Driving Me Buggy 2019 Hours!!!

[Marsha Cassada]

Beautiful drive!

 

[Marsha Cassada]

20 minutes with Midnight today. She was hitched to the Runabout but we just ground drove. Not a good day. She was totally unfocused. We stopped after she finally made a successful route around the boulders, so ended on a positive note. However, she is almost perfect standing quietly out in the open to be hitched and unhitched.

 

[Cayuse]

15 minutes ground driving Peanut
17 minutes ground driving Cappy. Now my foot is talking back! But not as loudly as last week. We went slooow and practiced a lot of halt transitions.

Marsha, do you think Midnight might be in season and that's why she's unfocused?

 

[Marsha Cassada]

15 minutes ground driving Peanut
17 minutes ground driving Cappy. Now my foot is talking back! But not as loudly as last week. We went slooow and practiced a lot of halt transitions.

Marsha, do you think Midnight might be in season and that's why she's unfocused?

Should you be walking so much yet?
I think Midnight is doing what all the horses I've been training lately do: she is testing me. I love that she feels good and is feisty and strong. Some things she is very good at. She has a solid whoa and she is turning and backing well.
I am having the farrier measure her hooves tomorrow for boots; I think I am ready to invest in her.
Takes as long to hitch/unhitch as it does to actually drive in the Runabout. The sulky is so easy, but she needs to work in the big cart now.

 

[Cayuse]

Doc said stay off of it as much as possible/elevate it for two weeks and then do what I can tolerate. It has been two!weeks so I decided to try to get back to my normal routine if I can. I am afraid if I loaf around any more my arthritis will stiffen me up even more, so I'm in between a rock and a hard spot. Foot does feel pretty good this morning, so hopefully I'm on the right track. Still colorful though!

I am glad Midnight is doing well. She sounds like Cappy. He is one of!those that likes to "test". He does it more with me than Dan. It is almost like a game with him. He is! SO smart. I have learned to ignore his little episodes for the most part and just redirect him instead of reacting in any way. If I ignore his snits, it takes the!fun out of it for him .

Did you get your browband? I can't wait to see it.

 

[MindySchroder]

We ended up doing another 5 mile drive tonight though that wasn't my intention. Zorro didn't start out our drive very well so he earned some more difficult miles tonight. If he has enough energy to argue he has enough energy to climb some mountains...

90 minutes and we ponied Sky!

 

[MindySchroder]

Drove for 25 minutes on the driving track today. Ponied Sky and had a nice time, even if we got a little rained on. My youngest son came out and videoed us and took some photos...

 

[MindySchroder]

60 minutes of driving today and both ponies acted like they were dying. LOL! They both sweated quite a bit as well. We only went 4 miles and it was the relatively easy 4 miles... granted I wanted them to trot at least 3 of those 4 miles, but they trotted as slowly as they could...

 

[Cheryl W]

Good morning! Am new here and Cayuse invited me over.

We have a 4 year old mare who was trained to drive when we bought her. She goes nicely along but needs conditioning. Winter is going to be tough but am looking at options.

We drove for 40 minutes yesterday, mostly walking. She was so happy and enjoyed her drive. The day before we walked her about 2 miles by hand and into the woods down old logging paths. Nothing phases her.

 

[Marsha Cassada]

Good morning! Am new here and Cayuse invited me over.

We have a 4 year old mare who was trained to drive when we bought her. She goes nicely along but needs conditioning. Winter is going to be tough but am looking at options.

We drove for 40 minutes yesterday, mostly walking. She was so happy and enjoyed her drive. The day before we walked her about 2 miles by hand and into the woods down old logging paths. Nothing phases her.

Welcome! She sounds like a gem.

 

[MindySchroder]

Good morning! Am new here and Cayuse invited me over.

We have a 4 year old mare who was trained to drive when we bought her. She goes nicely along but needs conditioning. Winter is going to be tough but am looking at options.

We drove for 40 minutes yesterday, mostly walking. She was so happy and enjoyed her drive. The day before we walked her about 2 miles by hand and into the woods down old logging paths. Nothing phases her.

Welcome! You will love driving as much as it sounds like she does

I live in Montana and winter barely slows us down. In fact I feel we drive more in the winter than in the summer. We all prefer the cold to the hot. LOL! I have a sled and use that when the snow is deep. But my Hyperbike works very well in the snow. My Easy Entry did NOT work. I also do a lot of walking with my driving ponies in the winter and do ground driving when the weather is just too cold to harness up and then SIT in the vehicle. Sometimes I need to move to stay warm!

Also I have a Riding Skirt that I would NOT do without in the winter Makes all the winter outside activities more bearable!

 

[MindySchroder]

I drove Zorro for an hour here on my driving track. We focused on having a nice fast walk and peppered in a little trotting and cantering. Surprisingly he was sweaty when we were done!!

I ground drove Sky and had her pull a sled with rocks in it. She was working pretty hard herself. I focused only on walking with her. She is in pretty good shape since she's been going on our drives with us so I felt she was ready to work a little harder when ground driving. I drove her for 45 minutes.

 

[Cheryl W]

Hi Mindy!

I'll need to toughen up to drive in the winter here. But if you do it in Montana, then I can here in Maine. LOL We have an EZ Entry, also, and have been thinking about putting wider tires on with deeper tread for the winter. Would only be on our road which is gravel most of the way. I doubt we would try to go in deep snow.

Do you find a need to use boots for the ponies for traction?

A sled is definitely going to be useful so am looking for one now. It looks like you have extensions on your traces. Where did you get those?

 

[MindySchroder]

Hi Mindy!

I'll need to toughen up to drive in the winter here. But if you do it in Montana, then I can here in Maine. LOL We have an EZ Entry, also, and have been thinking about putting wider tires on with deeper tread for the winter. Would only be on our road which is gravel most of the way. I doubt we would try to go in deep snow.

Do you find a need to use boots for the ponies for traction?

A sled is definitely going to be useful so am looking for one now. It looks like you have extensions on your traces. Where did you get those?

Yes boots absolutely help with traction if you get the right ones Here is a video of Zorro walking on the snow and ice in his Equine Fusion Active boots last winter. In my opinion these are the only boots that really make a difference on the ice. The easy boots don't have as good as traction and fill up with snow and ice...


On the sled I use in the snow I have a shaft attachment that a friend of mine welded for me. Then I use the shafts from my easy entry cart. Here is a photo of the sled hitched to Zorro:

And one from the back:


And I have a blog post where I share how it's made:
https://www.theessentialhorse.com/post/my-one-horse-open-sleigh

Hopefully that will help you get started!

 

[Marsha Cassada]

44 minutes for Midnight today hitched to the Runabout.

 

[Cheryl W]

Now, why just boots on the front?

Thank you, Mindy, for the videos, info and pictures of the sled, and the instructions. I am most grateful!!!

Am actually excited about winter fun with Ezzie

 

[user 44366]

Good morning! Am new here and Cayuse invited me over.

We have a 4 year old mare who was trained to drive when we bought her. She goes nicely along but needs conditioning. Winter is going to be tough but am looking at options.

We drove for 40 minutes yesterday, mostly walking. She was so happy and enjoyed her drive. The day before we walked her about 2 miles by hand and into the woods down old logging paths. Nothing phases her.

Hi Cheryl!! The big boss here at Patty's Pony Place - congrats on getting a mini!! We developed the shaft system for sleds WAY BACK in 2014 - and since then, and using our basic idea, there have indeed been other systems come along. I also created a skijoring "dynasty", with my skijoring harness and shaft set-up. You can go to both my website - pattysponyplace.com - and to my PPP FB page to see ALL that we have developed for having fun with your miniature horse!! Regarding boots - we have never used boots - either winter or summer. Boots on ice will give your horse traction of course, but that does zero for stabilizing the sled on ice, and skijoring on ice...well, likely not!! So in the winter - we drive when the conditions are right - no boots required when that is the case.

 

[Cayuse]

Glad to see you found us over her Cheryl!

I had a wonderful drive with Cappy this morning. I hitched him alone and off we went. No Dan to drive him first to get the "Looky Lou" out of his system.
We worked on some swoopy large turns and I practiced turning with my wrists and shoulders and tried to be less "handsy". My hands tend to get busy and especially so if I get nervous.
His back up is getting more solid, it is pretty good now. Also practiced driving the cart over poles with the pole between horse and wheel.
30 minutes today for Cappy.
Sunday I drove Peanut 20 minutes and Cappy 10. Dan and I drove together and swapped.

 

[MindySchroder]

I drove Zorro for 60 minutes today. We did the 4 miles on the road but just he and I. Sky did her time on the driving track pulling the sled with the rocks in it, using her new harness! She ground drove for 30 minutes...

Here is her new harness:


And with the collar and hames to pull the sled!
It's a fun new venture we are starting on

 

[MajorClementine]

35 minutes driving Candace tonight. Took her up to the family "weenie roast" to give my young (horse crazy) niece a ride. Candace got an hour more driving than I did with her because I let my sister in law take all her kids for rides. She's a horse woman (rodeo queen and all) and fell in love with Candace. We had to drive home in the dark but it gave me a chance to try out my fancy new flashing red bike light that my dad got for me. A few drives we've done together I've turned for home before him because we are so small and hard to see after dusk. He has lights on his wagon so he got me the bike light so I was more visible in the evenings. It was a totally new experience for me to drive in the dark. No street lights until you get to the traffic light. Candace did really well and we made it safely home.

Hours are all caught up. Also I've gotten to catch up on everyone's driving fun! And welcome to Cheryl W!! Happy to have you along for all the fun. What is your mare's name??