Your Drive Day

[Northwolf]

I always read the posts about Moony with great interest. it was exciting to read when you actually got him working!

Thanks Marsha Yes, it is very exciting to get him work. I was very carefully to do not too much at a time, because he's kind of horse who is gets panic when he don't know something. We're actually working on his traffic safety. I took him to a railroad and highway a few times in the last weeks, but not on the cart, only in-hand. He was a little bit spooky und tried to runaway once, but cooled down fastly. I'm proud of him! We've had some regressions, sometimes he gets frightened when a big car passes too close, but I'm always prepared, always stay cool and steady. So he calm down fast. The other problem is to walk across living or industry areas. He often stops and stares at the ghosts he sees, but it's way better than it was one year before.

 

[Marsha Cassada]

Today was gorgeous. Ideal for driving. Dapper Dan and I drove with Tereon (nee Buckly) and his new owner. We were on the road some and also on a path across pasture. They did very well together. I am so happy to see Tereon working so well! I still do not think I would be able to handle him myself, but he is really progressing nicely for his new owners. I believe I did him a great favor by passing him on. Dapper Dan had to do some trotting to keep up with Tereon's longer legs, but it was not a problem.

 

[user 44366]

You will be happy to know, it is MADE in Canada....I believe Patty is near Edmonton. I can verify that all their products....carts, harness...are of high quality and backed by deep knowledge.

Thank you Margo! We rely on 100 years of traditional knowledge in all we do. No "fads" around here!!

 

[Northwolf]

@Marsha Cassada I like to see photos of Tereon and DD! It's great that he works well at his new owners. I think it was the right for him. Hoping the new owner would adjust his harness correctly soon, so it might be perfect!

We still have under 30 degrees at night and almost 60 during the days, but the glazed ice on the roads in the forest disappeares veeeery slowly... Driving is still difficult, but I tried to hitch the boys on the weekend and they did great. Teddy was on the sulky yesterday and loved it. We had a colic issue with our oldest pony who is 37 on Sunday (after the vet gave him a sedation to treat his foreskin that was inflamed on Friday). I thought he will die now, but the vet don't wanted to give him up and treated him. The next day, he was almost normal.
Massais leg is recovered, but I wanted to wait a few days before we start again with driving. He's very bored about doing walks only; he wants to work! I took him out on the bicycle last weekend and he was so pleased about. Hopefully I can drive him week!

... and finally, I had two incidents with Moony last week. Once as he broke away on a run early in the morning as a dog came out of the forest suddenly and Moony was scared. I wasn't able to keep him and he run away, but stopped after 100 m and waited for me. I was very surprised! The next morning, a hunter shot in the forest very close to us exactly at that moment we passed, and not only Moony was shocked! and the same: Moony broke away and run, but stopped after a few metres and waited for me... This is such a great pony!

 

[Willow Flats]

Hi,
Glad to hear your Moony stopped & waited for you when he got spooked! What a good boy. My heart always jumps when I get surprised like that. I tie a knot at the end of my lead rope when I'm out with one of mine because my hand won't slide past the knot if he moves off. He usually spooks in place but I never know with this guy.

 

[Marsha Cassada]

We talked about Tereon's harness a little. They did adjust the breeching better and shortened the shafts. I saw some other issues, but he was going well so I did not make any comments. She is an experienced horsewoman, though new to driving. She will get it all figured out a little at a time--just like the rest of us do. Obviously, she is much better at training than I am, so I am not going to tell her what to do. She said she might take Nugget to work with, but I think he is inherently scary and will not be reliable for me even if she gets him into the cart.

 

[Cayuse]

Nice to see the pictures of Tereon. He is bigger than I remember!

Norwolf, hope your old pony continues to improve from his colic episode.

 

[Marsha Cassada]

Yes, I turned in Tereon's A papers as he was over. He is still registered in R. Dapper Dan is 32". Poor hairy little yak, he is not looking his dapper best right now.

Hope your older pony recovers, Northwolf. So hard to watch them suffer.

 

[Cayuse]

Dapper Dan is!the same exact size as Cappy. They would've made a nicely matched team.
Cappy is just as hairy as DD. I will probably body clip him at the end of March as he takes forever to shed. I am looking forward to "clipper day"

 

[Northwolf]

Thanks folks! The old boy recovered - he's fine now and wants to go out daily again He's such a cute pony; he always wants to go fast, and he likes to trot. But since his eyes are not so good, he stumble if there is a hole or a stone on his way. So I have to be careful and hold off if the ground is too rough. Not easy for him Hope he will have a good and fulfilled life the next few years! We celebrated his 37th birthday yesterday!

@Marsha Cassada good idea to take Nugget to Tereons new owner! Maybe she could help you with the training.

Moony will go to a race training with a girl (who is helping me regularly with grooming) next saturday. It's a kind of a test training and it's mandatory for every horse and driver to do before they get the permission to start on trotting races (this is a special kind of trotting race, only for small horses and children up to 16, but it will take place on authentic racecourses under real conditions). I'm now train Moony to not canter if it's not requested. He should be able to go proper trot for this races. He's such a great trotting pony and getting fast for his small posture (up to 11 mph).
I clipped Teddy and Moony this weekend because it was really warm and sunny here. The ice is almost gone, so we can stroll around with the carts finally! I'm so happy!

 

[Marsha Cassada]

Northwolf, my first driving vehicle was a racing sulky. (Still have it). It was used for miniature horse races in Florida. I don't know if they still do that. The vintage photo is of the sulky and one of the horses the owner had. I clocked one of mine at a steady 11 mph--whee!

 

[Cayuse]

Northwolf, happy to hear your pony is better. Pony trotting races were popular here when I was a kid. I lived in an area with several Standardbred race tracks and Fairs that offered racing and I think the pony!races evolved from that. Can you post some pictures of Moony when he gets to a race?

Marsha, do you think you will send Nugget over to Tereon's house for training? (When I re read that sentence it sounds like two little kids planning a play date )

 

[Marsha Cassada]

Cayuse, do they still have pony races? I have not heard anything about that in a long time. Tried to get it started in Canada, I believe, but not sure anything came of that. I've only been to two horse races so have no experiences with that.

 

[Cayuse]

No, there haven't been pony races for about 40 years. The standard bred industry slowly went downhill and that went with it.


Here is a weird thing, new posts are not showing up on my computer until two or three days later. I didn't see Marsha's post above until today, and there were several others on different threads. Is it just me? I bet it is just me.

 

[Northwolf]

The training was great on saturdays! We met the breeder of Moony and she was sooooo pleased to see him in that condition. Moony and the girl did such a good training - the trainer was excited! Unfortunately, we have had heavy rain all the time, so the photos I made aren't very good. I will upload some of them.
We're now looking for a correct race sulky, because mine is not allowed to use in races. And I ordered a beautiful harness bridle and lines in RED to pep up his racing harness. Hopefully we will have the complete equipment on May 12 to compete the first race.

@Marsha Cassada wow, what a horse! It's a taller one, isn't it? You may give me some tipps for the race training, I'm an absolute beginner in horse racing! One of the main problems we have is that Moony sometimes likes to canter instead of trot. I'm working now on proper commands for cantering. Hope this helps.

@Cayuse I think I saw the posts in time. Very weird... I recommend to delete the browser cache and/or update your browser, I you have an older one. This can resolve the problem.

 

[Marsha Cassada]

It's a swamp here. Don't know when I'll be able to drive or ground drive again. Pond is overflowing and we are losing little fish. Maybe some will survive to the Red River.

 

[Cayuse]

Nooo! We are finally drying out, please don't send your water my way! Your weather is usually my weather 48 hours later. Did you have a storm?
I got the cart out today!
Finally tried the new harness with the cart and sure enough, the traces are one adjustment too short. We can cram him in and connect him to the singletree, but just barely. So I have a call in to order something to fix the problem. I dunno if it will be extenders or new traces. Probably new traces.

 

[MajorClementine]

Nooo! We are finally drying out, please don't send your water my way! Your weather is usually my weather 48 hours later. Did you have a storm?
I got the cart out today!
Finally tried the new harness with the cart and sure enough, the traces are one adjustment too short. We can cram him in and connect him to the singletree, but just barely. So I have a call in to order something to fix the problem. I dunno if it will be extenders or new traces. Probably new traces.

Any chance of getting buckle on trace extenders? New harness are so exciting but so much work to get adjusted and tweaked just right. Then you get it all done and winter or summer hits and they magically change shape and you're adjusting all over again

 

[Cayuse]

Hi MC! I!just ordered the new traces yesterday! I don't mind having two sets, the short ones fit the sled well so I might just keep them attached to the sled for winter.
Hope all is well with you!

 

[MajorClementine]

Hi MC! I!just ordered the new traces yesterday! I don't mind having two sets, the short ones fit the sled well so I might just keep them attached to the sled for winter.
Hope all is well with you!

Glad you got your traces ordered. Hate to miss out on spring driving weather. I'm pretty sure I have an average of 2 sets of traces to every one harness as well. Some vehicles use slot end traces, some use my quick release traces, the sulky needs longer ones, the EE needs shorter...

I'm good. I've just been slacking in the horse department since horses aren't up here yet. 2 weeks and they'll be here though. Got my mini shelter all set up and 1500# of hay ready for them. Just need to put some fill in the shelter to slope it towards the edges so it doesn't turn into a mud pit with the spring rains. A lot of good shelter does them if they are knee deep in water