MDDA.info

Hey, the first competition is in the books!  What a terrific weekend for a drive in the forest.

It appears to have been a busy weekend for the Southern Kettle.  Read Alic’s comments under Events.  And thanks to Alice we have some terrific photos.

Congratulations to our 5 competitors.  Sunday was a little disappointing with only 3 competing, but I guess some stayed home in honor of Mother’s Day.  (I took Marguerite for a 90 minute drive this afternoon.  What great weather!  Unfortunately, Scooter is still grossly over weight but I’m amazed at his stamina.  He comes home covered in white froth and really enjoys his shower.)

Note:  The season has started and the chase for points is underway.  You have three weeks to get in shape before the next event, ApDRA which is also at Palmyra.  Hope a bunch of you are able to participate there.

As always, please check the results and let me know of any corrections.

Just received this email and added it to our schedule.  Note the flyer will not show the drives but it will provide directions and other information.  Another Illinois drive.  Please support it!

Hi, guys!

I just got the official word from UMECRA that we can have a drive at our ride – AHDRA: My Back Yard, June 30th and July 1st. We didn’t get it sanctioned at Convention and it’s not on the ride flyer. Jeanne said she would let Peggy and Nicole know for the newsletter and website. Is there anything I need to do for MDDA? I don’t think I have any other drivers’ emails to notify (Alice and … and … urg. I know his name! he drives Penguine, or she does or …). It will be a 12 mile drive, probably a six mile loop back to camp then go around again. If anybody wants to come down and check it out they are more than welcome to! If you need anything else let me know! Thanks!

Jen

I’ve taken the schedule posted on the UMECRA site, which appears to be ‘official’, modified for our use.
Note:  This year I’ve shown all days for an event.  If there is no mileage shown for a day it means that no drive is scheduled.

Although this is the ‘official’ schedule, I’ve noted a question relative to Colorama.  I’ll try to update if necessary.

It is wonderful to note that there are 23 days of driving on this year’s schedule.  There also appear to be a greater number of longer drives offered.  Hope you take advantage of them!  The High Mileage Traveling Trophy is rather nice (if I do say so myself) and worth competing for.

High Mileage Trophy

The schedule is heavily loaded toward October where there is a drive every week.  On the other hand there are one drive scheduled in May and Jun.  Should be a snap to get your horses in condition since the heavy activity is later in the year.  (Would be great for me who doesn’t start conditioning until late March early April .  Unfortunately I won’t be able to compete )

Please be sure to let me know of any changes or corrections.

Have a great year!  And remember to get your dues in for this year so you’ll be ready to collect those points!

Just added an announcement which notes a change in date for the DRAW Awards Banquet.
Sunday, Feb 19, 2012 at Bublitz’s Restaurant & Alehouse. Start time is 11AM.

I’ve posted the results for AHDRA III and computed the point standings for year end awards.

Please review and notify me of any errors as soon as possible.

Pending changes the following have qualified for awards:

Everyone listed above can expect to receive an email notification of the awards available later this week. Congratulations on your achievements!

I just posted the results for DRAWarama and updated the point standings.  (Had to correct the drive count and mileage to exclude those who participated but didn’t finish previous drives.  Sorry if this causes confusion.)

After posting this information I reviewed the standings for possible awards and noted that currently the 5 drive requirement has only been met by 4 drivers! With four drives remaining, 2 at Point Chaser and 2 at Big River, all of the currently listed participants can meet the minimum number of drives.

It is also a fact that with a total of 30.6 points available at these two events, standings are very volatile in the single Limited Distance category.  (I’m amazed that most have participated only in the limited distance category.  I thought there was more enthusiasm for longer distances this year.)

Our only Novice candidate, Connie Petrick, needs one more drive, either as a single or as a pair.  Potentially she could qualify with both! This uncertainty is a problem in knowing what awards may be needed for our banquet in mid-November.

You can help us estimate our needs by letting us know your intentions for participating at Point Chaser and Big River.  Please send me a note with your intentions.  I’d appreciate a reply by Oct 9.

I’ve been able to add some photos to the results for Colorama.  Thanks to Val Ewing for the excellent pictures!

Cheez, I’m embarrassed!  Just reviewed UMECRA point standings and realize that I’ve got a problem.

Never had a situation where a horse was driven in a pair and as a single in the same year.  I’ve always been able to report individual horses, even though they were driven in a pair.  This year Connie is messing with my ‘system’ by driving her Mike as a single and with Junior as a pair.

Although it will not be a problem in determining awards, it does result in misleading reporting on the Points page.

At this point, I’m not sure how to ‘fix’ the problem other than entering a manual correction.

I’ll try to come up with something before posting the results for Louise Riedel.

Hey, check out the UMECRA site ‘points’!  You’ll find a nice header image featuring driving.  Thanks to Ruth for taking the photo and Tony for providing the imputes for this addition to the UMECRA Site.

We have posted the results for AHDRA II with photos.  Point Standings have also been updated.

We had an excellent turnout for this event, however several drivers failed to complete.  An unusual situation caused in part by the heat.

We also had a new driver and we do not have full information on her.  Her first name is Amanda and we think her last name starts with an S.  We do not know anything about her horse, but she obviously was enjoying her drive.

If you have more information on Amanda or her horse, please forward it to me.  If it is not available I’ll just wait for the results to be posted on the UMECRA site and then come back and correct my entries.

Note that the results are from Ruth Casserly’s memory, I’ll be verifying once UMECRA posts results.  In the meantime if you know of corrections, please let me know.

Congratulations to all participants and their horses!