Prairie Carriage Driving Club
If you like horses and carriage driving, you’ll love our club.
If you have attended a PCDC event, please e-mail us a comment about your experience for our News & Reviews page. We appreciate the feedback!
HELMET RULE COMPLIANCE: Effective April 1, 2008, all SHF sanctioned events must require every person under the age of 18 years to wear an approved safety helmet at all times when mounted or driving a horse drawn vehicle.
2008 Events Past
February
Fun Drive
Saturday, 17th, 2:00 p.m.
Don & Elsie Priddy's
East of Saskatoon
A Sleigh Ride & Pot Luck followed by a general meeting. Call 374-1703 for directions. In the case of bad weather, the 24th is booked as a back up date.
Sharon & Don Ball
North of Asquith
The HELMET RULE is in effect for this event, please see above for details. For Directions, click here.
Fun Drive & Ride
Sunday, 4th, 1:00 p.m.
Crosslea Stables
A fun Drive & Ride will be hosted by Crosslea Stables in the beautiful Thickwood Hills north of Saskatoon. The drive will be followed by a pot luck supper. For information and directions please contact Sue at 306-549-4080.
June
TREC
Sunday, 8th, 10:30 a.m.
Don & Elsie Priddy's
East of Saskatoon
Our first TREC on June 8 was a success.
Despite a gray and cool day, four outfits and about 10 observers gathered at the Priddy farm for our first TREC. The cross country course was a pleasure to drive as it wound 4.25 kilometers over hills and through bluffs in the Priddy pasture. Everyone completed the course in the time space allotted and only one person got slightly lost. Our thanks to Terry Partington for the time and effort he put into laying out the course.
During the skills competition, everyone had the opportunity to show their command of their horse and vehicle through a variety of cones, L and U configurations and a serpentine. Again everyone completed the course in the time allotted without major problems. In the singles division, Juliane Deubner, Dave Sim and Melva King finished in that order with very close scores. Congratulations to Terry Partington for a job well done with a pair that he had only driven once before and which had not previously seen the components of a skills course. Our condolences to Elsie Priddy, Barb Degelman and Sue Hunt, who for one reason or another had to pull out of this inaugural competition. We look forward to seeing you at the TREC on June 28 and 29.
Afterwards we gathered for a late pot-luck lunch, swapped horse stories and yarns, and discussed the upcoming events for the club. A fun time was had by everyone.
2007 Events Past - Reviewed
Ground Driving Clinic
Sunday, 21st, 10:00 a.m.
Wolf Willow Arena
Saskatoon, SK
The ground driving clinic went off without a hitch.
By PCDC Member Cheryl Hill-Hampson
The ground driving clinic held on January 21, 2007 was very imformative and practical. We started with a classroom situation teaching safety issues, as well as techniques & tack used for lunging and driving.
We were then given a demonstration on single and double lunging. There were opportunities for people to practice with different horses. Ideas were shared between participants and instructors. Ground driving techniques were demonstrated. There were opportunities to practice.
At lunch time, a video was shown on lunging and ground driving.
The clinic was well attended and lots of information taught!
Saturday, 3rd, 10:00 a.m.
Wolf Willow Arena
Saskatoon, SK
By PCDC Member JouLe Tallman
The scoring clinic was excellent and informative both as a prospective score keeper and as a prospective competitor. There was ample information helping the driver to understand how the scores are determined, and lots of paperwork and group number-crunching, which added an element of interacitve fun! Due to the weather we were unable to have horses come down to demonstrate the hazards course, and as such we were entertained by Joule T, Terry P and Cheryl F as they ran the hazards course on foot in the training division, preliminary division and intermediate division, respectively. Thank you to all who came out despite the weather.
Sunday, 25th, 11:00 a.m.
Wolf Willow Arena
Saskatoon, SK
By PCDC Member JouLe Tallman
Terri P and Cheryl H-H brought their horses, and Cheryl F provided horses for some others to play with. [I rode 2 Wolf Willow Canadians - Gabe who is preparing for an RCMP interview, and his boy Kokanee who belongs to B.J. Rodgers. Both boys benefitted from the obstacles - especially the big green ball! ] We had an extensive set of obstalces set up including a gate complete with flags and an umbrella, cones, barrels, mailbox with bugle horn and a bell (extra, extra!) and tarps and bags and jugs and a curtain of pool noodles (my personal favorite, you can't hang stuff like that from the sky!). The morning session was mainly horses in hand which progressed to working under saddle after lunch. The only thing that was missing was a breeze to make the flags flap about, roll the umbrella and rustle the plastic bags hanging on the fence. We also had a new fellow wander over from Melfort who found our website while looking around the web for something local and horsey to get into! Welcome Paul and we hope to see you around more often!SHF Driving Demo
As part of the Saskatchewan Horse Federation 2007 Annual Horse Conference, PCDC put on a driving demo which included - harness cleaning & care demonstration by Barb Degelman,
- wear points & attributes of a breast plate harness (Bill H.) & collar harness (Orest Michalowski) as well as a bit about the differences between pleasure driving and competition driving.
- ground driving demonstrations by Cheryl Hill-Hampson & Terry Partington
- presentation on yankee britching by Terry Partington
There were 3 different carriages involved in the actual driving demo - Bill drove Fargo in a 4 wheel competition marathon carriage, Orest drove his team of mares in a 4 wheel pleasure wagon and Dave Hoyle drove his team of VSE's (minitaures) in a 2 wheel cart around the hazards course we had set up in the arena. During Bill's drive, Sheri Reid talked about the role and responsibilities of a groom/navigator while Joule Tallman demonstrated these points. We had a table of "miscellaneous horse things" and participants were challenged to name the items or their purpose. This was a lot of fun, as we had a lot of obscure items on the table (everything from a drenching bit to a lash cinch to a nail seater from Germany) and we were pressed to find one person in the building who could name every one of them without help. Prizes were awarded to all who were brave enough to try. The high number of correct answers was 17/33.
We had an excellent turnout and were pleased that participants were not afraid to ask questions throughout the demonstration. Cheryl Fotheringham did a most excellent job of organizing the whole event, and we are grateful to her for her efforts. We hope everyong took something out of the demonstration and were pleased with how much interest there was for driving in Saskatchewan.
May
Deubner/Turcotte Farm
Saskatoon, SK
By PCDC Member Dave Sim
Photos courtesy Juliane Deubner & Barb Degelman
For the 4 of us that showed up for the Achenbach clinic, Sunday May 6 was a great day. After having coffee and homemade cookies we settled down to working on the rein boards that Juliane had constructed. The instructor, Hannes, showed us the proper hand and finger positions for holding the reins in the left-handed Achenbach manner and then showing us how to bring the right hand into play for dressage or for shortening/lengthening the reins. 
We also learned a new technique for hooking the reins to the harness which allows for quick release but keeps them out of the way while you are hitching up. Later we had the opportunity to practice with one of Juliane’s well trained Fjords. After a full day of practice, tips and discussions, we retired to the deck for a great pot luck supper and more discussion on horses. The rest of you missed a good one!!Saturday, 26 - Sunday, 27
Wolf Willow Arena
Saskatoon, SK
By PCDC Member Barbara Degelman
Photo courtesy Elsie Priddy - Elsie & her horse Glenn Erinn Emma driving in the clinic
Linda gives her undivided attention to each participant in the form of a private lesson. Spectators had the opportunity to watch the learning process step by step as Linda pinpointed areas for improvement. She facilitated the change in technique necessary in a gentle fashion, suggesting solutions and being sure the driver had understood the concept before the lesson was over. I came away with 5 different tips to implement into my training program.
Many thanks to Cheryl and Bill for another great weekend in a fine facility. Hospitality is always a plus!
Thank you to [Bill & Cheryl] for opening up [their] home and arenas to house this clinic. [They] have a beautiful facility and wonderful country to drive out back. It was a wonderful clinic with wonderful learning experiences.
June-July
Horse Driving Trials
Sat, June 30, Sun, July 1st
Ebon Stables
Saskatoon, SK
Please see 2007 Driving Trials for results & photos.
Fun Drive
Saturday, 18th, 2:00 p.m.
Kathy & Mendelt Pauw's
West of Saskatoon
Please check out the News for details.
