Your Drive Day

[Northwolf]

Great idea to take Cappy to the show! ?

I had to renew my round pen this weekend by removing all the weeds grew on it the last months. After I removed the plants, I had to level it out and because the gate is too small for our lawn tractor, I hitched Teddy to the leveling tool. It was a hard work for him, but he did great! 

 

[Cayuse]

Go Teddy!  It makes me happy when I hear about a mini being used for a job like that.  They can be useful little critters ?!

My hubby showed Cappy in a couple of classes, I was proud of him.  I have been pestering him to show him in halter for awhile, he finally relented. He even bought himself a fancy cowboy hat for the occasion ?.

 

[Marsha Cassada]

50 minutes for Dapper Dan today.  Lovely morning.  Have to get out before it gets too hot.

 

[Northwolf]

It's too hot here! We have actually up to 95 and way too dry. We're wishful waiting for rain  The trees started to let fall their leaves due to the aridity. I was in Munich this weekend with a friend who was looking for a new mini and the horse people said they have had NO rain since april! No more grass on their pastures  

My drives are slower and easier due to the heat and we use fly blankets. The horses are well. 

I can pick up my new carts tomorrow! Very looking forward! ?

 

[Cayuse]

It has been hot here, too.  

I had an early morning lesson with Peanut.  I am not a morning person, but to avoid the heat, I rousted myself up and out early.  The short ground driving sessions have proved to be positive.  The quality of his walk is slowly improving and the trot, too.  He is a little more flexible through his hindquarters.   The instructor and I were both on the same frequency today, we both said at the same time that it is time to "upgrade" his harness ???.  I don't know whether to laugh or cry on that particular thought.  I LOVE my little harness and I had such a bad experience with the custom "spotted harness" that I dread shopping for a new one.    But since we are asking him to use his back now, he probably needs a back saddle with a tree.  I have never used a harness with a tree,  so this will be a learning experience.

Can't wait to see your new cart Northwolf!

 

[Northwolf]

Folks, I'm in HEAVEN! ? I picked up my new carts yesterday... and tested the marathon carriage yesterday in the evening and today early morning. IT'S AMAZING!!! Tested it on uneven paths with lots of chuckholes, but it doesn't matter. It's REALLY designed for trail driving (and fast driving ? ). I love this cart!

... but the look of the cart needs getting used to it, haha ? it's not the most beautiful cart I've seen, but the one with the highest comfort!

 

[Marsha Cassada]

It looks extreme--extremely comfortable and extremely balanced.  How do the boys like it?

 

[Cayuse]

Pretty fancy!  I am envious of that seat, it looks very comfortable.  Can you also change it around to use with just a single horse?

What is the little red switch for? The one under the seat?  It can't be the ignition ?!

Hope you have many wonderful drives with it!

 

[Northwolf]

 1@Marsha Cassada[/USER] The boys LOVE the new carriage, I'm sure! ? It's running much easier than any cart I've had before. And very quiet! We drove on uneven ground and they pulled the cart like it was on a paved road. On wednesday, I drove Massai and Moony with the cart and allowed them to go very fast. Funny as heck! 

1@Cayuse[/USER] Thanks! I did not order the single horse shafts, but a three-in-hand shaft. It's almost the same, it's a single-horse-shaft with extensions on both sides. So I could theoretically drive with one horse too, but I think the cart will be too heavy for my small boys. The manufacturer added a 4-in-hand extension as a present, I didn't order it ? But I think we will try the 4-in-hand hitch together with the horses of a friend of mine.
You're right; the red switch is the rocket ignition ? No, not really, this is the switch for activating the parking brake.

This is the first 4-wheeled cart I've bought who is built especially for my purposes and not a product from the rack. The manufacturer, located in Germany, is famous for building great two-wheeled carts for race horses and minis. I've ordered a new sulky who is super lightweight at the same time and I picked up the two carts on tuesday. I didn't had time to use the sulky for the first time yet, but I'll post pictures as soon as I can test it. And I should test the new marathon with all 3 horses in the next few days. Oh, I'll be very busy next time to test my carriages and work with my horses  

 

[Northwolf]

Not the best picture, but the best crowd of horses 







They are doing great! I hitched all three together one day and it was awesome, more than I expected! ? Hope I can make photos when we drive the next time.

 

[MajorClementine]

Wow everyone has been so busy! The weather has been hot and so so smokey around here. We've had on HUGE and one small wildfire burning in the valley and then we've got fires all around in the surrounding areas in our state and others. It's so bad we all walk around with red eyes. Worse than allergy season!

I haven't been driving the minis much due to the weather and work but I did spend an hour trying to hitch Smokey (the horse...not our weather) a week ago. His owner sent his harness with him but didn't send the shaft loops or slot end traces to make it a singles harness. Luckily his harness and mine are the same since he bought what I bought so we could hitch his Smokey and my Candace together. So I cobbled together a singles harness from parts of mine. Only to find out that I have no traces that will fit that short little guy to my EE cart. So I think, well maybe I'll hitch Candace and they can go as a team. Her baby is 3 months old and has basically weaned himself so I'll let him graze the lawn and take her for a short drive. Started working towards hitching the team only to discover that one of the quick release snaps is missing from Smokey's trace so I can't hitch him with those either! I dearly love Smokey's owner but I have to admit, the way he keeps his tack drives me bonkers. Usually it's just in a big tangled pile wherever it was dropped when it was removed.

So no mini driving but we did take the Fjord team out twice. 10 miles one day and 7 the other. They are a lot of fun. I also managed to trim all 6 minis feet. Foal hooves grow fast!!! Here's a pic of the Fjords on "Legacy Bridge" going over the Provo River just for fun.

 

[Cayuse]

That's a pretty picture!  They are handsome little horses (or are fjords considered ponies?).   They look like they would be fun to ride, too.

I hate the smell of smoke.  I would be sniffling and have a constant migraine.  I hope you are not so close to the fires that they pose a threat.  Has your husband been fighting them?  Maybe rain will come soon and end the mess.

How is Clem doing?

I hitched Peanut ALL BY MYSELF today.  With no stand by.   I have ALMOST done it many times,  but he would always fuss or fidget at the very end, and I would call Dan in for help. I can do Cappy alone when he is being worked regularly, but Peanut has always been a two man job.  Today Peanut stood.  

I even was able to ground drive him into position and lower the shafts down, instead of flubbing all around and bringing the cart to him.  

It took three years, lol.  But we got there  

 

[MajorClementine]

I think they are considered "horses". These guys are both about 13.2hh. The left hand horse (Ferb) is my son's riding horse. He's a baby sitter. We've ridden some difficult terrain and some horses have had big upsets around him and he's just steady on with my son on his back. Phineas is an okay riding horse. Not a beginner horse. Not as willing as Ferb but I think that is to do with the arthritis in his front pasterns. I think he's in a bit of discomfort often. We bute him if we are going to ride or drive him.

Hubby has been up on both fires. Our "Dollar Ridge" fire was a huge fast moving fire. It kept breaking through the barriers, over the fire breaks, and jumped a major highway. 90 or so homes were lost but, thankfully, no lives.

Clem is good. I need to get her hitched and see if that continues to carry over to her working attitude. She's pretty aggressive toward her paddock mates but she's been housed with only Major for the last 8 years so having 2 new buddies, one of which is a majorly aggressive pain in the butt, is new to her. However, that aggression has not been toward people or Major since they've all been together. I think it's just boss mare stuff within the herd.

Hooray for hitching alone! It's great when you get to that point because it gives you so much more driving freedom. I still can't drive Clem to the cart but she does stand well while I bring the cart to her. Props to you for getting him ground driving into the cart. I need to work on that.

 

[Northwolf]

We have problems with the dryness too and high forest fire danger in most regions of our country too. There is a fire prevention all over and until now, there were actually no fires. But our pastures are very dry and the forest is dry and colourful like in september or october. It's still very hot here  We are still waiting for rain.

Wow 1@MajorClementine[/USER] the fjords look awesome ? and great to hear you could hitch Clem alone. This is a huge progress in a driving horses education when they are stable enough to get hitched by one person.

1@Cayuse[/USER] Happy to hear too that Peanut is doing such a great job! I cannot drive most of my horses into position to the shafts, but I normally do not try this when I hitch a single horse ? I usually position the horse in front of the cart or sulky and pull the cart the last few inches to horse. Do you drive your horses backwards into the position?

I hitched the boys yesterday all three together for the second time. I was all alone and they did awesome!  I'm now slowly get used to the weird system of a three-in-hand-rein. I drove with Massai in the middle, but my goal is to drive Moony in this position because he's the one who is the most peaceful guy of them. 





They love their job like this! It's much easier when the are three instead of two pulling the cart. 

On saturday, I tested my new super lightweight sulky. What a fantastic (or FUNtastic ?) vehicle! I drove Massai for a longer drive and he was trotting like heck and never got tired. Later, I drove Teddy and he was much faster than with old carts (who are fun to drive too, but heavier). We're in love with the new sulky and hope to go for small endurance drives soon. 

 

[Cayuse]

Northwolf they look so cute, all three of them side by side.

This is how I hitched Peanut.  I had the Cart standing upright, shafts pointed up, like when you are storing it.  I ground drove Peanut to the front of it, lined him up as best I could, and then backed him to the base of the cart.  Then I held my breath, lol.  With one hand on the reins, I reached over and lowered the shafts down and put them in the tugs.  He didn't budge.  It was a lot easier than having the cart shafts resting on the ground and trying to reach for them and pull the cart to him while he wiggled. I have no idea how correct it is to do it this way, but Peanut gave his approval ?

 

[MajorClementine]

1@Cayuse[/USER] What a great way to hitch! I'm going to try that. Certainly easier than trying to maneuver and manipulate the cart with the shafts resting on the ground.  

@Northwolf - You are braver than I am to hitch those 3 alone. If I'm hitching just two I like to have help. What good boys you have. And they look pretty smart out in front of that cart. Isn't it fun when you can get out and trot, trot, trot with a light weight cart? I've got an old sulky that I repainted a few years ago and boy can we cruise in that cart. Plus it is set so low and the wheels are so wide that we can really make some fun sharp turns without worry of flipping over. It's not as comfortable as a lot of carts out there but it sure is fun. And here's to hoping that we both get some rain in the near future. I'm afraid we're all going to dry up and blow away.

 

[Northwolf]

1@Cayuse[/USER] Great way to hitch a horse, I think this is a correct as to lead the horse to shaft by hand, but it's more "advanced" than leading the horse on its head. ? I will try this next time when I hitch!

1@MajorClementine[/USER] There are two things my horses learn when I hitch/unhitch: 1. There is NEVER a person who's holding them on the bridles when I hitch. There CAN be a person who's standing in front, but I always instruct than person to NOT hold any horse if it's not necessary. So, they learned fast how to stand still without help. 2. I always wait at least 10 seconds when I finished hitching/unhitching before I do the next step. The next step is propably guide the horses away from the cart (all two or three together) or check the harnesses before we start. 3. Before I climb the cart, I smoothly check the hole hitching, go around the cart and finally, give the horses a treat before we start. So they are waiting for their treat instead of waiting to finally go ahead ? 
Is your old sulky the one who's painted yellow you posted in the vehicles thread? Looks like much fun! ? This vehicles are made for fast speed! 

I drove the boys again yesterday. This time, I changed position and Moony was in the middle for the first time. The team was more confident and focused better on the work than on each other. My husband made a short video while we were trotting slow. It looked good, but I was not happy to see that Moony and Teddy still struggled a little against their bits. Not very bad, but it could be better. They had this problem as long as I worked with them. Occasionally I tried with driving bits, but Teddy doesn't seems to be happy with this. Yesterday I switched back to snaffle bits. Maybe I should change to the bits and make a video again to see how this looks compared to the snaffle. And work with them alone to get them used better to the bits. As I know from the work with Massai, it could take YEARS of training until they accept the bit. But as I know too, there is a key to every horses mouth and I want to find the keys to help them.

 

[Cayuse]

What kind of bits are you using?  From the picture the look like what we call a Butterfly bit, but it hard to see.

 

[Marsha Cassada]

I lead Dapper Dan in front of the cart and use the whip to cue him to move into position.  I stand in front of him and he knows to "get straight".  Then I bring the cart/sulky shafts up beside him.  I've used the whip to cue my horses to "get straight" when I'm in front of them on ground work.  It helps when we are working on side passing or backing maneuvers.

Very nice seeing your countryside, Northwolf!  And the fencing was interesting too.

 

[Northwolf]

What kind of bits are you using?  From the picture the look like what we call a Butterfly bit, but it hard to see.

Yes, I use butterfly bits. I learned that they're less wiggly in the horses mouth than snaffle bits. Sometimes, they like more the snaffle bits and sometimes the butterfly bits. But I think both (Moony and Teddy) have had problems with any bits before I get them. The former owner drove Teddy with a bitless bridle and Moony doesn't know anything, she said.

1@Marsha Cassada[/USER] Nice idea to learn the horses to straight up  mine know this only from hitching to the team cart. When I say "to the cart", the position up to the team shaft. This works well, but I've never tried it when i hitch a single one. 
Oh yes, the fencing on my picture is quite interesting... ? It's a little bit messy, I think... Many farmers (cattle and sheep farmers) have messy fences around here. At our own farm, we have metal panels for the permanent paddock and electric fences on the pastures, and for the dog we have mesh wire fence like on the picture, but more handsome ?