Your Drive Day

[Cayuse]

Hi Marsha! You would like the ADTs I think.  The people were fun.  Lots of different horses, from minis on up to big horses.  One gorgeous welsh pony was there, I wanted to sneak him home with me ?.

Have you looked at any horses this week?

 

[Marsha Cassada]

Yes, I did look at some horses, as a matter of fact.  We went up to the big city for the weekend to share some celebrations with our sons/families.  Took our RV (it was weird going without Buddy).  Passed a pasture full of little horses so we stopped.  I went back the next day, when we had more time, to look at them more closely.  One mare looked possible.  But when I led her around, her hocks popped.  Her feet were VERY long, and I wondered if that would do it.  My dil, who is a certified barefoot trimmer and lives nearby, is going to stop by next week and evaluate the mare.  The man says he will get his farrier out this week.  If my dil thinks she is sound, I may get her.  Supposedly she has been in harness before.  The other horses in the herd were too little or too skittish.

I have been incapacitated with my spinal stenosis for over a week, so no driving time.  Afraid to sit in the sulky, and it's really hard to get down and put DD's boots on right now.  If I am better in a day or so, I hope to drive.  The weather has turned off nice and cool--perfect!  He is fine alone, but I would like to find him another companion. 

 

[Northwolf]

1@Cayuse[/USER] Sounds great! Peanut will become an awesome competition driving pony! ?

1@Marsha Cassada[/USER] Moony has popping knee joints. He never had a problem with this, he's moving normally (until now). The popping is getting better the more muscles he gained. I keep my fingers crossed the mare is ok! 

I have received some pictures of our competition adventure: 

We met a team of percherons. They did the same cones trail course as we did. And we already thought it was very difficult...  OMG

Last week, I didn't drive much. We had a lot of other activities. I picked the ponies up for a swim in the lake one evening (I have TONS of photos - do you want to see some?). And the dentist was here. And the vet was here too to make an endoscopy of Teddys trachea because he had an abnormal breathing when he's working. He did not found the cause, so I'll bring Teddy in a vet clinic in two week where they can make a dynamic endoscopy. After the endoscopy, Teddy has an imflammation on his larynx, so I took him only out for walks, no driving for the moment. Hope he'll recover fast and I hope they will find out what's the problem in his breathing. I had a miniature shetland years ago who had a tracheal collapse and I had a big pony with COPD longer ago. Teddy hasn't the same symptoms and it seems not to be that bad right now, but I want to know about BEFORE it starts to be very bad. 

oh, and I had a little adventure with Moony. I hitched him on saturday to the sulky. He did great, but as we cantered up a hill, the breeching was skittered up, under his tail. He frightened and his reaction was to kick against. I got him back under control after a few kicks and drove along. After a few minutes I realized one of the cords was between his legs. I immediatly stopped to fix it, and we continued. He luckily go ahead like usual. At home, I saw he was injured on his inner tigh because of the cord. I was a really stupid driver!  He had a rest now for one day. He's such a great horse that he's not freaking out!

 

[Cayuse]

Nice pictures. Peanut would've been pretty flustered at seeing the percherons.  He has a really big spacial bubble around himself that he does not like invaded by larger horses.  He is getting better about it slowly. 

What is a dynamic endoscope? Is that scoping them when they are exercised?  I had Peanut scoped this Spring as he was a little noisy.  They found two tiny polyp like thinks at the back of his nasal passages.  One on each side and they are indentical.  The vet said since they were symmetrical and indentical it was a normal deviation in his anatomy.  The noise comes from a little irritation they get from mucous when the pollen is bad.  An antihistamine helps him.

Hope Teddy will be OK.

Marsha, is it too soon to know any more about the mare?

 

[Marsha Cassada]

My sister lost her miniature two years ago.  He had a collapsed esophagus.  Do not know if that is the same thing as a collapsed trachea.  It was 80% collapsed.  Hope Teddy is okay!  That is a worry.

Lovely photos of your boys!  I'm so glad to hear Moony is turning out to be such a good boy.  I seem to remember he was somewhat reactive when you began work with him.

Nothing on the mare yet; I am waiting for my dil to check her out. 

 

[Northwolf]

1@Cayuse[/USER] Interesting that Peanut scares about big horses. My horses all "like" big horses and want to say hello allways we see some of them Normally, the horses are frightened about my minis!
Yes, exactly. Dynamic endoscopy allows them to scope while the horse is moving. I hope the equipment will fit the small size of Teddy; my vets endoscope is a little too large and it was not very comfortable for Teddy. 

1@Marsha Cassada[/USER] Oh, what a pity Collapsed esphagus seems to be something different. Does your sisters mini had problems with breathing too? 
Yes, you're right. Moony was (and is) a little bit reactive. He scares about everything: cows, big machines, trucks, colourful things like garden gnomes and so on. But it's getting better step by step, I'm very proud of him that he's doing so well. I think the team driving really helps! And routine, routine, routine... 

 

[Cayuse]

Northwolf can we see the swimming pictures? ☺

 

[Marsha Cassada]

Had to do a little ground driving while out with Dapper Dan today.  I have become so lazy and he is rather hard headed, so a little refresher was in order.   We both bestirred ourselves a little today.   A good drive today!

 

[Northwolf]

Northwolf can we see the swimming pictures? ☺

Yes, of course ?

 

[Northwolf]

... and a few more

 

[Cayuse]

Is that Moony with his nose almost underwater?  That is a nice picture.  They all look happy.  Little Sea Horses!

 

[jeanniecogan]

northwolf,  i am so excited to see your team of different sizes.  mine are about the same difference in size and i want to team them up now thanks for sharing. any advice before i run out to the barn and hook them up?  anyone?

 

[MajorClementine]

Wow you guys have been having fun. Thanks to Northwolf for all the fun pictures! Love the hitch with different size horses. I need to get Clem and Candace hitched together since that's why I got Candace in the first place. It's time to wean my little Perry so maybe it would be a good time to put those two mares in together to learn to play nice. Or maybe they'll just both end up with battle damage....

Marsha I'll be waiting to hear what your DIL thinks of the little mare you've found. Clementine has a knee that pops sometimes but she's never had problems with it. However, I too would be cautious of a horse that has joints that go pop. Buying horses is so tough. Fingers crossed for you finding the right one sooner rather than later.

So...time to be honest with myself (and you guys). I think I'm scared to hitch up since it's been so long since I've driven. Our "little town" has blown up in the last year. I'm live at the cross section of Center Street and Main Street. We now have a traffic light and way more traffic than we did a year ago. Lots of big semi trucks, dump trucks, and other commercial traffic since we're on a State road AND now we've got the only light in town. I know that Candace is traffic safe but I haven't hitched her since she foaled so I'm nervous. Will she still be the same quiet safe horse she was while she was pregnant or was she just feeling slow? And Clementine is pretty high strung anyway. I have ground driven her around town this spring and the only time we got into a bit of trouble she decided she was going to stop and not go a step further. On Main Street with afternoon traffic mind you. When she gets like this even the whip won't motivate her. The problem is we have to go on the bike lane between parked cars and moving cars for a bit to get back home no matter where we go to drive. A bad place for her if she decides to be naughty.

I would love to trail drive them but I've never done it. I have a Kingston EE and a little single seat sulky.... I'm thinking the EE would be better off road since it's got springs at least. I just need to find a decent trail. Lots of mountain bike/horse riding trails around here but most of them are single track and pretty twisty and hilly.....

Truth is my driving is mostly self taught. I did take Clementine to a trainer and she gave me some lessons while she was working with Clem. Then it was all book reading, asking questions here, there, and everywhere. I'm still very much a work in progress but that doesn't help me help my horses when they are having a problem. I really wish there was a bigger driving scene around here. Mostly it's farmers who learned from their daddy who learned from their daddy. Which is great, but it doesn't help me get Clementine to soften or bend or carry herself better. It doesn't help me communicate with her. Sigh.... rant over. Sorry about that guys

 

[MajorClementine]

Sorry for the double post.... It was my turn to mow the lawn today. How many minis can you spot??

 

[Marsha Cassada]

I can totally relate to the reluctance to drive you are feeling, MC!  I bet Candace would be just fine to try; her personality will be the same.  She might be a little herd bound now; it would be nice if someone could walk along leading another horse on your first outing.   I would recommend the sulky instead of the EE.  I feel much more secure in my sulky than in the cart.  The only downside to it, is if you have bad knees, getting in and out in a hurry.  It's also easier to ground drive if you get in a sticky spot.

Which one is Perry?  You have a handsome herd!

My dil checked out the white mare and felt she was sound.  I called the guy and his price was a little too high for me.  She is not registered.  The way he boasted about how much the person he bought her from paid for her, I figured she was registered.  He thinks she is 5-6, but from his history of her I think she is closer to 10+. He had no record of the former owner; I could probably have contacted her through AMHA and found out more about her.   I could probably work with AMHA and dna and maybe get her registered.  There are too many unknowns to take a chance with the price.  If I don't find anything at the sale tonight, I might call him next week and see if he is ready to come down.  He said he had other people interested--well, so be it.

 

[jeanniecogan]

well, i think   i count 7.  what a lawn mower.   pretty scene.

 

[MajorClementine]

1@Marsha Cassada[/USER] I'm with you. I am willing to pay what a horse is worth but sometimes what the owners 'think' they are worth is different than their actual worth. Especially where he doesn't know an age for sure and has no papers to prove an age. I find that unregistered horses are always a few inches shorter (in the big horse world) and a few years older than the seller says they are ?

Perry is in the far left of the photo. He's above the bay mare. His momma is in the far right of the photo. We separated them last night to wean him and he nor his momma hollered or cared. Perry and Pistol are pasture mates now and 10 minutes into the move they were standing butt to head scratching each others backs.

1@jeanniecogan[/USER] There are 6 minis and then you can see my neighbors big horse back behind the kennel. That's Pistol back behind the raspberry bushes. No matter what he was always hiding so I snapped this pic anyway.

 

[Cayuse]

MajorClem, I get where you are coming from with the nervousness.  We have no place to drive either.  When I went to the ADT a couple of weeks ago, it was my first time driving in an open area, and with other horses around.  I was WAY out of my comfort zone even just driving him after he competed, lol.  I was glad for the opportunity to get to drive him in a different environment though. And we muddled through it. With sweaty palms

I bet Candace will be fine.  Maybe ground drive her to a few days first and like Marsha said have someone with you the first couple times.  I had one person walk on each side of me with Peanut at the ADT at first, until I got comfortable.  

 

[Marsha Cassada]

Ponied Nugget behind Dapper Dan today in the cart. 

 

[Cayuse]

He looks happy and right at home. Appears as though the cart doesnt faze him much

His face reminds me so much of my welsh pony!