b'Written by and PC Denice KlingerIn mid-April, a few weeks after Ironwood Xander, E and IXan: Sigh the things I do for you, when I could be were done with a long, tough driving season, I loaded up theout on this nice spring grasstrailer and went to load up Xander early in the morning. Xan In reality, I said all those things, got a long, cold stare from greeted this event with Profound Suspicion. Early morningthose huge eyes, a disgusted sigh as he walked up the ramp. trailer loadings have a habit of turning into 7-hour drives,But I know what he was thinking!and after about 5 such trips to Florida for CDEs or USEF I didnt lie; we arrived in a few minutes at a local green DevelopingAthleteclinicssinceJanuary,hewaswellandspaceinMilton,Georgiaforaneventcalled"Meetthe truly over it. Im not going to lie, I was ready for a break asNEIGHbors." The equestrian committee did the first one a well! few years ago, pre-COVID, and it was a fairly small affair. ButI imagine our conversation went like this: like so many things, it was bigger and better post COVID! Me: I PROMISE, we are not going very far down the road. Itsaneventdesignedtointroducethemanynon-horse Xan: You promise a lot of things, your record isnt great.owning neighbors to the horse owning neighbors. Meet the Remember when I went double clear in cones at Live Oak? INEIGHbors, get it?seem to remember you promising treats worthy of the best I set up my marathon carriage and some cones by the pony in the world. Well, it wasnt nearly that many treats. trailer, put up my pop-up tent so my friend and I could set Me: It was a lot of treats. But really, this is going to be a lotup our stuff. She had United States Equestrian information of fun for you. andalsoinformationabouthertackconsignmentshop, the Snooty Fox. Xans breeder, Margaret Bogie, sent NFHR Xan: I see a carriage in that trailer. Are you sure it isntinformation cards and the adorable NFHR coloring book to going to be mostly fun for you? make copies for the kids; those were a big hit with the kids! Me: The carriage is just for show, you are going to standI also made a video about Combined Driving, complete with around and be petted by hordes of children. a soundtrack and video footage, and set up to play it in the trailer.18 Fjord Herald Issue #147Summer 2023'