Minimor
Well-Known Member
I know on an earlier thread many here said they had horses to start in harness this fall. I just thought I'd check & see how you're all doing?
I had posted that I had 8 to start this fall. One of those--the one & only mare, a 3 year old--we decided to let go until spring, just because there simply isn't time to work that many. That leaves 7, and I've been busy!
The oldest gelding, Dusty, has now been hitched a few times. He's a real good boy and has taken to harness very well. Ice Man, our stallion, was hitched for the first time yesterday. He was okay with it, but is kind of a wuss about pulling; and if he has to pull he couldn't possibly turn! I do have to get different shafts for him; he fits in this one cart but just barely, and I think he feels a little cramped, which doesn't help. CTM makes 54" shafts for their carts, so I'm going to get one of those for spring. Anyway, we hitched Ice Man again this morning, and things went much better. He's still unsure when it comes to getting started, but this time was a big improvement. We've very pleased with him.
We also hitched little Scooter for the first time yesterday. At 33.75" he isn't quite our smallest horse, but he is our slightest built one. He thought it was cruelty to horses to expect him to pull a person in the cart, but he got the hang of it pretty quick, and he went well. We'll hitch him again this afternoon, and hopefully he will be that much better again today.
Silver is my biggest success story. He's our shortest one, at 33", but he's more sturdy in build than Scooter. Earlier I was long lining him; he took to everything really well, and the one day I was long lining him down the road. He went so well, until I was just about home & after turning down the approach into our pasture, I asked him to turn down into the ditch. We'd already gone down & up the ditch once & did okay. This time it all went wrong. I didn't know at the time what set him off, but I've since figured out that I must have scuffled my feet in the grass or through some weeds, and the sound scared him as he went down the ditch. Anyway, he bolted down the ditch, up the other side to the road & took off as hard as he could go down the road away from home. With him bolting up the ditch that way I didn't have a hope of hanging on to him, & at that point he forgot what "whoa" meant. So, I was in pursuit. He ran to the neighbors driveway & turned there into their yard. I stopped on their drive to catch my breath, thinking he was contained in their yard. Next thing I heard him coming--they had all their fences open & he'd raced through their pasture to the corner by our pasture--he'd have gone home there but our fence turned him (so at least he wasn't running blind) & he came racing down the tree line. When he got to the road I hollered his name & he turned & ran straight for me & I caught him. By then my neighbor was there with his car--he'd seen the runaway & came to offer me a ride--& my mom was behind him in the truck--and a new neighbor I hadn't met yet was out on the end of her driveway to see where the pony was going in such a hurry--she'd seen Silver racing down the tree line toward the road! I was so embarrassed. :lol: After that I drove him in the pasture; for awhile he did okay, then we went through a patch of noisy weeds, & away he went again. This time he just ran circles around me. Little twerp. So, then I got serious. I put draw reins on him, and we worked at long lining with me making lots of noise behind him. He tried a few times to run away but couldn't, so then he started to settle down & get used to it. Yesterday we were trotting all over the place, through noisy weeds & tall grass & he went really really well. Mom brought the cart out & pushed it behind, through some weeds, & that was okay. This morning we hitched him. Mom drove & I had him on the line just in case. Once we got into some taller grass & there was some clover stalks or something that really vibrated along the cart. He jumped forward but Mom stopped him right away, with no help needed from me. Except for that one spook he did extremely well, and we are SO pleased with him.
That's 4 hitched, and 3 more to go. The other 3 geldings have a ways to go before we hitch them. Cloudy has to long line a bit longer as he tends to be very goosey and is still a little too jumpy to be hitched. I hope by the end of next week we'll have hitched him a few times. Stormy is way behind; I'm just starting to long line him. He kind of got set aside until we got some of the others going. I don't know if I'll get to hitch him this fall, but he should be very close to it, and if he doesn't actually get hitched until spring that will be okay. Sunny is a big strong 37"; I'm putting a lot of work on him before we attempt to hitch him. He is so full of himself & never wears down and as he just constantly tests me when I'm working him, I don't yet feel confident about hitching him. I also think our carts will be too much of a close fit on him, so I'll wait for spring & that cart with the bigger shafts.
Oh, & I've now got my 2 new carriage harnesses from Ozark Mtn. (Plus earlier in the year I bought a few harness parts to put on my little pleasure harness to adapt it to our bigger B horses). We finally have harness (3 of them!) that will adjust to fit any and all of our horses, from 33" to 38", regardless if they are fit or as fat as a pig. It is so great to have harness that fits so nicely, & I'm absolutely thrilled with the quality of these harnesses. I'm also more than pleased with the service we've received from Lisa and Ozark Mtn. Tack. No one could be more helpful than Lisa has been this summer!
I had posted that I had 8 to start this fall. One of those--the one & only mare, a 3 year old--we decided to let go until spring, just because there simply isn't time to work that many. That leaves 7, and I've been busy!
The oldest gelding, Dusty, has now been hitched a few times. He's a real good boy and has taken to harness very well. Ice Man, our stallion, was hitched for the first time yesterday. He was okay with it, but is kind of a wuss about pulling; and if he has to pull he couldn't possibly turn! I do have to get different shafts for him; he fits in this one cart but just barely, and I think he feels a little cramped, which doesn't help. CTM makes 54" shafts for their carts, so I'm going to get one of those for spring. Anyway, we hitched Ice Man again this morning, and things went much better. He's still unsure when it comes to getting started, but this time was a big improvement. We've very pleased with him.
We also hitched little Scooter for the first time yesterday. At 33.75" he isn't quite our smallest horse, but he is our slightest built one. He thought it was cruelty to horses to expect him to pull a person in the cart, but he got the hang of it pretty quick, and he went well. We'll hitch him again this afternoon, and hopefully he will be that much better again today.
Silver is my biggest success story. He's our shortest one, at 33", but he's more sturdy in build than Scooter. Earlier I was long lining him; he took to everything really well, and the one day I was long lining him down the road. He went so well, until I was just about home & after turning down the approach into our pasture, I asked him to turn down into the ditch. We'd already gone down & up the ditch once & did okay. This time it all went wrong. I didn't know at the time what set him off, but I've since figured out that I must have scuffled my feet in the grass or through some weeds, and the sound scared him as he went down the ditch. Anyway, he bolted down the ditch, up the other side to the road & took off as hard as he could go down the road away from home. With him bolting up the ditch that way I didn't have a hope of hanging on to him, & at that point he forgot what "whoa" meant. So, I was in pursuit. He ran to the neighbors driveway & turned there into their yard. I stopped on their drive to catch my breath, thinking he was contained in their yard. Next thing I heard him coming--they had all their fences open & he'd raced through their pasture to the corner by our pasture--he'd have gone home there but our fence turned him (so at least he wasn't running blind) & he came racing down the tree line. When he got to the road I hollered his name & he turned & ran straight for me & I caught him. By then my neighbor was there with his car--he'd seen the runaway & came to offer me a ride--& my mom was behind him in the truck--and a new neighbor I hadn't met yet was out on the end of her driveway to see where the pony was going in such a hurry--she'd seen Silver racing down the tree line toward the road! I was so embarrassed. :lol: After that I drove him in the pasture; for awhile he did okay, then we went through a patch of noisy weeds, & away he went again. This time he just ran circles around me. Little twerp. So, then I got serious. I put draw reins on him, and we worked at long lining with me making lots of noise behind him. He tried a few times to run away but couldn't, so then he started to settle down & get used to it. Yesterday we were trotting all over the place, through noisy weeds & tall grass & he went really really well. Mom brought the cart out & pushed it behind, through some weeds, & that was okay. This morning we hitched him. Mom drove & I had him on the line just in case. Once we got into some taller grass & there was some clover stalks or something that really vibrated along the cart. He jumped forward but Mom stopped him right away, with no help needed from me. Except for that one spook he did extremely well, and we are SO pleased with him.
That's 4 hitched, and 3 more to go. The other 3 geldings have a ways to go before we hitch them. Cloudy has to long line a bit longer as he tends to be very goosey and is still a little too jumpy to be hitched. I hope by the end of next week we'll have hitched him a few times. Stormy is way behind; I'm just starting to long line him. He kind of got set aside until we got some of the others going. I don't know if I'll get to hitch him this fall, but he should be very close to it, and if he doesn't actually get hitched until spring that will be okay. Sunny is a big strong 37"; I'm putting a lot of work on him before we attempt to hitch him. He is so full of himself & never wears down and as he just constantly tests me when I'm working him, I don't yet feel confident about hitching him. I also think our carts will be too much of a close fit on him, so I'll wait for spring & that cart with the bigger shafts.
Oh, & I've now got my 2 new carriage harnesses from Ozark Mtn. (Plus earlier in the year I bought a few harness parts to put on my little pleasure harness to adapt it to our bigger B horses). We finally have harness (3 of them!) that will adjust to fit any and all of our horses, from 33" to 38", regardless if they are fit or as fat as a pig. It is so great to have harness that fits so nicely, & I'm absolutely thrilled with the quality of these harnesses. I'm also more than pleased with the service we've received from Lisa and Ozark Mtn. Tack. No one could be more helpful than Lisa has been this summer!
That's awful!
