The Slower Road

We’re posting here a link to another video clip by Mike Lee, this one from the Aylsham Show 2009.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZJ4MUeFcSo

Here is what Mike said about the YouTube video and the longer DVD …

“Just a quick note to share with you a really fun day at the Aylsham Show 2009. If you like the country life, check out the carriage riding, fancy dress, high-standard livestock competition, and tractors. Here is a quick YouTube sample from my new 1-hour, 50-minute DVD and video on demand.”

If you’d like more information about ordering the DVD or the video-on-demand, you can contact Mike directly at mikeleenews@mac.com.

I know this is ridden dressage and not driven, but anyone who admires good dressage riding even a little bit needs to watch this horse.

Dutch rider Edward Gal and the nine-year-old Moorlands Totilas (a black Dutch Warmblood stallion) performed this amazing dressage freestyle test at last week’s Alltech FEI European Dressage and Show Jumping Championships in Windsor, England. And for their effort, they received an unheard-of score of 90.75% … a new world record.

Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZhtiCqBAGM

We’ve done it again: added yet one more new-fangled technological advance to our growing array of communications tools.

The CAA is now on Facebook!

If you already have a Facebook account (or if you want to sign up for one), we hope you’ll become a “fan” of the Carriage Association of America. Our new page will feature periodic updates about what’s going on within the association and the office, and we also plan to post a few photos of the CAA’s headquarters building, the library, the shop, etc.

… Well, not literally. But we are traveling quite a lot this year.

For those of you who’ve found our new blog from the Carriage Association of America website, this replaces what was, for many years, known as Jill’s Journal. Which Jill (naturally) kept as she traveled all over the world, visiting  carriage collections and going to driving shows and events on behalf of the association. Then Jennifer joined the CAA and they both started traveling, so Jennifer occasionally wrote “Jill’s” Journal, and then it became known as simply the CAA Travel Blog. Only problem was, it wasn’t really a blog.

So now here we are. From this point forward, you can read about our travels and other CAA events, and each new event won’t replace the one before. We’ll have an archive! And we’ll have photos! We hope you’ll enjoy this new adventure as much as we will.

To whet your appetite, here’s where we’ll be going (and where you’ll be able to follow along with us) this year: in April, Jennifer will be in southern Spain with a group of CAA members, where they’ll visit private carriage collections, a carriage museum, and the famous spring fair (feria) in Seville. In May, both Jill and Jennifer will be in England for the annual Royal Windsor Horse Show. In November, Jill will take a group of CAA members to visit private estates and the gaucho festival in Argentina. In between will be the CAA Conference in Virginia (June), the FEI World Pony Driving Championships in Germany (August), and whatever else we find along the way that we think you might enjoy.

Join us!

For information on joining us in person for any of our upcoming trips or events, see the Calendar of Events section of our website (www.caaonline.com) for trip/event details and registration forms.