Your Drive Day

[Cayuse]

Northwolf, I actually have a regular sled without the shafts, too. I like that one a lot better. Especially after today, lol.

We had a moment of excitement that was not good and totally preventable by me. I had Peanut out in the sled and had ground driven him, using him to pull the manure tubs. He has suddenly gotten the notion to back up or pop up when I ask him to stand. I finally figured out it was because I did not have the driving whip to cue him, so I got it and lo and behold, Peanut stands perfectly. Issue solved and everybody's happy.

So after I drove him a bit, I pull him up near the barn and Dan and I start to tweak the shafts to get them level while he is quiet (jokes on me) so I am standing directly behind the sled so can tell Dan when he has the shafts even and I am holding the lines and Dan is leveling the shafts and all was right with the world, UNTIL, a squirrel jumped out of a tree. I saw it coming in slow motion and stepped to go to Peanut's head just as he saw it and he bolted, ripping the ends of the lines away from me and he took off with the sled and everything. He ran like the devil's own device was attached to his back end. The more he ran, the more noise it made and the more he ran. And I was thinking I ruined my pony.

Fortunately,he was in the small paddock and Dan muckled onto him. The first thing I did was assess he was in one piece and I immediately got in the sled and moved him off. I did not want him or I to even spend an second longer than we had to thinking about what happened. He trotted off just fine. I then took him in the big field

and went on a long trot. He was good. Really seemed to settle down and was not so goosey and uneasy, it was almost like all the running with the sled clanking behind him desensitized him better than I ever could.

I am pretty mad at myself that I put him in a bad spot. The first thing I was taught about driving was to never leave their head when out of the cart. It was drilled into me, and the one time I didn't do it, I got into a mess. I should've been heading him while Dan was tinkering with him. I hope he is forgiving enough to put it behind him. He seemed to be.

 

[Cayuse]

Northwolf, I actually have a regular sled without the shafts, too. I like that one a lot better. Especially after today, lol.

We had a moment of excitement that was not good and totally preventable by me. I had Peanut out in the sled and had ground driven him, using him to pull the manure tubs. He has suddenly gotten the notion to back up or pop up when I ask him to stand. I finally figured out it was because I did not have the driving whip to cue him, so I got it and lo and behold, Peanut stands perfectly. Issue solved and everybody's happy.

So after I drove him a bit, I pull him up near the barn and Dan and I start to tweak the shafts to get them level while he is quiet (jokes on me) so I am standing directly behind the sled so can tell Dan when he has the shafts even and I am holding the lines and Dan is leveling the shafts and all was right with the world, UNTIL, a squirrel jumped out of a tree. I saw it coming in slow motion and stepped to go to Peanut's head just as he saw it and he bolted, ripping the ends of the lines away from me and he took off with the sled and everything. He ran like the devil's own device was attached to his back end. The more he ran, the more noise it made and the more he ran. And I was thinking I ruined my pony.

Fortunately,he was in the small paddock and Dan muckled onto him. The first thing I did was assess he was in one piece and I immediately got in the sled and moved him off. I did not want him or I to even spend an second longer than we had to thinking about what happened. He trotted off just fine. I then took him in the big field

and went on a long trot. He was good. Really seemed to settle down and was not so goosey and uneasy, it was almost like all the running with the sled clanking behind him desensitized him better than I ever could.

I am pretty mad at myself that I put him in a bad spot. The first thing I was taught about driving was to never leave their head when out of the cart. It was drilled into me, and the one time I didn't do it, I got into a mess. I should've been heading him while Dan was tinkering with him. I hope he is forgiving enough to put it behind him. He seemed to be.

 

[jeanniecogan]

i am out of the loop, but good vibes come your way for cappy.

 

[Cayuse]

Hi Jeannie! Cappy says thank you! He got his last IV med yesterday. He is feeling back to his old self. The vet said he can have a little light work at the end of this week, as tolerated. He was also anemic,probably from the anaplasmosis, so he is on Red Cell. All that iron and vitamins should put some pep back in his step.

Equine Geritol! (Do they still make Geritol?)

How is your Adventure coming along???

 

[Marsha Cassada]

Cayuse, something like happened to me with Dapper Dan many years ago when we were both younger and greener. I was ponying a colt behind and I got out to do something. I had the reins in my hand, but DD took off and there just wasn't enough rein slipping through my hand to stop him. We had no neighbor at that time and no fencing, so he took off heading west, with the colt bopping along behind the cart. Almost caught him about 1/4 mile, but he took off again when I got close. He ran around some boulders and the cart got stuck between two and that finally stopped him. Miraculously, a few straps were broken on the harness and one foot board on the cart. I got him untangled and managed to fasten enough straps to hold things together and drove him home. We got home safely and he wasn't bothered about the episode at all. Had to send the harness off to be fixed and order a new board from Jerald for the cart. The colt didn't seem to have a clue what happened.

DD is rather an ornery little cuss so I have to keep a sharp eye out with him. I never get out of the cart now without a good grip on the reins. He seems to know when he can get away with something. Good thing he is so cute.

 

[Cayuse]

That is just what happened, I did not have enough reins, I was at the very end of them as I was standing behind him. Dan and I had just been talking about putting on the longer reins but I didn't as as we were adjusting the other parts. It was a combination of mistakes on my part. He didn't even jump that much, it was "just enough" and then I think he surprised himself and off he went.

It is reassuring to hear DD was unscathed from his episode. I hope Peanut will be OK. I drove him about 15 minutes afterward and he was fine.

I wonder what your colt thought, being taken for a joy ride like that!

 

[Marsha Cassada]

That is just what happened, I did not have enough reins, I was at the very end of them as I was standing behind him. Dan and I had just been talking about putting on the longer reins but I didn't as as we were adjusting the other parts. It was a combination of mistakes on my part. He didn't even jump that much, it was "just enough" and then I think he surprised himself and off he went.

It is reassuring to hear DD was unscathed from his episode. I hope Peanut will be OK. I drove him about 15 minutes afterward and he was fine.

I wonder what your colt thought, being taken for a joy ride like that!

Dapper Dan was pretty wound up on the way home that day (we both were pretty strung out), but I knew I had to drive him immediately for both our sakes. He was fine after that. The colt just went along for the ride; I don't think he had any idea what was going on. All was well that ended well. Sounds like your episode ended all right also; do you think Peanut and Dapper Dan may meet somewhere on the genetic tree?

 

[Northwolf]

Seems accidents like that belongs to the driving

I had some situations like you both describe, with all my horses before. Massai, as an example: he destroyed my first cart when he kicked and bucked against the shafts. It was my bad; I didn't desensitize him enough before hitching and I used a harness that was not fitted well. It took a couple of years until he accepted the shafts. And now he's the best driving horse I've ever had and he's very reliable. All I did was giving him routine, that's the key for a safe driving... And not asked too much at a time - rather not driving too long and end up when he was relaxed. And 16 years ago, my old gelding Domino ran away with the empty carriage after he was frighten when a motorcycle started very loud. He was stopped by a man after he ran along a road, very luckily that he didn't clash with a car. My fault was to not sitting on the carriage and not having any reins, I lead him on the halter. Today I can hitch him to the team.

I've learned a lot and I try to do it better with my new horses now.

Yesterday in the evening, I hitched Moony to the sled again, because it was possibly the last time we had enough snow for a couple of weeks. We did a short drive in the dark and Moony was very cool. He's pulling very straight forward, he's not afraid of any noise from behind and the sled doesn't confuse him, even when the sled is wiggling around. Almost kind of boring, but I'm very happy with him! Just pay attention to not ask too much at a time...

 

[Cayuse]

A big thanks to Northwolf and Marsha for sharing their stories, I am glad to know I am not alone .

I took him out this morning, I felt I had to as our snow is rapidly melting and it will be awhile before I get back out I think. I put his old "summer" breast collar on (I was wondering if the curved one irritates him) made sure I had my whip to cue him with in case of a backing up episode, and brought absolutely no expectations with me. Oh, and I changed my reins to the longer ones!

He rolled his eyes a bit at the sled at first but we just ignored it and continued hitching. I picked up the lines and he was just like his usual self. He was a bit impatient to start and had one little backing up spell but tapping his butt reminded him to stand. He was SO much better with the regular breast collar, much more relaxed and consistent. So we had a nice drive of about a half and hour. He was his old self. I was relieved! We even saw "the squirrel" that instigated the excitement yesterday and he kept his composure.

Marsha, I was also wondering if Peanut and Dapper Dan were related somehow ?

 

[Marsha Cassada]

Dapper Dan is from the Vant Huttenest and Hemlock Brooks lines.

 

[Cayuse]

I wish I knew Peanuts breeding. I do not have his registration papers. I am sure he was at one point, but his papers were never passed along. I think he may have been used as a breeding stallion at one point in his life. I believe (heard) he was gelded late. I have a feeling he was fairly difficult to handle when he was intact, that could be why he was gelded. Or maybe he was a dud as a stud and his papers were held so as not to encourage using him as a sire. It would be fun to know his ancestry. And if he did sire any foals. I would buy one of his babies. (I THINK I would,lol. One Peanut is enough sometimes!)

 

[Marsha Cassada]

Well, after our walk today I introduced the shafts to Buckly. I didn't have anyone to help me. There was no way he was going to let those shafts come up on him! I ended up tapping them around on him, and asking him to approach through the front. We ended calmly, but I can see I will need help to move ahead. A little disappointed in his reaction, but the last two took the shafts calmly at first and then turned out to be zanies, so maybe Buckly's initial reaction is a good thing.

 

[Cayuse]

It can be frustrating to work alone, some things are just so much easier with two people, having that third hand might make a big difference as you can concentrate on steadying him as someone brings the cart up. Have you had him dragging anything yet? Can you make a set of shafts that he can drag? Or that someone can hold up behind him/next to him just so he gets used to feeling the shafts against his sides without you or him having to worry about the cart? I bet he will come around. It's probably just part of the learning curve.

Did you have blinkers on him? I have heard that sometimes that makes a difference when it comes to putting them to a cart. I guess some are better if the can see what is going on and some are better if they can't. I don't know how true that is, though.

 

[Marsha Cassada]

He didn't want something coming up behind him. He's been a little jumpy lately; I'm going to keep them confined for a few nights in case it is some varmint prowling around.

My sister will come out and help me. My husband cannot help; it must be a "horsey" person. There is no hurry; I just thought I'd try it today.

I actually think he is better without blinders. He is very smart. I always feed Dapper Dan first. Yesterday Buckly was heading toward Dapper Dan's side and I said, "no, don't go over there". He shook his head a couple of times and went back to his own side.

 

[Northwolf]

Don't worry, it will be fine in the end

Does Buckly already know the breeching? If not, it may be a good idea to really get him used to the breeching, until he doesn't take note about it. I always took my horses out to walks many times with the full harness including the breeching. On walks, you can perfectly accustom him to any things touching him. You can, as an example, take a whip or a knob with you and carefully touch him from time to time with that suprisedly while walking. Until he doesn't note anymore. I recommend do not hitch a horse to a cart when it doesn't accept touches from any objects behind.

A helping hand may be helpful, I agree. My husband (he's non-horsey too ) helped me a lot. It never was a problem that he's not used to work with. He was mostly more calm than me because he didn't imagine what problems can occur...

 

[Marsha Cassada]

He was mostly more calm than me because he didn't imagine what problems can occur...

Ha! I can relate to that; it was rather nice when I didn't know what could happen. My husband is not an animal-guy. He likes them all right, but doesn't really have the patience to help me.

I don't really think the breeching will bother Buckly. I think it is something coming up behind him. Now that I know, we can work on that. I do take the whip while walking. And I carry a plastic bag with me to pick up trash, so sometimes I whip it out of my pocket to startle him. I flip it on him when it has trash in it.

 

[jeanniecogan]

There is so much knowledge in this thread , that i can't believe it. just the little things you say are really helpful , like , my husband doesn't have the patience, means a lot to someone out there is about to give up because her husband doesn't have the patience either. that would be me. this is all so helpful ...

 

[MajorClementine]

There is so much knowledge in this thread , that i can't believe it. just the little things you say are really helpful , like , my husband doesn't have the patience, means a lot to someone out there is about to give up because her husband doesn't have the patience either. that would be me. this is all so helpful ...

I agree. I can't tell you how many times I've gotten help/ideas from this thread without even asking for it. There is so much wisdom in everyone's experiences.

I am afraid I'm going to be in the same boat with Pistol as you are with Buckley. Everything (and I mean everything) is a new experience for him so something coming up from behind will probably not be well received at first. Hopefully we'll get the time to put the harness on him while I'm down south this time.... one thing at a time eh?

 

[Cayuse]

Anybody ever drive with a quarter sheet under their harness? If so, do you have any tips, or know where I can get one? I need one and can't find one anywhere. Horse sized ones, yes, but not mini.

We had snow last night and it was drizzling lightly this morning, I turned Peanut out with his rain blanket on for a few minutes and then decided to drive him. I brought him in and he was dry under his blanket and seemed warm. I harnessed him up, and he started to shiver when I buckled the crupper (I even warmed it first so he would not have a cold heiny). I thought he would warm up once he started moving but by the time I hitched him he was shaking hard all over. I flipped out as that is how Cappy's anaplasmosis started, with the shakes. So I brought him in, bundled him up and as soon as his blanket went back on he was fine. I took his temp twice and he is normal. So I think he just needs a cover while he is working. He does not grow a lot of winter coat, it is very fine and not thick. I think the biothane harness retains the cold, too. I should store it inside. Poor Peanut.

Any suggestions on how to keep him warm while I drive? Thanks!

 

[MajorClementine]

I was looking at Chrysalis Acres today. If they don't have one she can make you one I think. Seems like she does a lot of custom stuff.