Your Drive Day

[MajorClementine]

He's so stinkin' handsome! Looks like a good size match for DD. Team driving in the future maybe??

 

[MajorClementine]

I DID IT!!! I finally drove one of my horses. Stop the presses and mark it on the calendar. It only took me 2 hours of prep to get going. My harness and horse (Candace) were borrowed to be team driven the last time she was used (3 weeks before she foaled). The harness was put away in a giant tangle of pairs lines, quarter straps, pole straps and whatnot. And my shaft loops were nowhere to be found. 2 hours (and much silent cursing) later I had a singles harness on Candace. I got her hitched and all adjusted and we were off. And I must note, my mom is up for a few days and helped me with this process by holding Candace while I adjusted harness and cart. So nice to have a helper this first time.

We took a short 20 minute drive on pretty easy roads to ease her back into working. Weather is 70F today so really nice. We did do one long hill at a nice walk to help her build up some muscle but the rest of the ride was on pretty flat roads. She was such a good girl. I always just thought she was lazy. Nope. She moved into an easy working trot the second I asked her to. We had one small mishap when we had to come through the busy intersection to get back to my house. We went through with our line of cars when our light turned green but on the other side there is a very very short steep down hill (maybe 50' of hill) and she broke from a quick trot into a canter. Our EE cart isn't really built for that so it banged into her causing her to kick. So we were canter kicking down the road. However, she stayed in a straight line and came back under control quickly. But then we had to walk past the house, go down to the cross walk and come back to the house at a walk so we didn't end on a bad note.

We did a total of 1.25 miles. I'm hoping to take her on a similar route on Sunday.
 

 

[Cayuse]

Oh, the joys of harnessing!  

Glad your mom can help, always nice to have a second pair of hands.  Sounds like Candace  hasn't missed a beat.  I bet she will be more lively to drive now she is not "carrying" an extra four-legged load

 

[jeanniecogan]

so happy for u.    even 20 minutes can mke you feel a whole lot happier.

 

[Marsha Cassada]

That going down hill thing is a little scary.  I stopped doing a certain parade because there was a steepish downward curve on the route.  One really needs to tack on a steep hill and that wasn't possible in a parade.  With driving boots it might work better, but I don't like steep hills especially when there is pressure from traffic.  You both did good!

 

[MajorClementine]

That going down hill thing is a little scary.  I stopped doing a certain parade because there was a steepish downward curve on the route.  One really needs to tack on a steep hill and that wasn't possible in a parade.  With driving boots it might work better, but I don't like steep hills especially when there is pressure from traffic.  You both did good!

This is when I think I need to add a hand break to my EE cart. I understand why they don't have breaks but being able to apply just enough pressure to keep the cart from slamming into the horse on a steep hill would be nice.

I'm having bit woes. Anyone who would care to comment is welcome. Candace needs a bit that actually fits her. I was hoping for a butterfly french link but no one has it in her size. She needs a 4". I did find a butterfly mullen in her size. I've never driven in a mullen. She's very responsive to direction and has always had a good whoa. Even yesterday when she was canter-bucking she stayed straight and came down under control quickly. She's got a tiny little mouth so I hate to put a single jointed bit in there. I also hate my half cheek I have on Clementine because the short half cheek piece catches on everything. Advice?

 

[Marsha Cassada]

This is when I think I need to add a hand break to my EE cart. I understand why they don't have breaks but being able to apply just enough pressure to keep the cart from slamming into the horse on a steep hill would be nice.

I'm having bit woes. Anyone who would care to comment is welcome. Candace needs a bit that actually fits her. I was hoping for a butterfly french link but no one has it in her size. She needs a 4". I did find a butterfly mullen in her size. I've never driven in a mullen. She's very responsive to direction and has always had a good whoa. Even yesterday when she was canter-bucking she stayed straight and came down under control quickly. She's got a tiny little mouth so I hate to put a single jointed bit in there. I also hate my half cheek I have on Clementine because the short half cheek piece catches on everything. Advice?

Mini Express has nice french link bits for miniatures.  My smallest is 3 1/2".  I have a mullen also in miniature size but my horses didn't like it.  They really prefer the french link.  I would not use a single jointed.  My new horse has a very small mouth.  I think Mini Express makes a 3 1/4"; I may have to order one of those. I've been very happy with their bits.   He was wearing a bridle when I saw him at the sale, but I prefer to get his teeth looked at before I ground drive with the bridle.

 

[jeanniecogan]

mullen bits are great for a responsive horse.

 

[Cayuse]

MC if you have to stay in a snaffle, but don't like the half cheek, an egg butt or dee ring snaffle sometimes will work. I have seen them mini sized, but off the top of my head can't remember where, Chicks horse supply maybe? I don't like half cheek either, my lines always get caught and everything else hooks on them.  I never would've thought of those bits, but I read about it somewhere a while ago.  Maybe it was on here!

Cappy has been enjoying his ground driving sessions.  Peanut is still getting a lesson every week.  We have been practicing turning around obstacles, what I am using now are spools that are about 18 inches high that my husband brought home from work.  I don't know what was on them, rope or wire or something, but empty they make good obstacles to drive around.  Easy to move.

I did not realize there was so much to a simple turn around an obstacle.  Instructor has me look at four point around the base and aim for that.  If the first point is hit too wide or too close, then coming around to the next obstacle is set up all wrong.  Once you are at that first point it is too late to fix it if you goof, so you are always looking ahead.  This is hard, I always look down!

 

[MajorClementine]

I ended up ordering a butterfly french link for Candace and I'll just give my 4.5" half cheek snaffle to Smokey's owner to use until we can find him something else. I may have to put him in and eggbutt or D-ring like you suggest. Much better than that half cheek. Seriously... I understand it keeps the bit from pulling through their mouth but at the cost of catching on everything imaginable. 

Those Spools sound like great obstacles! Much more of an obstacle than the cones I'm currently using. Picked them up used at a sports store for $0.50 but they aren't "in the way" enough sometimes and Clementine seems to like to make a sport of running them down. Okay, I'm sure it's my lack of driving skill but I can't help but think that if the obstacle were a little bigger she'd be more interested in NOT HITTING IT!

I need to build my house out on the property so I have more room to practice driving around obstacles and whatnot. I can tell you right now that my driving lacks all the little details and practicing simple turns and walking and trotting on the rail would help us a bunch. 

I was hoping to drive again on Sunday but the rain started and is supposed to last for a week. In the meantime I'm online shopping. When I got my cart from Kingston they were using wood sword end single trees. Well I've had a trace slip off it a time or two so I put clips through the keepers and that helped but I was still nervous. So I was browsing their site for a cart cover and noticed they now have metal single trees with hooks and loops. Mine just got here today. Now I can use my slot end and my quick release traces on my cart with no worries about a trace slipping off. I held off on the cart cover but will order one when I've saved up a little tip money. Putting new single tree on tonight.

 

[Cayuse]

MC my Kingston cart came with the singletree that you just ordered and it is great, easy to work with.  I am trying out a cart right now and it has the wooden singletree that you slip the traces over, they are a tight fit and it makes me nervous that I won't get the traces on far enough, but if the rest of the cart is a "go" I guess I can figure something out to secure it better.

We tookPeanut over to the instructors for a lesson this morning, he was quite smitten with the big horses still.  I hope he gets over it or at least becomes more moderate in his enthusiasm over the large pretty mares.  Such BEE -YOO- TEEFUL Mares he says!

 

[Northwolf]

1@MajorClementine[/USER] It makes me happy to hear you started again with driving!!!  

1@Cayuse[/USER] But Peanut is gelded, isn't he? 

I have great news about my horses! I took Teddy to an equine vet clinic to check up his breathing problems. They found out he has a minimal restricted trachea, but it's not as bad and his lung is all ok. The vets gave me the OK to continue working with him normally! They recommended to clip him in the winter months to facilitate work for him and confirmed that he's a little bit lazy. I'm soooo happy to have assurance about him, so I can drive him without a bad conscience.
A few days after this diagnosis, I took him back into the team again and we hitched a 4-in-hand for the very first time with my old shetland!! My shetland is 31 and has bad ankle joints, so we drove very carefully and only a short route. I have a short video: 


It was AMAZING!!! It's one of my greatest dreams to drive a 4-in-hand one day. What a pity that Domino isn't younger  I hope to drive a few times more with this team, it's a great feeling and they are working just awesome! I love my minis 

 

[MajorClementine]

That hitch looks like so much fun! Not to mention you get to work 4 horses at once. That's my biggest motivator to get a couple of mine going together. I can work them at the same time! 
Very glad that Teddy got the "OK" to continue to work. That's always a good feeling.

My new singletree and bit got here so I'm hoping I can try them out this week before the horses head south. I've got the vet/dentist coming today to do teeth and (hopefully) geld Perry. It's a freezing cold morning though and I'm not looking forward to standing in the barn for several hours this morning. We had one week of fall then straight to winter. Woke up to snow yesterday. I should get more driving in this winter though. I'll go south once a month or so to drive and ride.

@Cayuse Those wood sword end single trees can be a pain. Especially if your tack is not leather but a synthetic material. It doesn't stretch and give like the leather does so the traces have a tendency to slip off. I ended up putting strong but small C-clamps on the end of mine. My trace keepers were triangles of metal so I clamped the C through the triangle and around the singletree. I don't know if that makes sense or not...?

 

[Cayuse]

Nice video Northwolf!  Your Shetland looks great, I bet he is happy to get out for a short jaunt now and then.  And good news about Teddy  :ThumbUp .

Yes, Peanut is gelded, but he was gelded late.  He finds other geldings to be threatening and he needs to be the boss over them, and mares are just delightful  :wub .

I had thought of getting his hormones tested, but what good would it do?  He is what he is, and with more exposure and training, he is learning to deal with his emotions. We are going to another ADT soon, so it will be interesting to see his reactions this time out.  We are hoping for a less "big" response to a new environment, and a response that is shorter in duration.  Last time it took about 1.5 hours for him to settle.  I would be happy if he took an hour this time.  Once he sees it all and gets the giggles out of his system, he is fine.  I think he just need milage under his belt and to see more of the world.

MC,  The C clamp is a good idea, right now I am using shoe laces and looping it through and tying them.  We did get the footman's loops attached, we screwed them on.  I got U shaped ones from Tractor Supply, not real footman's loops, but close enough.  I did buy the cart .

Good luck with Perry today, hope it goes easy for him.  It has been cold here, too.  No snow though, but cold enough for hat and jacket.

 

[MajorClementine]

Cayuse, I'd like to see a pic of your cart. I always like seeing everyone's vehicles. Glad you found a footmans loop solution. 

Perry hasn't dropped yet so no castration today. We did teeth for 3 minis and 3 big guys instead. It was so cold this morning that I put a space heater in the office/tack room and we brought the minis in and did their teeth in there on the rugs. So much better than freezing. By the time we got to the big guys it was warm enough to be mostly comfortable. 

Good luck at your ADT. I would love to do something like that. I would have no idea what I was doing though and it's quite a drive to get to any events like that around here. Maybe someday. 

 

[Northwolf]

1@MajorClementine[/USER] Oh yes, this is a great motivator to drive with teams. Even when it's "only" a couple, it's much more efficient and definitely more fun, for the horses too. But the disadvantage of a 4-in-hand team is that I need a helper... with a couple or a triple I often drive alone (I know; this is not the way to go and I wouldn't recommend to drive alone at all). 

1@Cayuse[/USER] Thanks! Yes, he looks great and I'm very carefully with him and his health. One evening, I called the emergency vet because Domino had a colic, and the vet (who was never saw him before) thought Domino is not older than 20... Domino has osteoarthrosis in both ankle joints and it's sadly the most severe type of arthrosis called osteolytic arthrosis. The joints were hardly distructed last time they made X-rays. But this is almost 6 years ago and there's still no lameness and he's still the chief of the herd. Hopefully it will persist the next years. I take him out for little walks usually 2-4 times a week. Yes, he enjoys the short drives, although he did not pull that much.
I think Peanut will calm down the more you take him out to strange places. My stallion Massai has BIG problems to control his emotions when other horses were around... but the last few years, he calmed down and when we were at the last competition, no one noticed that he's a stallion 

 

[jeanniecogan]

northwolf, i wasnt kidding about putting a team together with charlie and daisy,  if you have any suggestions , i would sure appreciate them.  i have everything i need, but time,  t is coming close to time to move in to our house.  im so excited.    i love your four in hand.  have fun.

to veryone else i am happy to hear the good news. we will be moving soon.  in a couple weeks i will be getting back to normal,  whatever that is, hehehe.

 

[Cayuse]

Jeannie, good luck with the move, I bet it will be nice to have a place of your own to "hang!your hat".

MC the cart is a G and S brand.  I will try and get some pictures.  It is a bit clunky but it has good balance and lots of leg!room.  I have long legs, so that is a big plus.  I called the guy that makes them and I can get replace!menT  parts from him.  I might spring for a new seat.  Maybe Santa!will bring one.  I see my old friend the ! Is here for a visit, its been awhile.

 

[Marsha Cassada]

You are all inspiring!  Thanks for updates and tales of experiences.

 

[Northwolf]

northwolf, i wasnt kidding about putting a team together with charlie and daisy,  if you have any suggestions , i would sure appreciate them.  i have everything i need, but time,  t is coming close to time to move in to our house.  im so excited.    i love your four in hand.  have fun.

to veryone else i am happy to hear the good news. we will be moving soon.  in a couple weeks i will be getting back to normal,  whatever that is, hehehe.

Good luck with the move! I'm happy to hear about you've found the perfect home. I'm a little bit jealous  If I travel ever to the United States again, I would like to visit you! 
I think it's easy to put together a team of horses when they already know the cart. The size doesn't matter that much, but the pace they have. The first step on a new team should be to find out if they're matching in their pace. So I would like to do in-hand walks with both horses together. Next step will be either to drive one horse (single) and let the other one walk beside the driving horse (like ground driving) or put them directly together with the team harness but without cart (like ground driving a team). I prefer the first variant and always let my "new" team horses go beside the driving horse until they work perfectly together. But be carefully if you try this! Because the ground driven horse is not attached to the cart, you can easily drive against the horse with your cart, if it stops accidentally! I never use blinkers on the ground driven horse to add more safety.