test, and it is listening to little Parris taking her second-ever driving lesson."

I thanked him for the compliment, but I already knew Mariah Carry was special. On the third and final day of the clinic, we briefly practiced the advanced dressage test, and then at Bill's suggestion, we went over to the cones course. Bill asked that the first seven cones be set at the advanced setting - 20cm wider than my wheels. I'll have to admit I was a little overconfident. I rarely practice cones and have been pretty successful making clean runs at the Preliminary and Intermediate settings. So, I breezed through the first seven sets of cones, and knocked down five balls. "Let's try that again," Bill suggested.

Several more times and we knocked down 3-5 balls each time. Bill told me, "There are some good advanced drivers back East that cannot do good cones runs. Many advanced competitions are won or lost in the cones. We are going to stay here until you get it right and make a clean run of the first seven sets of cones."

Bill reminded me of my high-school football coach keeping us all after practice until we got some practice-drill right. Finally we made a clean run, Bill nodded his approval and then went on to his next student.

The practice CDE was a lot of fun and little stress. It was run like a real CDE with two judges. You could do whatever level dressage test you wanted, and whatever cones setting you wanted. The marathon consisted of a Section E only, with four challenging hazards. I entered both Jeremiah (prelim) and Mariah Carry (practicing my advanced test).

Two days later I drove to Grass Mountain Farm, the site of the Lincoln Creek CDE. It was raining and I had not reserved a stall. I explained to Lynn Mahoney that I was on a limited budget and could I please work off the stall rental fee. Lynn's face glowed. An hour later I was cleaning out over two-dozen stalls after a Pony Club Event and shoveling in truckloads of new sawdust. Lesson - be careful what you ask for.

The Lincoln Creek CDE was also a very nice CDE with a very good dressage field and cones course, arranged mainly in a circular pattern and set up amongst a Pony Club jumping course. The marathon course was also one of the best I have been on with some very different and challenging hazards. Footing was a little soft because of recent rains, and Jeremiah had a little more trouble than usual pulling an overstuffed driver and groom. I competed with both Mariah Carry and Jeremiah, and they both did well in their respective classes, each taking second place.

Dave and Sandy Shardlow were volunteers at the Happs CDE we attended earlier in the summer. We met and immediately bonded. They seemed like family. As soon as we got home, Dave called us and said that if we did indeed plan to go to Calgary, they insisted that I stop and stay with them. So about 8-hours from Lincoln Creek, and about half way to Calgary, I pulled into their driveway in Hayden, Idaho.

I laid over a day there, drove Mariah and was treated like royalty by them. Early Wednesday I headed north to the Canadian border crossing, then on to Alberta. After Crowsnest Pass, I turned north on Hwy 22, a beautiful but desolate highway through grain fields and cattle ranches in the Eastern foothills of the Rocky Mountains. After a hundred miles or so, and going through a couple of very tiny towns, I came to the small town of Black Diamond. The roads in town were torn up, and I must have missed the signs that indicated Hwy 22. I turned to the left, so when I went through the town's only 4-way stop sign, I ended up in a new residential subdivision with no outlet. I found a cul-de-sac barely big enough to turn my rig around without crunching the marathon carriage that was stacked on the back of the truck (in front of the gooseneck). After a long day of travel, I was running short on patience as I navigated out of the subdivision.

Meanwhile, about 6:30 pm in the small Alberta town of Black Diamond, Cindy and Richard Holyoak were just sitting down to supper.

"Look out there!" Cindy exclaimed, "There goes a truck and trailer that says: 'Caution Mules' on the back." They had watched many folks get lost and end up in the residential area before. Richard put on his slippers and came out to offer assistance. I just got the 4-way stop in sight when I spotted this fellow, dressed in shorts and a t-shirt, coming out of his front door waving both arms over his head. I slowed down and was about to ask him directions to the Calgary Polo Grounds, but this guy beat me to the punch.

"I know who's in there!" He exclaimed as he pointed and waved wildly at the trailer. "Mariah Carry!!! We heard she was coming to our event."

I was shocked and for a moment speechless. Here's the first guy that I spoke with since I got to Alberta, lost in this little obscure town, and he knew Mariah Carry was in that trailer. He didn't know who I was, or at least he didn't indicate it mattered to him. I affirmed, yes, that she was indeed in the trailer and that I was (gulp) lost. He gave me the easy directions to the Polo grounds and in short order I was on my way.

"Gaye McLennan will help you get situated when you arrive," Richard said as I drove away. "I'll come by and see you every day of the competition," he said, and he did.

As I drove west out of Black Diamond I was overcome with a good and warm feeling of what had just happened. It seemed a good omen perhaps of good things to come.

I simply have not enough good words to say about the organizers and volunteers at the Calgary High Country International Combined Driving Event. They went out of their way to indicate how happy they were that I had chosen their event to be the first time in history for a mule to compete at the Advanced level (the Canadians have no rules against mules competing at any level), and wished us well. The welcome and hospitality was unreal. I put up the electric fence and turned the mules out. Tomorrow I would walk the hazards and find out where one could practice driving.

The stated goal of the High Country International Combined Driving Event is "To offer a world-class venue that will enable competitors and officials to develop skills for National and International Competition". To that end, they have created many world-class hazards (some they have never used in competition) supervised by Bill Long himself. The course, even though only three sections, is long and difficult. The dressage arena and cones course are set up on the polo practice fields and could not be better, smooth and firm.

Last year, despite careful planning and all their efforts, the event was rained out. I was told that carriages were sinking two inches in the dressage arena, and the slope where most of the Section E and hazards are located was so slippery that one could barely stand up. Despite last year's trouble, this year there were about two-dozen entries from as far away as western British Columbia, Washington, California, Texas, Montana, and as far east as Manitoba.

There were six entries in the Advanced level. One had cancelled before the event started. On Friday afternoon we went on the "official course walk." Section A went down a farm road for a couple kilometers, then down a rocky wash (competitors got out of the trucks and threw away loose cobblestones) then down to the rim of a large coulee and wove back and forth skirting the rim several times. There was a steep 1/2 km grade and then an extra loop for the Intermediate and Advanced competitors on very uneven and rocky ground, followed by several kilometers of relatively good going around the perimeter of a large hayfield. Most folks' strategy was to make up time on the good part of the course and take it slow and easy on the rocky and steep portion.

The walk section (D in Canada) was on hard firm grass around the perimeter of a polo field. Section E started out the first few kilometers on the practice track around the polo fields. After about a third of the way through Section E, it is easy to get complacent and think, "Is this all that Calgary can throw at me?" Then you come to seven hazards, arranged on a sloping hillside, that competitors must negotiate in rather short order. At about 4500 ft. elevations, altitude can also be a factor in equine and personal performance.

Tamara was due to arrive by air in Calgary to be my groom and navigator in this historic event. Her flight, however, arrived in Denver about 10 minutes after the last flight of the day to Calgary left. I expected her to arrive about midnight, and I got a cell call from her about then explaining that she was in Chicago, and would, the airline promised, catch the earliest possible flight to Calgary the next day. She drove up in a rental truck about 10 am the next morning. I was to be in the dressage arena about noon.

Our first advanced Dressage test was less than spectacular, although the crowd of faithful spectators was solidly cheering for the mule. Tamara and I then unhitched and walked Section E and the hazards.

When we finished, the scores were posted. We were in last (5th) place. I was more than a little disappointed, but wait, look in this other column. We were only 10 points out of first place! Suddenly I was confident again. Perhaps if we did well on the marathon we had a chance. I have been to certain events before (competing at a lower level, of course) and seen nearly all the advanced competitor scores have an E after them. Someone only needs to miss a single gate on the course or in a hazard to be eliminated. I made up my mind that someone wouldn't be me.

From our vantage point at the Calgary Polo Grounds, overlooking the rolling hay and grain fields of the Alberta plains and the Eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains, every sunrise and sunset could make a picture postcard. The wind and weather each day could be a separate page out of a meteorological textbook.

When I arrived, I put out our awning on the side of the trailer, and being aware of the wind, I staked it down with steel stakes and put spare tires over the stakes to keep them from pulling out. Ron Ellard, the course designer, came over and said to me that in previous years the wind had destroyed many awnings, and if it were his, he would keep it rolled up. I told him that I intended to park our flatbed truck at the edge of the awning and tie it to the truck. Ron said again that if it were his, he would roll it up. When he left, I rolled the awning back up.

On marathon day the weather was kind to us, slightly overcast with a light breeze. Tamara had not been on the official course walk, so she was doing Section A blind. I told her that it was a difficult course and the winner may not be the one that "beat" the others, but could be the competitor that was left standing after all the tests were done. Section A did noticeably take its toll physically on the equine. As we waited during the vet check after Section D, one couldn't help but notice the hollering up the hill as spectators cheered competitors on through the hazards.

Hazard 2 proved to be most challenging for many competitors. As you came fast down a chute under a bridge, you went through gate C and had to quickly make a tight U-turn and head back up to gate D. Several drivers whip lashed their grooms off their carriages in that maneuver. In the same hazard, one Advanced driver, going downhill at a walk, decided to make a tight down-to-up hill turn on a steep slope and rolled their carriage. Lots of excitement for everyone!!

As we finished a fairly satisfying marathon run and pulled into the second vet check, the announcer told everyone to "get out of the way of the runaway horse." We didn't see exactly what happened, but a carriage was out in the middle of the water hazard, and the last we saw, the horse was running with the harness up over the hill to the barn. All the competitors and equine survived in at least fair shape. At the vet check, Mariah had the highest pulse rate she had ever had at the completion of the marathon, in the low 90's. We were a little concerned, but it did come down to 60 in under 20 minutes. It was a demanding course.

When the marathon scores were posted, Mariah had the second-best marathon of all the advanced competitors. We moved up to third place, eight points behind second place, and a little over 15 points behind the leader.

It was a good cones course; a large sweeping loop, through a U-turn, followed by a serpentine and a smaller figure eight back through the middle. Unfortunately, since Tamara is a schoolteacher, she had to leave for the airport at 1 pm and they were running a little behind schedule, so I made arrangements and received permission from the judges to borrow another competitor's groom.

When our time was at hand, I told myself that I had the edge in this cones competition with a well-trained mule. We tickled a cone and a ball fell on #9 and also #20. We would need some help to win. Bill Long's statement that: "advanced competitions are often won in the cones" kept playing over and over in my ear. With the wind, I couldn't hear much else. Then the second place competitor knocked down six or eight balls. We moved into second place!

The leader needed to knock down six balls for us to move into first place, and honestly, that seemed more than I was comfortable wishing for. They looked confident at first, then tentative, and the balls started rolling down. The final tally - six balls down. After all the tests were done, Mariah Carry was the only one left standing at the top.

Mariah Carry was not only the first mule in history to compete in an international advanced combined driving competition, she will also go down in history as the first mule to win at the advanced level. I said a little prayer and thanked God for this opportunity (and thank you, Bill Long).

The enthusiastic crowd cheered as Mariah Carry and I accepted our first place awards. Oh, how I wish Tamara could have stayed for this. I was overwhelmed by the many event officials and individuals that came up to me and said how pleased they were that we had not only come to Calgary to compete, but that we won. The other worthy competitors were also gracious in their congratulations. Richard Holyoak came by and said his congratulations, and stated that he would see to it that, before my wife got back home that night, folks back in California would know that Mariah Carry won. He went home and posted Mariah's win, and the other class winners on the Internet.

Yes, it was a long road to Calgary. My trip odometer said 1866 miles as I pulled out of the polo grounds. It was in Montana after 11pm when I was finally able to get in touch with Tamara and tell her the good news. The trials and rewards are great. I'll be floating on a cloud for a long time. There were several years, countless hours, miles and many driving clinics that led up to this event. Along the way, Mariah Carry had to re-write the rules to allow mules to compete in this country. But she has proved to the driving world that mules can be worthy competitors at the Advanced levels of driving. For that she will never be forgotten. If I have proved anything, it is that Winston Churchill's immortal words are true. This is not the end of the story, only the end of a single chapter.