Your Drive Day

[Cayuse]

Love your cart! Is it comfortable for you? I remember "jogging" standardbreds when I was a kid in a cart like that. Two of us would squish onto the seat. How we did it, I don't know. I think the passenger sat sideways with one leg over the edge or something equally scarey.

It's nice that your dad helps you with your projects. That must be fun.

Your Clem reminds me of my new little guy, they would make a nice matched pair.

 

[Marsha Cassada]

I like your sulky! They are so much fun. Clementine is so beautiful!

Rowdy got scared by a covey of quail bursting up under his nose yesterday. Can you believe, I dropped one rein?! Luckily I kept hold of the other and managed to turn him in a circle. And since he is basically a good boy, he settled down quickly, I retrieved my rein, and we went on our way. Whew!

 

[MajorClementine]

I like your sulky! They are so much fun. Clementine is so beautiful!

Rowdy got scared by a covey of quail bursting up under his nose yesterday. Can you believe, I dropped one rein?! Luckily I kept hold of the other and managed to turn him in a circle. And since he is basically a good boy, he settled down quickly, I retrieved my rein, and we went on our way. Whew!

I've been there. I now sit on the ends of my reins just incase. In fact I just ordered a set 6" longer on each rein so I have more to sit on. Glad you had the one! I'm glad he's a good one to settle back in. Clem can be a real pain looking for things to freak out about after a big spook.

Thank you for your kind comment on Clementine. She'd prob look a little better if she wasn't doing an imitation of a pot bellied pig. Totally my fault

@Cayuse : The sulky is very comfortable actually. I thought not having a back rest would drive me mad but it makes me have good posture. However, I am not cramming two people on the seat. Boy do I wish you had pictures of that!

Have you posted pics of your new guy? I'm a sucker for bays. My riding horse is a bay also. I do have a paint mini too but I love a good bay. A lot of people think they are boring but there are so many subtle variations...

 

[Marsha Cassada]

Bay is my favorite color.

When I bought my first miniature (avatar horse) I would only look at bays. Ironically, he is the only one I've ever owned. They don't seem to be that common in miniature.

My sulky is very comfortable. It has a lawn mower seat; they are ergonomically designed for comfort!

I don't think one is supposed to lean against the backrest of a cart as this does not keep weight balanced over the axle. Can anyone with more experience comment on that?

 

[Cayuse]

I have pictures, but I don't know how to post them.

Bay is my favorite color too. I just clipped him yesterday (i started a thread on that) and he clipped out to be lighter with dun type markings on his neck and rump. The woman helping me with him came today and called him a "sooty bay." He was a bright bay before clipping.

He trotted today while being ground driven, did a figure eight! He fussed with his head a little for her but did settle. I did not take the lines today. The bugs were bad and that did not help, we have those teensy mosquitos that get at their face and hover, mean things.

 

[MajorClementine]

Clem is a head tosser. She settled for me yesterday after lots of figure 8s and circles but some days I think she's got spiders in her ears the way she fusses with her head.

Isn't it funny how their color can be so different when you clip them down? Clem is a blood bay no matter what but gets darker when she's clipped. I'm sure this is mostly due to her sun bleaching her outer coat. I'm going to try giving her paprika next year to see if she'll stay darker. It worked for my riding horse.

I may have to bolt a lawn mower seat on in place of my sulky pad. I don't see why it would be a problem to do so. This seat isn't uncomfortable really but a mower seat might be really nice. A little more contoured in the "seat" area

What you say about not leaning into the seat back makes sense. I would put the weight behind the axel rather than right over. I know that in my EE cart I don't lean against the seat back unless I'm really tired. I slumped into it at the end of our first parade. After a 45 minute stand still in the lineup since the parade started late then the parade route itself, I had a workout that day.... I do think that the seat back in my EE cart makes me feel more secure than I did at first in the sulky. But now that I've driven it I may never go back to the EE unless I want to take my son with me. Jogging her in that sulky is so much fun. Now I can see why the hyperbikes are so popular. If this sulky is fun one of those must be a blast.

 

[Cayuse]

Ok, I am going to try to post two pictures. The bay is Captain, the new mini, taken yesterday after I clippped him,

The black mini is Peanut and the picture is from last weekend.

 

[MajorClementine]

What blade did you use to clip Captain? He looks amazing. Did you clip against the grain?

Peanut is so shiny! Loving your minis.

You are right about Captain looking like Clementine. But I feel like he would make a good teammate with Major just because of the name. Captain and Major!

 

[paintponylvr]

O! I love the clipped pic!!!

I have a whole lot of bays and have had bays off and on all my life - both solid colored and pinto colored. Right now, sometimes, I feel "over-bayed", LOL! I even did a blog post about it that I titled "Silver & Bay" (think "Silver and Gold" song in Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer - sung by Cornelius the short prospector who "tamed" the bumble). Of course, it is easier to have bays when you have a stallion that is homozygous bay and sires all bay babies (with different amounts of tobiano white patterns). We currently own 1 bay Arab mare, 1 bay tobiano Arab/Shet gelding, 2 bay tobiano shetland stallions, 2 bay tobiano Shetland mares (mother/daughter), 2 - 2015 yearling bay tobiano Shetlands & 2 silver bay tobianos (1 is 1/2 shetland).

I was told that I wouldn't like our sulky cart for extended periods, but I've found just the opposite. I love driving in my sulky - on rough and tumble hill trail drives - for hours at a time (or did - it's been a while, maybe right now, being out of shape I would find it uncomfortable). I found that our ponies seemed to do well with it. But man did I go thru the tires! So I went and got the airless tires from a company in OH (who also refurbished my cart)... Since then, I haven't taken it for any long drives - as two of the three places I used to go to the most and really enjoyed - have been closed to public trail driving. Sooo.... I need to get some ponies driving

again!

After "Bit" tried kicking it to pieces and it's been refurbished. Flower's first hitch...

This cart was a training cart for Flower's grand dam (Hackney pony) and when I had it refurbished, I completely "spaced" getting the shafts shortened! Wish I'd thought about it. I so totally would have had it done!

 

[MajorClementine]

Love the pics! And your haystring braided tack. Such a talent you have!

I would like to get rid of the bike tires on my sulky and get motorcycle tires for it instead.

They did a nice job refurbishing it. Did Bit spook or what made him try to "kick it to pieces"?

 

[Cayuse]

MajorClem I did clip against the grain with a 10 blade. His shine is coming back, I noticed it today. That would be a cute team "Major and Captain" they could lead an army of miniatures somewhere!

paintedponylvr, that is an awesome picture of the mare with the baby being driven.

 

[Strangeaddiction]

Loving all the pictures of everyone!

I forgot to take my phone with me so I didn't get any pictures. Hercules is growing quite the thick coat so I am going to clip him this weekend. I finally get to try out my new clippers!!

He drove great for having a week off of actually being hitched, we've been doing lots of longing bitted up and in-hand work for trail and hunters. He absolutely LOVES jumping, but I am keeping them low and steady since he is still young. He is doing really well driving, although I think we have regressed since he's had more time off because I haven't been able to get out to drive very often. That will change soon when we are finally moved. He's very heavy on the bit for the first 10-20 mins. Once i let him rest and go back to work and work on slow lateral work he gets SUPER light, almost too light off the bit, but if i ask for forward and go into an extended trot on the rail he gets heavy again. I will have to see if I can get Patty out to give me some tips.

On another note, Patty gave me pictures of his dad and OMG is he gorgeous, I will have to try and get them uploaded/scanned somehow to show you guys. I also got to meet his mom! She is now boarded at the barn and is back in training being shown by a little 8 yr old girl. I now know where he gets his amazing mind from! That mare is a SAINT!

 

[MajorClementine]

Just stopping by to say my set of custom lines today from Central Harness Shop. They are fantastic. 10' long with 4' of lime green from the bit then 6' of black grip. They buckle at the bit and also together at the ends. I'm going to have to make time to drive ASAP to try them out.

I am also ordering a Comfy Fit Deluxe breast collar for Clementine to free up her shoulders. Her throat is set low in her chest so it's hard to not interfere with her throat AND her shoulders at the same time. I've been wanting to order one for some time so I'm pretty excited. I'm also getting a Euro Collar for our Fox Trotter.

 

[Marsha Cassada]

Pretty flashy reins!! New harness parts are always exciting. I have the Camptown breast collar; I think it is the same thing as the Comfy.

I took Rowdy out this morning. Temp was a little cooler with some cloud cover so it wasn't so dreadfully hot. We do cones first and it generally takes him about 3 times around before he will flex for me. We practice going side to side while on the road and he is very resistant, not soft at all. And he is a lazy bones. So, not the perfect horse, but is any horse perfect? I think his flexibility will improve with his experience and it's probably better for me to have a lazy horse at my age and with what I do with my horses. I have to give him some love taps to pick up the pace.

Saw a black cow today and Rowdy gave her a good look. Luckily it wasn't a WHITE cow.

 

[Squeaks]

This was Sierra's third consecutive day of working on driving. She had a handful of days ground driving before we hooked the cart up sometime last year. She is incredibly smart and took to driving like an old soul. Third day was pretty much integrating serpentine's and changing direction. She's unflappable. We got her shortly after she was a year old and had never been introduced to driving. She really is an old soul at it

Right now I don't have a ring to practice with her in, just a long driveway with grass down the center. Trailering to my friends boarding facility Monday for some work in an arena and new atmosphere

This girl loves her job!

Friend of mine has been helping me get Sierra going and started working with Misty as well. Misty has a bit of a damaged history and is taking things a fair amount slower... but has made leaps and bounds by means of improvement.

 

[MajorClementine]

I agree with Rowdy... those white cows can't be trusted. Sneeky fellers!

I love when you get a horse that loves to do it's job. Riding, racing, driving, etc. It's so much fun when they just take to it and their minds start working and you can tell that they love the mental stimulation as well as the physical work. Sounds like Sierra is one of those horses. Enjoy!

I spent the evening washing and oiling harnesses. It's amazing just how many parts one harness has. All buckled together it works as one solid piece of equipment but break it down to clean it and it's a pile of straps! I had to be sure to lay them down in order so I didn't have to spend an hour trying to figure out which strap went where. I cleaned, oiled, and rolled up my reins and put on my new lime/black beta reins from Tammy Rose. Hubby has the night off tomorrow so I may get a chance to go try out the new reins while husband and son work on son's new clubhouse.

 

[paintponylvr]

Bit was fine at the beginning of our drive. One of the drivers was driving an older stallion and while he was well behaved (no rearing or even pawing when we were standing still) - he did whinny. Before we were even 1/2 way into the drive, Bit was acting both in heat and mad. Then one of the times he hollered, she squealed, then squalled and pinned her ears flat back. Next was a squat (no pea, thankfully) and then she lashed out. She was just in the right position that she caught the circle bar - splitting it on both sides at the screws and was also instantly lame for the next several strides (we were a couple miles away from our trailers). She trotted pretty well for three strides with her right hind leg in the air, before it touched the ground. Took a couple limping steps and then strided out again... I suppose it was like hitting her shin bone or your "funny bone"...

I actually worked ponies in it for a little while before getting it up to OH to be taken care of. Then I didn't get up there for a couple of months to get it picked back up.

 

[dalvers63]

I spent the evening washing and oiling harnesses. It's amazing just how many parts one harness has. All buckled together it works as one solid piece of equipment but break it down to clean it and it's a pile of straps! I had to be sure to lay them down in order so I didn't have to spend an hour trying to figure out which strap went where. I cleaned, oiled, and rolled up my reins and put on my new lime/black beta reins from Tammy Rose. Hubby has the night off tomorrow so I may get a chance to go try out the new reins while husband and son work on son's new clubhouse.

That's the main reason I love my Comfy Fit. The last time we finished driving I just took it out to the wash rack, sprayed it down and scrubbed off the sweat then hung it to dry. By the time I was done bathing Mikey it was ready to put away.

I picked up a pair of reins from Tammy, too! I haven't seen them yet - the husband said they arrived on Saturday and I just never looked for them yesterday. Mine are purple and black to match my (hopefully soon to arrive) new marathon cart. I can't wait to give them a try.

We had a short but very successful drive yesterday. While our heat can't compare to the rest of the country, here in the PNW it's been in the mid to high 80s which is warm for us so I haven't gotten out much over the last few days. I had an hour or so yesterday morning and we were able to run through our dressage test in the grass and go about a kilometer around the track. Mikey was on his best behavior even when hitching. We've been working on 'stand' and each time he gets a bit better.

Earlier last week there was someone visiting the stable and she took some pictures for me. The first ones I have of him in condition with both of us.

 

[Marsha Cassada]

Mikey is looking great!

I notice a difference in the Comfy and my Camptown. The Comfy has two straps over the neck; mine has one, then one that connects to a ring on the saddle.

 

[dalvers63]

Marsha - the Comfy also has a strap that connects the breast collar to the saddle. He's got so much hair it's hard to see.

With that in mind, either today or tomorrow we're going to spend time on braiding to see what works best for his mane. A little over a week and we'll be at our first competition. Eek!