Picking out a Cart

[paintponylvr]

Thanks for the neat drag ideas on your other post..Looks like a blast ! I want to get into driving and pulling. I have to be patient and go slow. My greenbroke mini mare Ida DH bought for my birthday in Nov is prego. She is not due till end of Aug so I'll have take it easy with her this summer. Look out next spring/summer !

Then I have 2 colts turning 2 here soon. I have done groundwork with them, now to get them ground driving as soon as the weather permits.

Then I have a 14 yr old mini mare that is only 29 inches tall and there is a chance she is prego. I bought her in July she was turned out with stud 24/7. She is so easy going I think she would be easy to teach to drive but to small to do a whole lot.

I am so excited to get my catalog from Fairview ! Already told DH we are going to Holmes County soon for a few days...Saving up my stash now Can't wait to see what all I find there and come home with...

Ah - I, too, went slow with our mare. However, Bell was pretty quiet and accepted everything pretty easily. So... we just kept building on what she'd learned. You've already seen the pics of her with the "drags"... (tire and pvc pole). Spent some time ground driving her out the drive way and down the road, into next driveway (3 homes down - could use it to access the backside of the field next to us), along the edge of the plowed field and back into our property behind the barn... Then introduced her to the cart. Finally we had our first hitch. She almost didn't fit betweeen the shafts.

Not sure how many times I drove her between the 29th of May and the 8th of June. I do knw that I drove her for 30 minutes on the evening of the 9th. She seemed quite content and happy to drive. I had to watch myself as I didn't want to "drive her too much" and she kept wanting to canter (!)... and this is what I walked out to the next morning...

The larger colt, standing over her filly, was born on Feb 16th. While my girlfreind and I were taking driving lessons with a local Draft Horse trainer near us, this is how we worked.

This pic was taken 3Aug2010. Not quite 2 months.

and when Bell and her sister were first started as a "team", they made an awesome 3 abreast or unicorn hitch -

This pic taken 29June2010 (gg-3 weeks)

Her filly, GG, is now not quite 3 yrs old, has started her driving training and is MUCH larger than Cupid!!