Your Drive Day

[Willow Flats]

The above post is me. I usually use my phone and I was on my desktop, so I guess you are a guest if you are not logged in.

I measured Annie today with a level and a sliding t-square. She is actually a little over 37"

 

[Marsha Cassada]

Today is my dad's birthday. I always take a sheaf of local wheat to his grave on this day. My sister and I drove our horses out to the cemetery. Beautiful morning. We did encounter some loose dogs today, which is unusual. We walked calmly by, and the dogs came out and barked, but didn't bother us. I had my whip ready. Our horses don't mind dogs. Encountered some goats and a sheep--which freaked Midnight out. But Jackie O paid no attention, so I put Midnight behind her and she survived. We did end up on a highway for a half mile or so, but drivers were very polite. Midnight and Jackie O work so well together. If we ever tried to do a team, they would be perfect. We did not think those old pioneer folks would mind a horse walking among their resting places.
The photo is my sister's black & white pinto, Jackie O, and Midnight. Such good girls!

 

[Marsha Cassada]

I didn't drive today because a friend of mine called me for some help. She got a mini from a rescue and doesn't know anything about her background, but was told she is about 6 years old. Cute, sweet little black mare. My friend just found a mini harness at a garage sale, so I went over and tried the harness on her. She is missing a couple of pieces but I have an old harness here, so I think we can work it all out for training. Anyway, I put the saddle on her and fastened the crupper and she just stood there. So we attached the reins to her halter and I just started ground driving her. No issues whatsoever! My friend had some pool noodles laying there and I asked her to stuff one in the tug and she just marched on! I think she has had some training. This is a big time score for my friend and for me to possibly be getting another driving buddy!!!! I had invited her over a year or so ago to try driving. You just never know who you are going to convert!

That is so exciting! Rather like my Midnight; she came from a sale with no background. Never know where one will find a good horse.

 

[Cayuse]

Nice way for you and your sister to honor your dad Marsha. I have a feeling he was smiling down on you both.

 

[Willow Flats]

Today is my dad's birthday. I always take a sheaf of local wheat to his grave on this day. My sister and I drove our horses out to the cemetery. Beautiful morning. We did encounter some loose dogs today, which is unusual. We walked calmly by, and the dogs came out and barked, but didn't bother us. I had my whip ready. Our horses don't mind dogs. Encountered some goats and a sheep--which freaked Midnight out. But Jackie O paid no attention, so I put Midnight behind her and she survived. We did end up on a highway for a half mile or so, but drivers were very polite. Midnight and Jackie O work so well together. If we ever tried to do a team, they would be perfect. We did not think those old pioneer folks would mind a horse walking among their resting places.
The photo is my sister's black & white pinto, Jackie O, and Midnight. Such good girls!View attachment 42071

That is a really sweet picture! So glad you two were able to honor your dad in that way.

 

[Willow Flats]

That is so exciting! Rather like my Midnight; she came from a sale with no background. Never know where one will find a good horse.

I thought of Midnight when I met her!

 

[Marsha Cassada]

Took Midnight to town today for the birthday party for our town. She was by herself and cried a little but did all right. She gave some cart rides and got petted and photographed. The children this time were exceptional. They asked intelligent questions and interacted with her. And she had some fondant from the cake. I dressed up in pioneer clothes.

 

[charlottein]

I am so excited! I drove my Chaos for the first time today! He just came back from 30 days of training on Monday, and I had 2 lessons with the trainers other horses while he was training. So it took me a bit to get him all harnessed up right. I then ground drove from behind the cart around a the block first, and then hopped in and went. He did so well! Finally my dream of driving him is coming true. I need to trim some straps on his harness a bit, and had to punch some holes, and want to adjust his blinders a bit - they are the non-wired kind. But seriously so excited!

 

[Marsha Cassada]

I am so excited! I drove my Chaos for the first time today! He just came back from 30 days of training on Monday, and I had 2 lessons with the trainers other horses while he was training. So it took me a bit to get him all harnessed up right. I then ground drove from behind the cart around a the block first, and then hopped in and went. He did so well! Finally my dream of driving him is coming true. I need to trim some straps on his harness a bit, and had to punch some holes, and want to adjust his blinders a bit - they are the non-wired kind. But seriously so excited!

How exciting! So happy for you. Getting a harness tweaked is amazingly difficult.

I am not sure I would ever name a horse "Chaos". I've had a "Rowdy" and a "Buckly" and a "Cowboy" that were all unsuitable for me. Is there anything in a name?? Maybe I've become a little superstitious...

 

[charlottein]

Hah, no he is the most gentle sweet boy, though very clever and not a fan of other boys. He is such a doll that even the trainer wanted to keep him, as does pretty much everyone who meets him. That is the shortened version of his registered name - Bondes Bouncin B Glorious Chaos. The only Chaos he causes is when he is way to smart and finds ways to open latches and get into your things!

Hopefully I have the harness all right! Need to find my book and double check. I did watch a couple videos to double check too!

 

[Marsha Cassada]

Hah, no he is the most gentle sweet boy, though very clever and not a fan of other boys. He is such a doll that even the trainer wanted to keep him, as does pretty much everyone who meets him. That is the shortened version of his registered name - Bondes Bouncin B Glorious Chaos. The only Chaos he causes is when he is way to smart and finds ways to open latches and get into your things!

Hopefully I have the harness all right! Need to find my book and double check. I did watch a couple videos to double check too!

When the trainer wants to keep one, that's a good clue!

 

[Dragon Hill]

Congratulations charlettin, how exciting! Chaos sound like a dream. Having the right pony makes everything so much easier. I do hope you'll be able to share some pictures of your beautiful boy.

 

[Cayuse]

Charlottein, if you run into any problems with fitting the harness you can always post a picture here and someone will be happy to help.

 

[charlottein]

Thanks I definitely will Cayuse! Hopefully I can get some pics this week. I was having too much fun to stop and ask my hubby to take some.

 

[Willow Flats]

It has been really hot here. Too hot to even drive in the evenings. This morning I thought I'd ground drive Rocko for about 30 minutes before the heat got bad because I wanted to get some exercise. So we did some walk/trot transitions for about 20 minutes when I got the idea to walk him down our long drive to the road so we could go past the barking dogs. They were barking and jumping all over their wire fence and Rocko was cool as a cucumber.

When we got to the road a neighbor was pulling into his driveway so we crossed the street and I asked if we could circle around his front pasture. He said go all the way to the back of my property. It's 10 acres and there is a trail all around it. So we had a great time. On the way out to the back portion the trail wound around an old barn and there were some bushes on one side. The barn was all open and full of stuff but Rocko paid no attention to any of it. On the way back as we were approaching the barn something skittered in the bushes and Rocko jumped sideways...no big deal, but at the same time as we emerged from the bushes we heard some snorting...sounded more like a growl but it was just two horses in a neighboring pasture that were going out of their minds thinking it must be their birthdays because somebody got them a pony! Actually they looked more like llamas because their heads were up in the air they were so excited which scared poor Rocko who whipped around and suddenly the bushes, the indian statue that was in front of all the stuff in the barn had surely come to life and everyone including those two horses, especially the snorter wanted to kill him. So we had our first big lesson, in are you going to trust me even in this? He got really upset, so I'm glad I wasn't in the cart so we could work through it more easily. We circled around by the horses for a while and stood and watched them until everybody settled down. My neighbor said he had never seen those horses move like that before. So everybody got a little exercise today. I got a whole lot more than I had planned, but I didn't want to end on a bad note.

 

[Dragon Hill]

Wow, what an adventure! I am glad you were able to work through it, and also glad your adventure was in the morning.

 

[Marsha Cassada]

It's so interesting how big horses are so scared of little horses. I've had Army Cavalry riders ask me to not drive my little horses in harness around them in a parade. And when a couple of horses start acting crazy, it is easy to set off our little ones. Good thing it all worked out for you this morning. It's so hard to plan for anything that might happen.

 

[Willow Flats]

It's so interesting how big horses are so scared of little horses. I've had Army Cavalry riders ask me to not drive my little horses in harness around them in a parade. And when a couple of horses start acting crazy, it is easy to set off our little ones. Good thing it all worked out for you this morning. It's so hard to plan for anything that might happen.

That's surprising. I really admire you and Dapper Dan for being able to drive in parades. How did you get started? Obviously one would have to have a horse with a good mind for starters. I've thought about lining up some kids to make noise for practice and then just walking one of my ponies on a lead in our town's parade someday in the future to see how it would go. I'll have to make sure I have trained a solid citizen to take before that day happens.
Can you share some parade advice?

 

[MajorClementine]

Took Wally out for a few min today then had to tend to the baby so I left him out to graze... He decided to play on the swing set. He's such a good boy. Just kept trying to graze like he wasn't wrapped up in two swings.

 

[Cayuse]

How the heck...???
Wally!!