Your Drive Day

[Marsha Cassada]

Wally! You are lucky boy someone came and rescued you.
Mine graze around my swings but it never occured to me they could get tangled in them. Good grief.

 

[Willow Flats]

That must have been quite the surprise when you first saw him in that tangle! Good thing he is so laid back.

 

[Marsha Cassada]

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?

They don't seem to mind the sirens and horns honking. Bicycles coming up behind, and people darting out from the crowd are worse. They do like following; if you can have yours follow another miniature it will help alot. No way can one prepare for everything one might encounter. At one parade, Dapper Dan refused to cross the black tar lines in the street! A horsey person on hand is good; just a well-meaning amateur doesn't work as well.

 

[Marsha Cassada]

I have been working with Midnight, winding water hoses and lead ropes around her legs and asking her to lift her feet. I'm hoping this will help if she ever gets tangled up so she won't panic.

 

[MindySchroder]

Here are a few videos of our recent drives. It's been so hot and I don't do well in the heat so we took a couple of weeks off. Then it cooled down and felt like fall so we got back out there, only to have it heat up again! LOL! But we will drive when we can...

 

[Willow Flats]

They don't seem to mind the sirens and horns honking. Bicycles coming up behind, and people darting out from the crowd are worse. They do like following; if you can have yours follow another miniature it will help alot. No way can one prepare for everything one might encounter. At one parade, Dapper Dan refused to cross the black tar lines in the street! A horsey person on hand is good; just a well-meaning amateur doesn't work as well.

How did you handle the black tar lines with DD? Did you have someone to lead him over them, or go around? I saw a horse at the last HDT I went to absolutely refuse to go through the covered bridge. Fortunately after some shenanigans the driver had a navigator that got out of their vehicle and led the horse through. A pony also balked at the water hazzard and started rearing and somehow got one of the shafts over her back. This woman also had a navigator who could pop out and make things right. We never know what new thing our horses will need a little time and training with because it's new and they just haven't been exposed to it before. Like you said; you can't prepare for everything. It's such a special feeling for me though when they come across whatever it was that scared them the next time and it's no problem.

 

[Willow Flats]

No driving here! We have been having record heat and lightning which has caused fires all over California. No fire here but we are covered in ash and it is really smokey. Annie has broken out in huge hives! Just gave her an antihistamine.
We have some family members 30 miles away that have been evacuated. Crazy times!

 

[Marsha Cassada]

No driving here! We have been having record heat and lightning which has caused fires all over California. No fire here but we are covered in ash and it is really smokey. Annie has broken out in huge hives! Just gave her an antihistamine.
We have some family members 30 miles away that have been evacuated. Crazy times!

Good grief. What next?

 

[Marsha Cassada]

How did you handle the black tar lines with DD? Did you have someone to lead him over them, or go around? I

Luckily it was on the street as we were approaching the parade beginning. I took him up on the side of the street. It was sort of an open area with rough grass. The parade route was on a bricked street so we were fine there. He has never bothered about tar strips since, so who knows what was in his horsey brain that day. But there was no way he was going to step over those.

 

[Willow Flats]

The fires are still not contained here and the air quality is really bad with all the smoke. Feeling pretty helpless for my 3 horses.

I have been treating Annie with antihistamines and her hives have pretty much disappeared so that's good.

Not sure what it's like in other states with Covid, but you can't even get a haircut here. Now with all the smoke I can't do much outside which is my favorite place to be. Looking forward to fall!!!

 

[MajorClementine]

We've had some really smokey/ashy days here with local fires but they usually only last a couple of days. I can't imagine how bad it is there right now. A bunch of our wildland fire guys from here in Utah just headed out to California to help. I hope, with more help coming in from other states, they can get the fires under control.

It's just been too hot to drive here. We are usually cooling off by now but we've had a record breaking hot/dry 4 weeks here.

 

[Marsha Cassada]

Mornings have been beautiful here. I try to get my yard work finished before it gets hot. Getting the horses brushed and produce picked and everything watered takes time. Then I sometimes go for an ebike ride. About 10 miles is a good ride before it gets too hot. I've been too lazy to hitch Midnight--and I still have a little touch of anxiety so I put it off. Chores are my excuse. It's sad, but true.
Hopefully my sister will come out this week for a drive and we can get some more miles on Midnight.

 

[Willow Flats]

We've had some really smokey/ashy days here with local fires but they usually only last a couple of days. I can't imagine how bad it is there right now. A bunch of our wildland fire guys from here in Utah just headed out to California to help. I hope, with more help coming in from other states, they can get the fires under control.

It's just been too hot to drive here. We are usually cooling off by now but we've had a record breaking hot/dry 4 weeks here.

Really dry and hot here too! We can use all the help we can get.
I get homesick for our old mountain town but had to remind myself that if we hadn't moved we would be evacuated right now and wondering if our house was still standing. We put a lot of work into it, so I hope for the new owners it makes it so they can enjoy it for years to come.

 

[Willow Flats]

Mornings have been beautiful here. I try to get my yard work finished before it gets hot. Getting the horses brushed and produce picked and everything watered takes time. Then I sometimes go for an ebike ride. About 10 miles is a good ride before it gets too hot. I've been too lazy to hitch Midnight--and I still have a little touch of anxiety so I put it off. Chores are my excuse. It's sad, but true.
View attachment 42193Hopefully my sister will come out this week for a drive and we can get some more miles on Midnight.

Marsha,
Love this picture! Made me smile
I'm with you. It's always best to have someone along when you are working with a new or still a little green horse. Really neat that you have a sister that drives!

I'm starting to consider Annie no longer green, but she needs miles outside of her comfort zone. My new friend works at a ranch so our next step is to trailer out there and drive the trails when the heat and smoke are gone.
Rocko is is still green and learning to use his body and needs to build muscle. He had only 30 days of training when I got him and I have driven him just 18 times.

I might bring them both to the next play day if the air quality improves.

 

[ravenwoodfarm]

Good Morning from Florida! It’s very hot here so driving Tucker has to be first thing in the morning. My husband comes along in the farm cart since Tucker is still somewhat green and needs miles. Prayers for all you facing the fires. We are in the peak of hurricane season ugh!

 

[MindySchroder]

Zorro and I went camping with our friends Molly and Gracie and then Molly switched Gracie out for Goldie on Saturday. We went to a large lake that is about 2 1/2 hours from my house and just 25 minutes from Molly's, Canyon Ferry. My dad has a lake house up there as well.

We went around looking for good driving trails and found a beautiful trail on the first day, but we weren't sure if we were trespassing so we didn't repeat that one. Though I would have loved to because Zorro lost a boot there! Eeeek! We did back track but couldn't find the boot. Good thing 4 new boots for him arrived at my house while I was gone!

This video is Friday afternoon and the first trail:


Then on Saturday we braved the highway for about 3/4 of a mile and drove the ponies over to my dad's house! There we played on the beach and went in the lake with the ponies for about an hour and then drove back to our camp site. Molly has a Sacco dog cart that she can put behind her hyperbike and then her toddler can ride with us! Of course he did NOT ride on the Sacco on the highway, only once we got on the quiet lake road. Molly's hubby followed us on the highway with his flashers on because we had to climb a long steep incline that was also curvy and I was worried people would come around the corners going 55 and not see us until the last minute. People following were polite when they passed us but of course the vehicles coming towards us didn't slow down. It was harrowing for sure!


Then on Sunday we went exploring up what looked like a promising trail that swiftly turned into a nightmare. But me being me, kept wondering if the trail would get better. It did not. So we had to turn around and go back down. Something we were all dreading! The ponies kept trying to dive off the trail, thinking the grassy steep hill was better. It was not. Driving with me can be scary I'll admit! Of course we were out hiking at this point. The ponies could never have pulled us up this incline.


After we survived this, were thoroughly sweaty and stinky, we chose to drive around the nice little lake side subdivision roads. Again we ended up off roadin' some, bouncing around the rocks and bunch grass and the cactus. Sigh. Next time we will stick to the roads and start earlier in the day! We all got too hot and tired on this drive. When we got back to camp we packed up and headed home! No videos or photos from this part as I was just too tired after the climb shared above.

On Friday this week Molly and I will be heading to Great Falls Montana to pick up my new Shetland baby, Oliver. I am so excited!!! I'll bring Zorro along so the baby doesn't have to ride home alone. Zorro's an old hand at trailering and I'm hoping they will bond some in the trailer on the way home

 

[Cayuse]

Nice looking colt, congratulations Mindy!

 

[Willow Flats]

Mindy, Oliver looks like a real cutie! Wondering what height his parents are and what you think he might finish out at.

Zorro will be a great example for him and give him confidence on the ride to his new home. Excited for you!

 

[MindySchroder]

Mindy, Oliver looks like a real cutie! Wondering what height his parents are and what you think he might finish out at.

Zorro will be a great example for him and give him confidence on the ride to his new home. Excited for you!

Thank you both for your compliments!

Oliver's mom is 36 or 37" tall. I'm not 100% sure how tall his daddy is. Here is a link to a blog post (https://www.theessentialhorse.com/post/introducing-double-treble-finely-tuned-aka-oliver) that has photos of his parents. I guess his daddy is known for making big babies. They often out grow their AMHR papers. Of course I like them too tall so it will work out perfectly! He was 27" tall when he was born and this photo is him standing beside a 34" tall mare. Oliver is 4 months old right now:

 

[Marsha Cassada]

You will certainly enjoy Oliver. They have a different movement than miniatures, I think, and he will be so flashy. Look out, Zorro, for competition some day! That drive will be one to remember, Mindy!

I took Midnight out today. I don't know why I am still so nervous about going out alone. She hitched up nicely and we took off, leaving Dapper Dan behind. About half a mile into our drive she decided she didn't want to go on. I had used the whip to cue her into position for the cart and left it behind, but was able to persuade her to go on by voice and rein. The first mile, she waffled around on the road, trying to see if she could turn back, but we kept going. Passed some nice cows and she gave them a look but wasn't very concerned. (I'm rather glad they didn't follow us on the fenceline, though.) About 2 miles in I stopped to pick up a stalk of milo to use for a whip as she was still trying to waffle. She is so sensitive that a slight brush with the stalk got her on the straight and narrow.
Then I decided to turn on the music on my phone. Oh dear! That set her off. I like old folk songs and the harmonica sounded like a bogey for sure. She finally settled down from that and got used to it. The next scary thing was dried clumps of debris that had washed up and lodged in the fences by the road. We got past those. Then two big tractors with wide plows were in a field, revving up. She got past those fine.
The last two miles were uneventful. She had worked up a sweat by the time we got home, as it was also warming up some. A nice roll and some breakfast, though, and she was all good. We went 4 miles total, around the section. Some dirt, some gravel, some pavement.
I have to say my toes did curl and time or two. But Midnight is such a good girl and comes down from being silly easily.
When I was out walking two days ago a wild hog ran across the road in front of me. It is a fear that we will see one on our drives. But I am assured by hunters that they are very shy and we are very unlikely to encounter one.