I've had many and varied adventures with my horses all around the East Coast, and when the chance came for me to visit the West, I jumped at it. Clear across the country in Western Washington, how would a Combined Driving Experience be for me? I had met Merridy Hance when she visited me here in Virginia and drove one of my horses at Lord Stirling in 2007 and now it was my turn to return the "exchange." Our goal was to better understand the challenges and opportunities of competing miniature horses - very small equines -- in CDEs in different areas of the country.

Happ's, owned by Maureen Harkcom and Ken Olsen, along with several miniature horse friends from Washington, invited me to compete at the Happ's CDE in June. Plans were made and off I went despite the airline's fees doubling in a year's time. Ron and Dorothy Whiteman generously offered that I could drive and compete Buddy, their eight-year-old pinto gelding, who was Ron's main CDE horse.

I arrived on time at Portland airport, but my luggage did not. I met Ron, Dorothy and Tammy (a great friend of the family) while I was waiting for my poor luggage to arrive on another flight. Ron and Dorothy spent a great deal of time filling me in on my little horse. So much so that when I finally met him, I felt like I already knew him well! They were incredible hosts and I felt like I was family in no time.

Washington State has some spectacular mountains! It's cool with lush greenery everywhere. It felt delicious after the steamy hot weather I had endured at Elk Creek CDE the week before. When we arrived at Happ's I was instantly impressed by the facility buzzing with activity! Suddenly there were more faces to put to the names that I knew from the Internet. Merridy and I were overjoyed to see each other again. What struck me the most at those first few moments was the amount of pickup truck campers. So many people were camping. Little groups were seated together talking and studying their course papers. There seemed to be miniature horses everywhere mingling in with their larger equine cousins of every shape and size.

Maureen told me that she really believes that Happ's should be a facility of learning. Her event had all the bells and whistles. Each horse went through formal vet check and was then measured. This resulted in four equines needing to change classes (mine included but that's whole other story!) The presentation was standing, conducted by Dave McWethy. There were three dressage rings in the fragrant, freshly mowed hayfield with one of them 30m x 60 m (the size we VSE drivers prefer)! I would estimate at least one-third of the eighty entries were VSEs.

The VSEs did the same marathon courses all the other competitors did. Section A was over 4K, Section D about 1K, and then the 7K plus for marathon with 6 hazard obstacles for Preliminary level. The hazards were fantastic, all of them permanent ones. Ken can do amazing things with concrete. To hear Maureen scheme about the next hazard they are building and to see the wicked gleam in her eyes, it's sure to be a wickedly good fun hazard! While walking the "Enchanted Forest" hazard, I was startled to find that many of the trees had faces on them!

The evening after the marathon a few of us VSE competitors volunteered to help the regular volunteers set up the Cones course. To our amazement, Maureen had bought another complete set of FEI cones just for the VSEs. Large horses and ponies would have the same course but the VSE course would be tighter and laid out using the closer dimensions that were adopted in the ADS rules as optional over a year ago. Wow! Talk about VSE friendly!

Everything seemed to run smoothly with Maureen seemingly everywhere! Each evening there was an awards ceremony along with a fine dinner. (You have got to try West Coast salmon!) The VSEs did the marathon just fine while some bigger horses didn't. The day was considered warm at 80 degrees. What a change from the 95-degree heat with 95 percent humidity that my "girls" (The Rainbow Team) and I had endured the week before.

When we weren't walking Obstacles, there was a fun selection of vendors. Can you believe that Shelly of Pleasurethyme Carriage Company was there with her display? That's my neighbor from Virginia! We hugged and laughed and asked each other simultaneously "What are you doing here?"

Finally, on Sunday after the Cones competition, the scores were all tallied up. A large assortment of ribbons was handed out. My personal favorite was the black ribbon with a large gold "E" in the middle of the rosette, donated to the deserving by Way Out West Driving Group. Ummm - I think I would have quite a collection of these!

All too soon, I was headed off to the airport to return to reality, but not until after I tried my hand at driving the four-in-hand of minis that came together after the event. One pair belonged to Tamara Hinck; they were the wheelers hitched to an Ite Bte carriage. The other pair were the leaders, owned by Helen Stroklund. This was the first time they had all been hooked together, and they did so very successfully thanks to the help of the talented Terry Jones. Peter Hance and Roma Smith ran along with the carriage ready to help if things went awry.

It was a terrific event to say the least. There were only a couple of differences between the CDEs that I regularly attend, whether by competing, volunteering or navigating. There were fewer big expensive horse trailers and carriages and more modest trailers and carriages. There was more camping, more camaraderie and people visiting each other. The humidity and heat were a lot lower. Happ's terrain was generally flatter than what I compete on. But my personal favorite was the 25 plus VSE entries formed in a semi-circle at the back end of the VSE Cones course cheering each and every VSE competitor as they ran through the Cones.

Terrific!